Jitterbit is an enterprise iPaaS (integration platform as a service) that lets you streamline your data workflows. When paired with CData Connect AI, Jitterbit gets access to live Excel Online data. This article demonstrates how to connect to Excel Online using Connect AI and integrate with live Excel Online data in Jitterbit.
CData Connect AI provides a pure OData interface for Excel Online, allowing you to query data from Excel Online without replicating the data to a natively supported database. Using optimized data processing out of the box, CData Connect AI pushes all supported SQL operations (filters, JOINs, etc.) directly to Excel Online, leveraging server-side processing to return the requested Excel Online data quickly.
Configure Excel Online Connectivity for Jitterbit
To work with Excel Online data from Jitterbit, we need to connect to Excel Online from Connect AI, provide user access to
the connection, and create a Workspace for the Excel Online data.
Connect to Excel Online from Connect AI
CData Connect AI uses a straightforward, point-and-click interface to connect to data sources.
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Log into Connect AI, click Sources, and then click Add Connection
👁 Adding a Connection
- Select "Excel Online" from the Add Connection panel
👁 Selecting a data source
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Enter the necessary authentication properties to connect to Excel Online.
You can connect to a workbook by providing authentication to Excel Online and then setting the following properties:
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: Set this to the name or Id of the workbook.
If you want to view a list of information about the available workbooks, execute a query to the Workbooks view after you authenticate.
- : Set this to true if you are connecting to a workbook in a sandbox account. Otherwise, leave this blank to connect to a production account.
You use the OAuth authentication standard to authenticate to Excel Online. See the Getting Started section in the help documentation for a guide. Getting Started also guides you through executing SQL to worksheets and ranges.
👁 Configuring a connection (Salesforce is shown)
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Click Save & Test
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Navigate to the Permissions tab in the Add Excel Online Connection page and update the User-based permissions.
👁 Updating permissions
Add a Personal Access Token
When connecting to Connect AI through the REST API, the OData API, or the Virtual SQL Server, a Personal Access Token (PAT) is used to authenticate the connection to Connect AI. It is best practice to create a separate PAT for each service to maintain granularity of access.
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Click on the Gear icon () at the top right of the Connect AI app to open the settings page.
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On the Settings page, go to the Access Tokens section and click Create PAT.
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Give the PAT a name and click Create.
👁 Creating a new PAT
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The personal access token is only visible at creation, so be sure to copy it and store it securely for future use.
Configure Excel Online Endpoints for Jitterbit
After connecting to Excel Online, create a workspace for your desired table(s).
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Navigate to the Workspaces page and click Add to create a new Workspace (or select an existing workspace).
👁 The Workspaces page.
👁 Adding a new Workspace.
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Click Add to add new assets to the Workspace.
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Select the Excel Online connection (e.g. ExcelOnline1) and click Next.
👁 Selecting an Asset (Salesforce is shown).
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Select the table(s) you wish to work with and click Confirm.
👁 Selecting Tables (Salesforce is shown).
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Make note of the OData Service URL for your workspace, e.g. https://cloud.cdata.com/api/odata/{workspace_name}
With the connection, PAT, and Workspace configured, you are ready to connect to Excel Online data from Jitterbit.
Connect to Excel Online from Jitterbit using Connect AI
To establish a connection from Jitterbit to CData Connect AI using the OData protocol, follow these steps.
- Log into Jitterbit.
- Create a project in Cloud Studio and provide a workspace environment for it.
👁 Creating a new project in Jitterbit.
- click Sources and enter OData in the search bar.
- Select the OData connector.
- Enter the OData connection properties.
- Connection Name: enter a connection name.
- OData Metadata URL: enter https://cloud.cdata.com/api/odata/{workspace_name}.
- Authentication: select Basic Auth.
- User Name: enter your CData Connect AI username. This is displayed in the top-right corner of the CData Connect AI interface. For example, [email protected].
- Password: enter the PAT you generated on the Settings page.
👁 Configuring connectivity to the Connect AI OData endpoint.
- Click Test to test the connection, and then click Save Changes.
- Choose the operation you want to perform and drag it to the workflow in your project.
👁 Selecting the operation for the workflow.
- Double-click the query operation to see all the tables and derived views available in your OData endpoint.
👁 Viewing the available endpoints.
- Select a table and configure the query.
You can now transform and integrate live Excel Online data in Jitterbit.
Get CData Connect AI
To get live data access to hundreds of SaaS, Big Data, and NoSQL sources directly from Jitterbit,
try CData Connect AI today!
