Use the CData ODBC Driver for Discourse in MicroStrategy Web

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

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

Connect to Discourse as an ODBC Data Source

Information for connecting to Discourse follows, along with different instructions for configuring a DSN in Windows and Linux environments (the ODBC Driver for Discourse must be installed on the machine hosting the connected MicroStrategy Intelligence Server).

The Discourse API uses API Key authentication.

Using API Key Authentication

Discourse requires API Key and Username for authentication. API Keys are generated in the Discourse Admin panel under the API section. You can create user-specific API keys or all-users API keys. Once you have obtained the API Key, set it along with the Domain and Username in the ProfileSettings connection property.

Example Connection string

Profile=C:\profiles\Discourse.apip;ProfileSettings='Domain=forum.example.com;APIKey=your_api_key;Username=your_username;'AuthScheme=APIKey;

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 Discourse 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 API Sys]
Driver = CData ODBC Driver for Discourse
Description = My Description
Profile = C:\profiles\Discourse.apip
ProfileSettings = 'Domain = forum.example.com
APIKey = your_api_key
Username = your_username
'AuthScheme = APIKey

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

Connect to and Visualize Discourse Data using MicroStrategy Web

Once you have created a database instance in MicroStrategy Developer and connected it to a project, you can perform a data import of Discourse data from MicroStrategy Web. Alternatively, you can create a new data source based on the ODBC Driver.^*

1. Open MicroStrategy Web and select your project.
2. Click Add External Data, select Databases, and choose Select a Table as the Import Option.
3. In the Import from Tables wizard, click to add a new data source.
   • Select DSN Data Sources
   • Set the DSN property to the previously configured DSN (CData API Sys)
   • Set the Version property to Generic DBMS
   • Set the User and Password properties (or use filler values)
   • Set the Data Source Name
   👁 Configuring the new Data Source
   
4. After creating the data source, click to edit the catalog options and set the following queries and click OK.
   • SQL statement to retrieve tables available in the data source

     SELECT
      CatalogName NAME_SPACE,
      TableName TAB_NAME
     FROM
      SYS_TABLES
      

   • SQL statement to retrieve columns for the selected tables

     SELECT DISTINCT 
      CatalogName NAME_SPACE, 
      TableName TAB_NAME, 
      ColumnName COL_NAME, 
      DataTypeName DATA_TYPE, 
      Length DATA_LEN, 
      NumericPrecision DATA_PREC, 
      NumericScale DATA_SCALE 
     FROM 
      SYS_TABLECOLUMNS 
     WHERE 
      TableName IN (#TABLE_LIST#) 
     ORDER BY
      1,2,3
      

5. Drag a table into the pane. 👁 Connecting to Discourse data.
   Note: Since we create a live connection, we can import whole tables and utilize the filtering and aggregation features native to the MicroStrategy products.
6. Click Finish, choose to the option to connect live, save the query, and choose the option to create a new dossier. 👁 Save the query and create a new dossier.
   
7. Choose a visualization, choose fields to display, and apply any filters to create a new visualization of Discourse data. Data types are discovered automatically through dynamic metadata discovery. Where possible, the complex queries generated by the filters and aggregations will be pushed down to Discourse, 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 Discourse data.
   
8. Once you have finished configuring the dossier, click File -> Save.

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

Note: connecting using a ODBC driver requires a 3- or 4-tier architecture.