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How to integrate Metabase with SharePoint Data
Use CData Connect Cloud to connect to live SharePoint data and create an interactive dashboard in Metabase from SharePoint data.
Metabase is an open source data visualization tool that allows users to create interactive dashboards. When paired with CData Connect Cloud, users can easily create visualizations and dashboards linked to live SharePoint data. This article describes how to connect to SharePoint and build a simple visualization using SharePoint data.
CData Connect provides a pure cloud-to-cloud interface for SharePoint, allowing you to easily integrate with live SharePoint data in Metabase — without replicating the data. Connect looks exactly like a SQL Server database to Metabase and uses optimized data processing out of the box to push all supported SQL operations (filters, JOINs, etc) directly to SharePoint, leveraging server-side processing to quickly return SharePoint data.
About SharePoint Data Integration
Accessing and integrating live data from SharePoint has never been easier with CData. Customers rely on CData connectivity to:
- Access data from a wide range of SharePoint versions, including Windows SharePoint Services 3.0, Microsoft Office SharePoint Server 2007 and above, and SharePoint Online.
- Access all of SharePoint thanks to support for Hidden and Lookup columns.
- Recursively scan folders to create a relational model of all SharePoint data.
- Use SQL stored procedures to upload and download documents and attachments.
Most customers rely on CData solutions to integrate SharePoint data into their database or data warehouse, while others integrate their SharePoint data with preferred data tools, like Power BI, Tableau, or Excel.
For more information on how customers are solving problems with CData's SharePoint solutions, refer to our blog: Drivers in Focus: Collaboration Tools.
Getting Started
Configure SharePoint Connectivity for Metabase
Connectivity to SharePoint from Metabase is made possible through CData Connect Cloud. To work with SharePoint data from Metabase, we start by creating and configuring a SharePoint connection.
- Log into Connect Cloud, click Connections and click Add Connection
![]( "Adding a Connection")
- Select "SharePoint" from the Add Connection panel
![]( "Selecting a data source")
-
Enter the necessary authentication properties to connect to SharePoint.
Set the URL property to the base SharePoint site or to a sub-site. This allows you to query any lists and other SharePoint entities defined for the site or sub-site.
The User and Password properties, under the Authentication section, must be set to valid SharePoint user credentials when using SharePoint On-Premise.
If you are connecting to SharePoint Online, set the SharePointEdition to SHAREPOINTONLINE along with the User and Password connection string properties. For more details on connecting to SharePoint Online, see the "Getting Started" chapter of the help documentation
![]( "Configuring a connection (Salesforce is shown)")
- Click Create & Test
- Navigate to the Permissions tab in the Add SharePoint Connection page and update the User-based permissions.
![]( "Updating permissions")
Add a Personal Access Token
If you are connecting from a service, application, platform, or framework that does not support OAuth authentication, you can create a Personal Access Token (PAT) to use for authentication. Best practices would dictate that you create a separate PAT for each service, to maintain granularity of access.
- Click on your username at the top right of the Connect Cloud app and click User Profile.
- On the User Profile page, scroll down to the Personal Access Tokens section and click Create PAT.
- Give your PAT a name and click Create.
![]( "Creating a new PAT")
- The personal access token is only visible at creation, so be sure to copy it and store it securely for future use.
With the connection configured, you are ready to connect to SharePoint data from Metabase.
Connect to CData Connect from Metabase
After creating the virtual database, navigate to your Metabase instance. Use the SQL Server interface to connect to Connect Cloud.
- Navigate to the administration screen (Settings -> Admin) and click "Add Database" from the "Databases" tab
![]( "Adding a new database connection to Metabase.")
- Configure the connection to Connect Cloud and click "Save"
- Database type: Select "SQL Server"
- Name: Name the connection (e.g. "SharePoint (Connect Cloud)")
- Host: tds.cdata.com
- Port: 14333
- Database name: The name of the connection you just created (e.g. SharePoint1)
- Username: A Connect Cloud username (e.g. user@mydomain.com)
- Password: The PAT for the above Connect Cloud user
- Click to Use a secure connection (SSL)
![]( "Configuring the connection to Connect Cloud.")
Execute SharePoint Data with Metabase
Once you configure the connection to Connect Cloud, you can query SharePoint and build visualizations.
- Use the "Write SQL" tool to retrieve the SharePoint data
![]( "Click the 'Write SQL' button.")
- Write a SQL query based on the SharePoint connection in CData Connect Cloud, e.g.
SELECT Name, Revenue FROM MyCustomList
![]( "Collected data (Salesforce is shown).")
- Navigate to the "Visualization" screen, choose a visualization, and configure the visualization
![]( "Collected data (Salesforce is shown).")
More Information & Free Trial
At this point, you have built a simple visualization from SharePoint data in Metabase. You can continue to work with live SharePoint data in Metabase just like you would any SQL Server database. For more information on creating a live connection to SharePoint (and more than 100 other data sources), visit the Connect Cloud page. Sign up for a free trial and start working with live SharePoint data in Metabase today.
