Integrate Excel with External Services using SnapLogic

SnapLogic is an integration platform-as-a-service (iPaaS) that allows users to create data integration flows with no code. When paired with the CData JDBC Drivers, users get access to live data from more than 250+ SaaS, Big Data and NoSQL sources, including Excel, in their SnapLogic workflows.

With built-in optimized data processing, the CData JDBC Driver offers unmatched performance for interacting with live Excel data. When platforms issue complex SQL queries to Excel, the driver pushes supported SQL operations, like filters and aggregations, directly to Excel and utilizes the embedded SQL engine to process unsupported operations client-side (often SQL functions and JOIN operations). Its built-in dynamic metadata querying lets you work with Excel data using native data types.

Connect to Excel in SnapLogic

To connect to Excel data in SnapLogic, download and install the CData Excel JDBC Driver. Follow the installation dialog. When the installation is complete, the JAR file can be found in the installation directory (C:/Program Files/CData/CData JDBC Driver for Microsoft Excel/lib by default).

Upload the Excel JDBC Driver

After installation, upload the JDBC JAR file to a location in SnapLogic (for example, projects/Jerod Johnson) from the Manager tab.

👁 Uploaded JDBC Driver (Salesforce & QuickBooks Online are shown)

Configure the Connection

Once the JDBC Driver is uploaded, we can create the connection to Excel.

1. Navigate to the Designer tab
2. Expand "JDBC" from Snaps and drag a "Generic JDBC - Select" snap onto the designer 👁 Adding a Generic JDBC snap onto the designer
   
3. Click Add Account (or select an existing one) and click "Continue"
4. In the next form, configure the JDBC connection properties:
   • Under JDBC JARs, add the JAR file we previously uploaded
   • Set JDBC Driver Class to cdata.jdbc.excel.ExcelDriver

   • Set JDBC URL to a JDBC connection string for the Excel JDBC Driver, for example:

     jdbc:excel:URI='C:/MyExcelWorkbooks/SampleWorkbook.xlsx';RTK=XXXXXX;

     NOTE: RTK is a trial or full key. Contact our Support team for more information. 👁 Configuring a connection (Salesforce is shown)
     

     Built-In Connection String Designer

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

     java -jar cdata.jdbc.excel.jar

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

     Connecting to Local or Cloud-Stored (Box, Google Drive, Amazon S3, SharePoint) Excel Files

     CData Drivers let you work with Excel files stored locally and stored in cloud storage services like Box, Amazon S3, Google Drive, or SharePoint, right where they are.

     Setting connection properties for local files

     Set the URI property to local folder path.

     Setting connection properties for files stored in Amazon S3

     To connect to Excel file(s) within Amazon S3, set the URI property to the URI of the Bucket and Folder where the intended Excel files exist. In addition, at least set these properties:

     • AWSAccessKey: AWS Access Key (username)
     • AWSSecretKey: AWS Secret Key

     Setting connection properties for files stored in Box

     To connect to Excel file(s) within Box, set the URI property to the URI of the folder that includes the intended Excel file(s). Use the OAuth authentication method to connect to Box.

     Dropbox

     To connect to Excel file(s) within Dropbox, set the URI proprerty to the URI of the folder that includes the intended Excel file(s). Use the OAuth authentication method to connect to Dropbox. Either User Account or Service Account can be used to authenticate.

     SharePoint Online (SOAP)

     To connect to Excel file(s) within SharePoint with SOAP Schema, set the URI proprerty to the URI of the document library that includes the intended Excel file. Set User, Password, and StorageBaseURL.

     SharePoint Online REST

     To connect to Excel file(s) within SharePoint with REST Schema, set the URI proprerty to the URI of the document library that includes the intended Excel file. StorageBaseURL is optional. If not set, the driver will use the root drive. OAuth is used to authenticate.

     Google Drive

     To connect to Excel file(s) within Google Drive, set the URI property to the URI of the folder that includes the intended Excel file(s). Use the OAuth authentication method to connect and set InitiateOAuth to GETANDREFRESH.

     👁 Using the built-in connection string designer to generate a JDBC URL (Salesforce is shown.)
     
5. After entering the connection properties, click "Validate" and "Apply"

Read Excel Data

In the form that opens after validating and applying the connection, configure your query.

• Set Schema name to "Excel"
• Set Table name to a table for Excel using the schema name, for example: "Excel"."Sheet" (use the drop-down to see the full list of available tables)
• Add Output fields for each item you wish to work with from the table

👁 Configuring a Select snap (Salesforce is shown)

Save the Generic JDBC - Select snap.

With connection and query configured, click the end of the snap to preview the data (highlighted below).

👁 Click the end of the snap to preview the data.

Once you confirm the results are what you expect, you can add additional snaps to funnel your Excel data to another endpoint.

👁 Previewing data (Salesforce is shown).

Piping Excel Data to External Services

For this article, we will load data in a Google Spreadsheet. You can use any of the supported snaps, or even use a Generic JDBC snap with another CData JDBC Driver, to move data into an external service.

1. Start by dropping a "Worksheet Writer" snap onto the end of the "Generic JDBC - Select" snap.
2. Add an account to connect to Google Sheets 👁 Connecting to Google
   
3. Configure the Worksheet Writer snap to write your Excel data to a Google Spreadsheet 👁 Writing to a Google Spreadsheet
   

You can now execute the fully configured pipeline to extract data from Excel and push it into a Google Spreadsheet.

👁 Data written to Google Spreadsheets (Salesforce is shown)

Piping External Data to Excel

As mentioned above, you can also use the JDBC Driver for Excel in SnapLogic to write data to Excel. Start by adding a Generic JDBC - Insert or Generic JDBC - Update snap to the dashboard.

1. Select the existing "Account" (connection) or create a new one
2. Configure the query:
   • Set Schema name to "Excel"
   • Set Table name to a table for Excel using the schema name, for example: "Excel"."Sheet" (use the drop-down to see the full list of available tables)
   👁 Configuring a INSERT snap (Salesforce is shown)
   
3. Save the Generic JDBC - Insert/Update snap

At this point, you have configured a snap to write data to Excel, inserting new records or updating existing ones.

More Information & Free Trial

Using the CData JDBC Driver for Microsoft Excel you can create a pipeline in SnapLogic for integrating Excel data with external services. For more information about connecting to Excel, check at our CData JDBC Driver for Microsoft Excel page. Download a free, 30 day trial of the CData JDBC Driver for Microsoft Excel and get started today.