Access Live Excel Data in TIBCO Data Virtualization

TIBCO Data Virtualization (TDV) is an enterprise data virtualization solution that orchestrates access to multiple and varied data sources. When paired with the Excel Tibco DV Adapter, you get federated access to live Excel data directly within TIBCO Data Virtualization. This article explains how to deploy an adapter and create a new data source based on Excel.

With built-in optimized data processing, the CData TIBCO DV Adapter offers unmatched performance for interacting with live Excel data. When you issue complex SQL queries to Excel, the adapter pushes supported SQL operations, like filters and aggregations, directly to Excel. Its built-in dynamic metadata querying allows you to work with and analyze Excel data using native data types.

Deploy the Excel TIBCO DV Adapter

1. In a console, navigate to the bin folder in the TDV Server installation directory. If there is a current version of the adapter installed, you will need to undeploy it.

   .\server_util.bat -server localhost -user admin -password ******** -undeploy -version 1 -name Excel
   

2. Extract the CData TIBCO DV Adapter to a local folder and deploy the JAR file (tdv.excel.jar) to the server from the extract location.

   .\server_util.bat -server localhost -user admin -password ******** -deploy -package /PATH/TO/tdv.excel.jar
   

You may need to restart the server to ensure the new JAR file is loaded properly, which can be accomplished by running the composite.bat script located at: C:\Program Files\TIBCO\TDV Server <version>\bin. Note that reauthenticating to the TDV Studio is required after restarting the server.

Sample Restart Call

.\composite.bat monitor restart

Once you deploy the adapter, you can create a new data source in TDV Studio for Excel.

Create a Excel Data Source in TDV Studio

With the Excel Tibco DV Adapter, you can easily create a data source for Excel and introspect the data source to add resources to TDV.

Create the Data Source

1. Right-click on the folder you wish to add the data source to and select New -> New Data Source
2. Scroll until you find the adapter (e.g. Excel) and click Next
3. Name the data source (e.g. CData Excel Source)
4. Fill in the required connection properties

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.

👁 Filling in Connection Information (Salesforce is shown.)

5. Click Create & Close.

Introspect the Data Source

Once the data source is created, you can introspect the data source by right-clicking and selecting Open. In the dashboard, click Add/Remove Resources and select the Tables, Views, and Stored Procedures to include as part of the data source. Click Next and Finish to add the selected Excel tables, views, and stored procedures as resources.

👁 Introspecting the Data Source (Salesforce is shown.)

After creating and introspecting the data source, you are ready to work with Excel data in TIBCO Data Virtualization just like you would any other relational data source. You can create views, query using SQL, publish the data source, and more.