Analyze Azure Table Data in Infragistics Reveal

Reveal, an offering from Infragistics, serves as a data visualization tool that seamlessly integrates with CData Connect AI. Together, they empower users to deliver dynamic dashboards using real-time data from a diverse range of data sources, including Azure Table data. In this article, we will guide you through the process of connecting to Azure Table via Connect AI and subsequently linking Connect AI with Infragistics Reveal to construct a straightforward dashboard.

Connect to Azure Table from Infragistics Reveal

To work with live Azure Table data in Infragistics Reveal, we need to connect to Azure Table from Connect AI, provide user access to the connection, and create a Workspace for the Azure Table data.

Connect to Azure Table from Connect AI

CData Connect AI uses a straightforward, point-and-click interface to connect to data sources.

1. Log into Connect AI, click Sources, and then click Add Connection
👁 Adding a Connection

2. Select "Azure Table" from the Add Connection panel
👁 Selecting a data source

3. Enter the necessary authentication properties to connect to Azure Table.

   Specify your AccessKey and your Account to connect. Set the Account property to the Storage Account Name and set AccessKey to one of the Access Keys. Either the Primary or Secondary Access Keys can be used. To obtain these values, navigate to the Storage Accounts blade in the Azure portal. You can obtain the access key by selecting your account and clicking Access Keys in the Settings section.

   👁 Configuring a connection (Salesforce is shown)
   
4. Click Save & Test
5. Navigate to the Permissions tab in the Add Azure Table Connection page and update the User-based permissions. 👁 Updating permissions
   

Add a Personal Access Token

When connecting to Connect AI through the REST API, the OData API, or the Virtual SQL Server, a Personal Access Token (PAT) is used to authenticate the connection to Connect AI. It is best practice to create a separate PAT for each service to maintain granularity of access.

1. Click on the Gear icon () at the top right of the Connect AI app to open the settings page.
2. On the Settings page, go to the Access Tokens section and click Create PAT.
3. Give the PAT a name and click Create. 👁 Creating a new PAT
   
4. The personal access token is only visible at creation, so be sure to copy it and store it securely for future use.

Configure Azure Table Endpoints for Infragistics Reveal

After connecting to Azure Table, create a workspace for your desired table(s).

1. Navigate to the Workspaces page and click Add to create a new Workspace (or select an existing workspace). 👁 The Workspaces page.
   👁 Adding a new Workspace.
   
2. Click Add to add new assets to the Workspace.
3. Select the Azure Table connection (e.g. AzureTables1) and click Next. 👁 Selecting an Asset (Salesforce is shown).
   
4. Select the table(s) you wish to work with and click Confirm. 👁 Selecting Tables (Salesforce is shown).
   
5. Make note of the OData Service URL for your workspace, e.g. https://cloud.cdata.com/api/odata/{workspace_name}

With the connection, PAT, and Workspace configured, you are ready to connect to Azure Table data from Infragistics Reveal.

Create a Dashboard in Reveal

With Connect AI configured, we can visualize Azure Table data in Reveal.

1. Log into Reveal and click Dashboards -> New 👁 Adding a new dashboard
   
2. Click Data Sources -> OData Feed 👁 Adding a new OData data source
   
3. Specify the Connect AI OData API endpoint URL (found on the OData page): https://cloud.cdata.com/api/odata/{workspace_name} 👁 Configuring the OData URL
   
4. Select Generic Credentials and
   • Set Username to a Connect AI username (e.g. [email protected])
   • Set Password to the PAT for the user
   👁 Configuring the credentials
   
5. Select the entity you wish to visualize 👁 Selecting an entity to visualize (Salesforce is shown.)
   
6. Select fields and choose a chart type 👁 Visualizing data in Reveal (Salesforce is shown.)
   

More Information & Free Trial

At this point, you have created a simple dashboard from live Azure Table data. For more information on creating OData feeds from Azure Table (and more than 100 other sources), visit the Connect AI page. Sign up for a free trial and start working live Azure Table data in tools that consume OData APIs.