How to Access Adobe Analytics Data Using Entity Framework

Microsoft Entity Framework serves as an object-relational mapping framework for working with data represented as objects. Although Visual Studio offers the ADO.NET Entity Data Model wizard to automatically generate the Entity Model, this model-first approach may present challenges when your data source undergoes changes or when you require greater control over entity operations. In this article, we will delve into the code-first approach for accessing Adobe Analytics data through the CData ADO.NET Provider, providing you with more flexibility and control.

1. Open Visual Studio and create a new Windows Form Application. This article uses a C# project with .NET 4.5.
2. Run the command 'Install-Package EntityFramework' in the Package Manger Console in Visual Studio to install the latest release of Entity Framework.

3. Modify the App.config file in the project to add a reference to the Adobe Analytics Entity Framework 6 assembly and the connection string.

   Adobe Analytics uses the OAuth authentication standard. To authenticate using OAuth, create an app to obtain the OAuthClientId, OAuthClientSecret, and CallbackURL connection properties. See the "Getting Started" section of the help documentation for a guide.

   Retrieving GlobalCompanyId

   GlobalCompanyId is a required connection property. If you do not know your Global Company ID, you can find it in the request URL for the users/me endpoint on the Swagger UI. After logging into the Swagger UI Url, expand the users endpoint and then click the GET users/me button. Click the Try it out and Execute buttons. Note your Global Company ID shown in the Request URL immediately preceding the users/me endpoint.

   Retrieving Report Suite Id

   Report Suite ID (RSID) is also a required connection property. In the Adobe Analytics UI, navigate to Admin -> Report Suites and you will get a list of your report suites along with their identifiers next to the name.

   After setting the GlobalCompanyId, RSID and OAuth connection properties, you are ready to connect to Adobe Analytics.

   <configuration>
    ... 
    <connectionStrings>
    <add name="AdobeAnalyticsContext" connectionString="Offline=False;GlobalCompanyId=myGlobalCompanyId; RSID=myRSID; OAuthClientId=myOauthClientId; OauthClientSecret=myOAuthClientSecret; CallbackURL=myCallbackURL;" providerName="System.Data.CData.AdobeAnalytics" />
    </connectionStrings>
    <entityFramework>
    <providers>
    ... 
    <provider invariantName="System.Data.CData.AdobeAnalytics" type="System.Data.CData.AdobeAnalytics.AdobeAnalyticsProviderServices, System.Data.CData.AdobeAnalytics.Entities.EF6" />
    </providers>
    <entityFramework>
   </configuration>
   </code> 
   

4. Add a reference to System.Data.CData.AdobeAnalytics.Entities.EF6.dll, located in the lib -> 4.0 subfolder in the installation directory.
5. Build the project at this point to ensure everything is working correctly. Once that's done, you can start coding using Entity Framework.
6. Add a new .cs file to the project and add a class to it. This will be your database context, and it will extend the DbContext class. In the example, this class is named AdobeAnalyticsContext. The following code example overrides the OnModelCreating method to make the following changes:
   • Remove PluralizingTableNameConvention from the ModelBuilder Conventions.
   • Remove requests to the MigrationHistory table.

   using System.Data.Entity;
   using System.Data.Entity.Infrastructure;
   using System.Data.Entity.ModelConfiguration.Conventions;
   
   class AdobeAnalyticsContext : DbContext {
    public AdobeAnalyticsContext() { }
   
    protected override void OnModelCreating(DbModelBuilder modelBuilder)
    {
    // To remove the requests to the Migration History table
    Database.SetInitializer<AdobeAnalyticsContext>(null); 
    // To remove the plural names 
    modelBuilder.Conventions.Remove<PluralizingTableNameConvention>();
    } 
   }
   

7. Create another .cs file and name it after the Adobe Analytics entity you are retrieving, for example, AdsReport. In this file, define both the Entity and the Entity Configuration, which will resemble the example below:

   using System.Data.Entity.ModelConfiguration;
   using System.ComponentModel.DataAnnotations.Schema;
   
   [System.ComponentModel.DataAnnotations.Schema.Table("AdsReport")]
   public class AdsReport {
    [System.ComponentModel.DataAnnotations.Key] 
    public System.String Page { get; set; }
    public System.String PageViews { get; set; }
   }
    
   

8. Now that you have created an entity, add the entity to your context class:

   public DbSet<AdsReport> AdsReport { set; get; }
   

9. With the context and entity finished, you are now ready to query the data in a separate class. For example:

   AdobeAnalyticsContext context = new AdobeAnalyticsContext();
   context.Configuration.UseDatabaseNullSemantics = true;
   var query = from line in context.AdsReport select line;