Use the CData ODBC Driver for AfterShip in MicroStrategy Desktop

MicroStrategy is an analytics and mobility platform that enables data-driven innovation. When paired with the CData ODBC Driver for AfterShip, you gain database-like access to live AfterShip data from MicroStrategy, expanding your reporting and analytics capabilities. In this article, we walk through adding AfterShip as a data source in MicroStrategy Desktop and creating a simple visualization of AfterShip data.

The CData ODBC Driver offers unmatched performance for interacting with live AfterShip data in MicroStrategy due to optimized data processing built into the driver. When you issue complex SQL queries from MicroStrategy to AfterShip, the driver pushes supported SQL operations, like filters and aggregations, directly to AfterShip and utilizes the embedded SQL Engine to process unsupported operations (often SQL functions and JOIN operations) client-side. With built-in dynamic metadata querying, you can visualize and analyze AfterShip data using native MicroStrategy data types.

Connect to AfterShip as an ODBC Data Source

Information for connecting to AfterShip follows, along with different instructions for configuring a DSN in Windows and Linux environments.

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

AfterShip API Profile Settings

Obtain your API key from the AfterShip account management panel by navigating to My Account > Settings > API Keys.

When you configure the DSN, 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.

Windows

If you have not already, first specify connection properties in an ODBC DSN (data source name). This is the last step of the driver installation. You can use the Microsoft ODBC Data Source Administrator to create and configure ODBC DSNs.

Linux

If you are installing the CData ODBC Driver for AfterShip in a Linux environment, the driver installation predefines a system DSN. You can modify the DSN by editing the system data sources file (/etc/odbc.ini) and defining the required connection properties.

/etc/odbc.ini

[CData API Sys]
Driver = CData ODBC Driver for AfterShip
Description = My Description
Profile = C:\profiles\Aftership.apip
ProfileSettings = 'APIKey = your_api_key'

For specific information on using these configuration files, please refer to the help documentation (installed and found online).

Connect to and Visualize AfterShip Data using MicroStrategy Desktop

In addition to connecting AfterShip in MicroStrategy enterprise products, you can connect to AfterShip in MicroStrategy Desktop. Follow the steps below to add AfterShip data as a dataset and create visualizations and reports of AfterShip data.

1. Open MicroStrategy Desktop and create a new dossier.
2. In the datasets panel, click New Data, select Databases, and select Type a Query as the Import Option.
3. Add a new data source and choose DSN data sources.
4. Choose the DSN you previously configured (likely CData API Sys) and select Generic DBMS in the Version menu.
5. Set the User and Password properties for the DSN (or use placeholder values) and name the data source.
👁 Creating a new data source for AfterShip.

6. Select the new database instance to view the tables. You may need to manually click the search icon in the Available Tables section to see the tables.
7. Create a SQL query for the AfterShip data (see below) and click Execute SQL to test the query.

   SELECT * FROM AllCouriers
   

   👁 Querying AfterShip for data.
   NOTE: Since we create a live connection, we can execute a SELECT * query and utilize the filtering and aggregation features native to the MicroStrategy products.
8. Click Finish and choose to connect live.
9. Choose a visualization, choose fields to display (data types are discovered automatically through dynamic metadata discovery) and apply any filters to create a new visualization of AfterShip data. Where possible, the complex queries generated by the filters and aggregations will be pushed down to AfterShip, while any unsupported operations (which can include SQL functions and JOIN operations) will be managed client-side by the CData SQL Engine embedded in the driver. 👁 Visualize AfterShip data.
   
10. Once you are finished configuring the dossier, click File -> Save.

Using the CData ODBC Driver for AfterShip in MicroStrategy Desktop, you can easily create robust visualizations and reports on AfterShip data. Read our other articles on connecting to AfterShip in MicroStrategy and connecting to AfterShip in MicroStrategy Web for more examples.