Use the CData JDBC Driver for Exa in MicroStrategy Web

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

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

Connect to and Visualize Exa Data using MicroStrategy Web

You can connect to Exa in MicroStrategy Web by adding a data source based on the CData JDBC Driver for Exa.^* Before you begin, you will need install the JDBC Driver for Exa on the machine hosting the MicroStrategy Intelligence Server that your instance of MicroStrategy Web is connected to. Once you have created a data source you can build dynamic visualizations of Exa data in MicroStrategy Web.

1. Open MicroStrategy Web and select your project.
2. Click Add External Data, select Databases, and use Select Tables as the Import Option. 👁 Adding External Data
   
3. In the Import from Tables wizard, click to add a new Data Source.
4. Select Generic in the Database menu and select Generic DBMS in the Version menu.
5. Click the link to show the connection string and opt to edit the connection string. In the Driver menu, select MicroStrategy Cassandra ODBC Driver (MicroStrategy requires a certified driver to interface through JDBC, the actual driver will not be used).
6. Set the connection string to the following:

   JDBC;MSTR_JDBC_JAR_FOLDER=PATH\TO\JAR\;DRIVER=cdata.jdbc.api.APIDriver;URL={jdbc:api:Profile=C:\profiles\Exa.apip;ProfileSettings='APIKey=your_api_key';};
   

   👁 Configure the data source.
   

   Start by setting the Profile connection property to the location of the Exa Profile on disk (e.g. C:\profiles\Exa.apip). Next, set the ProfileSettings connection property to the connection string for Exa (see below).

   Exa API Profile Settings

   Visit dashboard.exa.ai, sign in or create an account, and generate an API key from your API settings.

   Built-in Connection String Designer

   For assistance in constructing the JDBC URL, use the connection string designer built into the Exa JDBC Driver. Either double-click the JAR file or execute the jar file from the command-line.

   java -jar cdata.jdbc.api.jar
   

   Fill in the connection properties and copy the connection string to the clipboard.

   👁 Using the built-in connection string designer to generate a JDBC URL (Salesforce is shown.)
   

   When you configure the JDBC URL, 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.

7. Right-click on the new data source, and choose Edit catalog options.👁 Edit the catalog options.
   
8. Edit the SQL Statement to SELECT * FROM SYS_SCHEMAS to read the metadata from the JDBC Driver. 👁 Configuring the Catalog Options.
   
9. Select the new data source to view the available tables. You may need to manually click the search icon in the Available Tables section to see the tables.
10. Drag tables into the pane to import them. 👁 Select tables to import.
    Note: Since we create a live connection, we can import whole tables and utilize the filtering and aggregation features native to the MicroStrategy products to customize our datasets.
11. Click Finish, choose to the option to connect live, save the query, and choose the option to create a new dossier. Live connections are possible and effective, thanks to high-performance data processing native to CData JDBC drivers. 👁 Save the query and create a new dossier.
    
12. Choose a visualization, choose fields to display and apply any filters to create a new visualization of Exa 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 Exa, 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 Exa data.
    
13. Once you have finished configuring the dossier, click File -> Save.

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

Note: Connecting using a JDBC Driver requires a 3- or 4-Tier Architecture.