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In this article, we will demonstrate the process of generating an OData feed for Databricks data by developing a WCF Service Application.
The CData ADO.NET Provider for Databricks enables you to rapidly develop service-oriented applications using the Windows Communication Foundation (WCF) framework, providing Databricks data data to OData consumers. This article guides you through creating an entity data model for connectivity and a WCF Data Service to expose OData services. You can then consume the feed with various OData clients, such as Power Pivot or applications using the CData ADO.NET Provider for OData.
About Databricks Data Integration
Accessing and integrating live data from Databricks has never been easier with CData. Customers rely on CData connectivity to:
- Access all versions of Databricks from Runtime Versions 9.1 - 13.X to both the Pro and Classic Databricks SQL versions.
- Leave Databricks in their preferred environment thanks to compatibility with any hosting solution.
- Secure authenticate in a variety of ways, including personal access token, Azure Service Principal, and Azure AD.
- Upload data to Databricks using Databricks File System, Azure Blog Storage, and AWS S3 Storage.
While many customers are using CData's solutions to migrate data from different systems into their Databricks data lakehouse, several customers use our live connectivity solutions to federate connectivity between their databases and Databricks. These customers are using SQL Server Linked Servers or Polybase to get live access to Databricks from within their existing RDBMs.
Read more about common Databricks use-cases and how CData's solutions help solve data problems in our blog: What is Databricks Used For? 6 Use Cases.
Getting Started
Create the OData Service
Follow the steps below to create a WCF service application that will provide connectivity to Databricks data via OData.
- Open Visual Studio and create a new project. Select the WCF Service Application template.
- Delete the autogenerated IService.cs and Service1.svc.
- Install Entity Framework 6:
Use the Package Manager Console in Visual Studio to install the latest version of Entity Framework. Run the following command to download and install Entity Framework automatically:
Install-Package EntityFramework
- Register the Entity Framework provider:
- Add the following provider entry in the "providers" section of your App.config or Web.config file. This section should already exist if the Entity Framework installation was successful.
<configuration> ... <entityFramework> <providers> ... <provider invariantName="System.Data.CData.Databricks" type="System.Data.CData.Databricks.DatabricksProviderServices, System.Data.CData.Databricks.Entities.EF6" /> </providers> </entityFramework> </configuration>
- Add a reference to System.Data.CData.Databricks.Entities.dll, located in lib/4.0 in the installation directory.
- Build the project to complete the setup for using EF6.
- Add the following provider entry in the "providers" section of your App.config or Web.config file. This section should already exist if the Entity Framework installation was successful.
- Click Project -> Add New Item -> ADO.NET Entity Data Model.
- In the Entity Data Model wizard that is displayed, select the 'EF Designer from Database' option.
- In the resulting Choose Your Connection dialog, click New Connection.
In the Connection properties dialog, select the CData Databricks Data Source and enter the necessary credentials.
A typical connection string is below:
Server=127.0.0.1;Port=443;TransportMode=HTTP;HTTPPath=MyHTTPPath;UseSSL=True;User=MyUser;Password=MyPassword;
To connect to a Databricks cluster, set the properties as described below.
Note: The needed values can be found in your Databricks instance by navigating to Clusters, and selecting the desired cluster, and selecting the JDBC/ODBC tab under Advanced Options.
- Server: Set to the Server Hostname of your Databricks cluster.
- HTTPPath: Set to the HTTP Path of your Databricks cluster.
- Token: Set to your personal access token (this value can be obtained by navigating to the User Settings page of your Databricks instance and selecting the Access Tokens tab).
- Select Databricks tables and views that you want OData clients to access.
- Click Project -> Add New Item -> WCF Data Service.
Specify the data source class and configure access to the new WCF Data Service. In the example below, the Access Rule for the entities is set to All. This means that any user will be able to read and modify data.
using System; using System.Collections.Generic; using System.Data.Services; using System.Data.Services.Common; using System.Linq; using System.ServiceModel.Web; using System.Web; namespace DatabricksService{ public class DatabricksDataService : DataService<DatabricksEntities> { public static void InitializeService(DataServiceConfiguration config) { config.SetEntitySetAccessRule("*", EntitySetRights.All); config.DataServiceBehavior.MaxProtocolVersion = DataServiceProtocolVersion.V3; } } }
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Run the project. Applications that support OData can now access the Salesforce data and reflect any changes. You can access the feed in your browser. The feed will resemble the following:
Consume the OData Service from Power Pivot
You can now use the service from any OData client; for example, Excel Power Pivot.
- Open Excel and click on the Power Pivot Window button.
- A new pop-up will appear. Select the option From Data Feeds.
- In the resulting Table Import Wizard, enter the OData URL. For example, http://localhost:12449/DatabricksDataService.svc/.
- After connecting to the OData service, click the Next button at the bottom of the window.
- A table listing of the available tables will appear in the next window of the wizard. Select which tables you want to import and click Finish.
- Click Close to import the data in Power Pivot.