Visualize Live Azure Table Data in Power BI (via CData Connect AI)

Power BI transforms your company's data into rich visuals for you to collect and organize so you can focus on what matters to you. When paired with CData Connect AI, you get access to Azure Table data for visualizations, dashboards, and more. This article shows how to use CData Connect to create a live connection to Azure Table, connect to Azure Table data from Power BI and then create reports on Azure Table data in Power BI.

Configure Azure Table Connectivity for Power BI

Connectivity to Azure Table from Power BI is made possible through CData Connect AI. To work with Azure Table data from Power BI, we start by creating and configuring a Azure Table connection.

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
   

With the connection configured, you are ready to connect to Azure Table data from Power BI.

Query Azure Table Tables

Follow the steps below to build a query to pull Azure Table data into the report:

1. Open Power BI Desktop and click Get Data -> Online Services -> CData Connect AI and click "Connect"
2. Click "Sign in" and authenticate with your CData Connect AI account 👁 Authenticating with Connect AI
   
3. After signing in, click "Connect" 👁 Connecting to Connect AI
   
4. Select tables in the Navigator dialog 👁 The available tables. (Salesforce tables are shown)
   
5. Click Load to establish the connection to your Azure Table data from Power BI

Create Azure Table Data Visualizations

After connecting to the data into Power BI, you can create data visualizations in the Report view by dragging fields from the Fields pane onto the canvas. Select the dimensions and measures you wish to visualize along with the chart type.

Click Refresh to synchronize your report with any changes to the data.

Live Access to Azure Table Data from Data Applications

With CData Connect AI you have a direct connection to Azure Table data from Power BI. You can import more data, create new visualizations, build reports, and more — all without replicating Azure Table data.

To get SQL data access to hundreds of SaaS, Big Data, and NoSQL sources (including Azure Table) directly from your on-premise BI, reporting, ETL and other data applications, visit the CData Connect AI page and start a free trial.