How to Visualize JotForm Data in Python with pandas

The rich ecosystem of Python modules lets you get to work quickly and integrate your systems more effectively. With the CData API Driver for Python, the pandas & Matplotlib modules, and the SQLAlchemy toolkit, you can build JotForm-connected Python applications and scripts for visualizing JotForm data. This article shows how to use the pandas, SQLAlchemy, and Matplotlib built-in functions to connect to JotForm data, execute queries, and visualize the results.

With built-in optimized data processing, the CData Python Connector offers unmatched performance for interacting with live JotForm data in Python. When you issue complex SQL queries from JotForm, the driver pushes supported SQL operations, like filters and aggregations, directly to JotForm and utilizes the embedded SQL engine to process unsupported operations client-side (often SQL functions and JOIN operations).

Connecting to JotForm Data

Connecting to JotForm data looks just like connecting to any relational data source. Create a connection string using the required connection properties. For this article, you will pass the connection string as a parameter to the create_engine function.

Start by setting the Profile connection property to the location of the JotForm Profile on disk (e.g. C:\profiles\JotForm.apip). Next, set the ProfileSettings connection property to the connection string for JotForm (see below).

JotForm API Profile Settings

You will need to find your JotForm API Key in order to authenticate. To obtain an API Key, go to 'My Account' > 'API Section' > 'Create a New API Key'. Once you've created your new API Key, you can set it in the ProfileSettings connection property.

Custom Enterprise API Domains

Enterprise customers of JotForm are given custom API domains to connect to, rather than the default 'api.jotform.com' domain. If you are an enterprise JotForm customer, then set Domain to you custom API hostname, such as 'your-domain.com' or 'subdomain.jotform.com', inside the ProfileSettings connection property. Conversely, if you do not have a custom domain and still need to connect to 'api.jotform.com', then leave Domain undefined and set only APIKey.

Follow the procedure below to install the required modules and start accessing JotForm through Python objects.

Install Required Modules

Use the pip utility to install the pandas & Matplotlib modules and the SQLAlchemy toolkit:

pip install pandas
pip install matplotlib
pip install sqlalchemy

Be sure to import the module with the following:

import pandas
import matplotlib.pyplot as plt
from sqlalchemy import create_engine

Visualize JotForm Data in Python

You can now connect with a connection string. Use the create_engine function to create an Engine for working with JotForm data.

engine = create_engine("api:///?Profile=C:\profiles\JotForm.apip&ProfileSettings='APIKey=my_api_key&Domain=my_custom_domain'")

Execute SQL to JotForm

Use the read_sql function from pandas to execute any SQL statement and store the resultset in a DataFrame.

df = pandas.read_sql("SELECT Id, Title FROM Forms WHERE Status = 'ENABLED'", engine)

Visualize JotForm Data

With the query results stored in a DataFrame, use the plot function to build a chart to display the JotForm data. The show method displays the chart in a new window.

df.plot(kind="bar", x="Id", y="Title")
plt.show()

Free Trial & More Information

Download a free, 30-day trial of the CData API Driver for Python to start building Python apps and scripts with connectivity to JotForm data. Reach out to our Support Team if you have any questions.

Full Source Code

import pandas
import matplotlib.pyplot as plt
from sqlalchemy import create_engin

engine = create_engine("api:///?Profile=C:\profiles\JotForm.apip&ProfileSettings='APIKey=my_api_key&Domain=my_custom_domain'")
df = pandas.read_sql("SELECT Id, Title FROM Forms WHERE Status = 'ENABLED'", engine)

df.plot(kind="bar", x="Id", y="Title")
plt.show()