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URL: https://www.cdata.com/kb/tech/bigquery-odbc-rad-data-explorer.rst

⇱ Viewing BigQuery Data in RAD Studio Data Explorer

Viewing BigQuery Data in RAD Studio Data Explorer

👁 Dibyendu Datta
Dibyendu Datta
Lead Technology Evangelist
How to view BigQuery data in RAD Studio Data Explorer using the CData ODBC Driver for BigQuery.

Embarcadero RAD Studio provides a development environment for Delphi and C++Builder applications. With the CData ODBC Driver for BigQuery, you gain access to live BigQuery data within RAD Studio, abstracting the data into tables, views, and stored procedures that can be used to both retrieve and update BigQuery data. This article will walk through connecting to BigQuery using the Data Explorer.

About BigQuery Data Integration

CData simplifies access and integration of live Google BigQuery data. Our customers leverage CData connectivity to:

  • Simplify access to BigQuery with broad out-of-the-box support for authentication schemes, including OAuth, OAuth JWT, and GCP Instance.
  • Enhance data workflows with Bi-directional data access between BigQuery and other applications.
  • Perform key BigQuery actions like starting, retrieving, and canceling jobs; deleting tables; or insert job loads through SQL stored procedures.

Most CData customers are using Google BigQuery as their data warehouse and so use CData solutions to migrate business data from separate sources into BigQuery for comprehensive analytics. Other customers use our connectivity to analyze and report on their Google BigQuery data, with many customers using both solutions.

For more details on how CData enhances your Google BigQuery experience, check out our blog post: https://www.cdata.com/blog/what-is-bigquery


Getting Started


Configure a Connection to BigQuery

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.

Google uses the OAuth authentication standard. To access Google APIs on behalf of individual users, you can use the embedded credentials or you can register your own OAuth app.

OAuth also enables you to use a service account to connect on behalf of users in a Google Apps domain. To authenticate with a service account, register an application to obtain the OAuth JWT values.

In addition to the OAuth values, specify the DatasetId and ProjectId. See the "Getting Started" chapter of the help documentation for a guide to using OAuth.

Connecting to BigQuery Data Using Data Explorer

You can create a simple application for displaying BigQuery data by utilizing the CData FireDAC Components for BigQuery and a new VCL Forms Application:

  1. Open the Data Explorer in RAD Studio and expand FireDAC.
  2. Right-click the ODBC Data Source node in the Data Explorer.
  3. Click Add New Connection. 👁 Adding a New Connection. (Salesforce is shown.)
  4. Enter a name for the connection.
  5. In the FireDAC Connection Editor that appears, set the DataSource property to the name of the ODBC DSN for BigQuery. 👁 Setting the Connection Parameters. (Salesforce is shown.)
  6. Back in the Data Explorer, expand the tables for the connection.

  7. Create a new VCL Forms application and drag a table (for example: Orders) onto the form.

    👁 Placing the Table on the Form. (Salesforce is shown.)
  8. Select the OrdersTable object on the form and set the Active property to true.

  9. Right-click on the object, bind visually, and link everything (*) to a new control (TStringGrid).

    👁 Visually Binding the Table. (Salesforce is shown.)

  10. Arrange the TStringGrid on the form and run the application to see the Orders data.

    👁 The Table data on a Form. (Salesforce is shown.)

Related Articles

Below you can find other articles for using the CData ODBC Driver with RAD Studio, Delphi, and C++ Builder.

Ready to get started?

Download a free trial of the Google BigQuery ODBC Driver to get started:

 Download Now

Learn more:

👁 Google BigQuery Icon
Google BigQuery ODBC Driver

The Google BigQuery ODBC Driver is a powerful tool that allows you to connect with live Google BigQuery data, directly from any applications that support ODBC connectivity.

Access Google BigQuery like you would a database - read, write, and update Datasets, Tables, etc. through a standard ODBC Driver interface.