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Use the API Server and Airtable ADO.NET Provider to Access Airtable Data in Microsoft PowerPivot
Use the API Server to connect to live Airtable data in the PowerPivot business intelligence tool.
This article will explain how to use the API Server and the ADO.NET Provider for Airtable (or any of 200+ other ADO.NET Providers) to provide Airtable data as OData services and then consume the data in Microsoft Excel's PowerPivot business intelligence tool. Follow the steps below to retrieve and edit Airtable data in Power Pivot.
Set Up the API Server
Follow the steps below to begin producing secure Airtable OData services:
Deploy
The API Server runs on your own server. On Windows, you can deploy using the stand-alone server or IIS. On a Java servlet container, drop in the API Server WAR file. See the help documentation for more information and how-tos.
The API Server is also easy to deploy on Microsoft Azure, Amazon EC2, and Heroku.
Connect to Airtable
After you deploy the API Server and the ADO.NET Provider for Airtable, provide authentication values and other connection properties needed to connect to Airtable by clicking Settings -> Connections and adding a new connection in the API Server administration console.
APIKey, BaseId and TableNames parameters are required to connect to Airtable. ViewNames is an optional parameter where views of the tables may be specified.
- APIKey : API Key of your account. To obtain this value, after logging in go to Account. In API section click Generate API key.
- BaseId : Id of your base. To obtain this value, it is in the same section as the APIKey. Click on Airtable API, or navigate to https://airtable.com/api and select a base. In the introduction section you can find "The ID of this base is appxxN2ftedc0nEG7."
- TableNames : A comma separated list of table names for the selected base. These are the same names of tables as found in the UI.
- ViewNames : A comma separated list of views in the format of (table.view) names. These are the same names of the views as found in the UI.
You can then choose the Airtable entities you want to allow the API Server access to by clicking Settings -> Resources.
Additionally, click Settings -> Server and set the Default Format to XML (Atom) for compatibility with Excel.
Authorize API Server Users
After determining the OData services you want to produce, authorize users by clicking Settings -> Users. The API Server uses authtoken-based authentication and supports the major authentication schemes. Access can also be restricted based on IP address; by default, only connections to the local machine are allowed. You can authenticate as well as encrypt connections with SSL.
Import Airtable Tables in Power Pivot
Follow the steps below to import tables that can be refreshed on demand:
- In Excel, click the PowerPivot Window icon in the PowerPivot tab to open PowerPivot.
- Click Home -> Get External Data -> From Data Service -> From OData Data Feed.
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Add authentication parameters. Click Advanced and set the Integrated Security option to Basic. You will need to enter the User Id and Password of a user who has access to the CData API Server. Set the password to the user's authtoken.
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In the Base URL box, enter the OData URL of the CData API Server. For example, http://localhost:8032/api.rsc.
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Select which tables you want to import and click Finish.
You can now work with Airtable data in Power Pivot.
