How to create Visio diagrams from Airtable Data

Automate the process of entering data into Visio diagrams and keeping your diagrams up to date with the CData ODBC Driver for Airtable. The driver surfaces Airtable data as an ODBC data source that can be accessed by applications with built-in ODBC support like Microsoft Office. This article shows how to create a simple diagram to start brainstorming about Visio projects linked to Airtable data.

Connect to Airtable as an ODBC Data Source

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.

APIKey, BaseId and TableNames parameters are required to connect to Airtable. ViewNames is an optional parameter where views of the tables may be specified.

• APIKey : API Key of your account. To obtain this value, after logging in go to Account. In API section click Generate API key.
• BaseId : Id of your base. To obtain this value, it is in the same section as the APIKey. Click on Airtable API, or navigate to https://airtable.com/api and select a base. In the introduction section you can find "The ID of this base is appxxN2ftedc0nEG7."
• TableNames : A comma separated list of table names for the selected base. These are the same names of tables as found in the UI.
• ViewNames : A comma separated list of views in the format of (table.view) names. These are the same names of the views as found in the UI.

Connect Airtable Data to Diagrams

Follow the steps below to use the Data Selector Wizard to import data into your diagram.

1. Open Visio and click File -> New. Open the Brainstorming template.
2. On the Data tab, click Custom Import and select Other OLEDB or ODBC data source. 👁 Selecting a data source
   
3. Select the ODBC option and select ODBC DSN.
4. Select the DSN for Airtable, select the table you want to import, and finish the wizard. This article uses SampleTable_1 as an example.

Link Airtable Entities to Shapes

Follow the steps below to create a simple diagram that shows how to create shapes from your data, one of the ways to link Airtable entities to shapes:

1. Click Brainstorming Shapes and drag a main topic onto the drawing page. Enter SampleTable_1 as the text of the main topic.
2. Click Topic.
3. Select a row in the External Data window and drag it onto the drawing page.
4. Right-click the Topic shape and click Data -> Edit Data Graphic.
5. Click New Item.
6. In the Data Field menu, select a column. In the Displayed As menu, select how to display them. 👁 A data graphic for a column.
   
7. Drag a few other Airtable entities onto the drawing page and add association lines back to the main topic, SampleTable_1. New topics have the same configuration: Numeric columns displayed in data bars stand out in contrast to other SampleTable_1 entities. 👁 Brainstorming with external data. (Salesforce is shown.)
   

You can refresh your diagram from the Data tab, synchronizing your shapes with the external Airtable data.