Access Trello Data as OData Feeds in Tableau



Use the Tableau Desktop business intelligence tool to connect to Trello data using the API Server.

The CData API Server, when paired with the ADO.NET Provider for Trello (or any of 200+ other ADO.NET Providers), provides Trello data as OData Web services. This article will explain how to use the API Server to provide the underlying connectivity to Trello data in Tableau's business intelligence tool.

Set Up the API Server

Follow the steps below to begin producing secure Trello 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 Trello

After you deploy the API Server and the ADO.NET Provider for Trello, provide authentication values and other connection properties needed to connect to Trello by clicking Settings -> Connections and adding a new connection in the API Server administration console.

Trello uses token-based authentication to grant third-party applications access to their API. When a user has granted an application access to their data, the application is given a token that can be used to make requests to Trello's API.

Trello's API can be accessed in 2 different ways. The first is using Trello's own Authorization Route, and the second is using OAuth1.0.

  • Authorization Route: At the moment of registration, Trello assigns an API key and Token to the account. See the Help documentation for information on how to connect via the Authorization route.
  • OAuth Route: Similar to using Authorization, OAuth creates an Application Id and Secret when you create your account. See the Help documentation for information on how to to connect.

When you configure the connection, you may also want to set the Max Rows connection property. This will limit the number of rows returned, which is especially helpful for improving performance when designing reports and visualizations.

You can then choose the Trello entities you want to allow the API Server to access by clicking Settings -> Resources.

Additionally, click Settings -> Server and set the Default Format to XML (Atom) for compatibility with Tableau.

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.

Create Real-Time Trello Data Visualizations

Follow the steps below to create data visualizations based on the remote Trello data:

  1. In Tableau, select 'Connect to data'. In the 'On a server' section, click OData.

  2. In the resulting wizard, enter the URL of the OData endpoint for the API Server. Append the name of the table you want to access to the OData entry URL. For example:

    https://your-server/api.rsc/Boards
  3. Select the 'Use a Username and Password' option and enter the username and password of a user who has access to the API Server.
  4. Tableau uses the table metadata exposed by the API Server to detect dimension and measure columns.

  5. To view the Trello data, right-click under the table name in the Data section of the dashboard and select the View Data option. The Trello data will appear in Tableau.

Ready to get started?

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CData API Server