How to Query Twitter Data in MySQL Workbench

You can use the SQL Gateway from the ODBC Driver for Twitter to query Twitter data through a MySQL interface. Follow the procedure below to start the MySQL remoting service of the SQL Gateway and work with live Twitter data in MySQL Workbench.

Connect to Twitter Data

If you have not already done so, provide values for the required connection properties in the data source name (DSN). You can use the built-in Microsoft ODBC Data Source Administrator to configure the DSN. This is also the last step of the driver installation. See the "Getting Started" chapter in the help documentation for a guide to using the Microsoft ODBC Data Source Administrator to create and configure a DSN.

All tables require authentication. You can connect using your User and Password or OAuth. To authenticate using OAuth, you can use the embedded OAuthClientId, OAuthClientSecret, and CallbackURL or you can register an app to obtain your own.

If you intend to communicate with Twitter only as the currently authenticated user, then you can obtain the OAuthAccessToken and OAuthAccessTokenSecret directly by registering an app.

See the Getting Started chapter in the help documentation for a guide to using OAuth.

Configure the SQL Gateway

See the SQL Gateway Overview to set up connectivity to Twitter data as a virtual MySQL database. You will configure a MySQL remoting service that listens for MySQL requests from clients. The service can be configured in the SQL Gateway UI.

Query Twitter from MySQL Workbench

The steps below outline connecting to the virtual Twitter database created in the SQL Gateway from MySQL Workbench and issuing basic queries to work with live Twitter data.

Connect to Twitter through the SQL Gateway

1. In MySQL Workbench, click to add a new MySQL connection.
2. Name the connection (CData SQL Gateway for Twitter).
3. Set the Hostname, Port, and Username parameters to connect to the SQL Gateway.
4. Click Store in Vault to set and store the password.
5. Click Test Connection to ensure the connection is configured properly and click OK.

NOTE: When we refer to Username and Password, we mean the credentials for the user(s) created for the SQL Gateway.

Query Twitter Data

1. Open the connection you just created (CData SQL Gateway for Twitter).
2. Click File -> New Query Tab.
3. Write a SQL query to retrieve Twitter data, like SELECT * FROM `CData Twitter Sys`.Tweets;

With access to live Twitter data from MySQL Workbench, you can easily query and update Twitter, just like you would a MySQL database. Get started now with a free, 30-day trial of the CData ODBC Driver for Twitter and the CData SQL Gateway.