Use the CData ODBC Driver for Bing Ads in MicroStrategy Desktop

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

The CData ODBC Driver offers unmatched performance for interacting with live Bing Ads data in MicroStrategy due to optimized data processing built into the driver. When you issue complex SQL queries from MicroStrategy to Bing Ads, the driver pushes supported SQL operations, like filters and aggregations, directly to Bing Ads 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 Bing Ads data using native MicroStrategy data types.

Connect to Bing Ads as an ODBC Data Source

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

The Bing Ads APIs use the OAuth 2 standard. To authenticate, you will need valid Bing Ads OAuth credentials and obtain a developer token. See the Getting Started section in the Bing Ads data provider help documentation for an authentication guide.

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 Bing Ads 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 BingAds Sys]
Driver = CData ODBC Driver for Bing Ads
Description = My Description
OAuthClientId = MyOAuthClientId
 OAuthClientSecret = MyOAuthClientSecret
 CallbackURL = http://localhost:portNumber
 AccountId = 442311
 CustomerId = 5521444
 DeveloperToken = 11112332233
InitiateOAuth = GETANDREFRESH

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

Connect to and Visualize Bing Ads Data using MicroStrategy Desktop

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

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 Bing Ads data (see below) and click Execute SQL to test the query.

   SELECT * FROM AdGroups
   

   👁 Querying Bing Ads 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 Bing Ads data. Where possible, the complex queries generated by the filters and aggregations will be pushed down to Bing Ads, 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 Bing Ads data.
   
10. Once you are finished configuring the dossier, click File -> Save.

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