Use the CData ODBC Driver for Facebook Ads in SAS for Real-Time Reporting and Analytics

SAS is a software suite developed for advanced analytics, multivariate analysis, business intelligence, data management, and predictive analytics. When you pair SAS with the CData ODBC Driver for Facebook Ads, you gain database-like access to live Facebook Ads data from SAS, expanding your reporting and analytics capabilities. This article explains how to create a library for Facebook Ads in SAS and create a simple report based on real-time Facebook Ads data.

The CData ODBC Driver offers unmatched performance for interacting with live Facebook Ads data in SAS due to optimized data processing built into the driver. When you issue complex SQL queries from SAS to Facebook Ads, the driver pushes supported SQL operations, like filters and aggregations, directly to Facebook Ads 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 easily visualize and analyze Facebook Ads data in SAS.

Connect to Facebook Ads as an ODBC Data Source

Information for connecting to Facebook Ads follows, along with different instructions for configuring a DSN in Windows and Linux environments (the ODBC Driver for Facebook Ads must be installed on the machine hosting the SAS System).

Most tables require user authentication as well as application authentication. Facebook uses the OAuth authentication standard. To authenticate to Facebook, you can use the embedded OAuthClientId, OAuthClientSecret, and CallbackURL or you can obtain your own by registering an app with Facebook.

See the Getting Started chapter of the help documentation for a guide to using OAuth.

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 Facebook Ads 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 FacebookAds Sys]
Driver = CData ODBC Driver for Facebook Ads
Description = My Description
InitiateOAuth = GETANDREFRESH

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

Create a Facebook Ads Library in SAS

Connect to Facebook Ads in SAS by adding a library based on the CData ODBC Driver for Facebook Ads.

1. Open SAS and expand Libraries in the Explorer pane.
2. In the Active Libraries window, right-click and select New.
3. Name your library (odbclib), select ODBC as the Engine, and click to Enable at startup (if you want the library to persist between sessions).
4. Set Data Source to the DSN you previously configured and click OK. 👁 Creating a library for Facebook Ads in SAS.
   

Create a View from a Facebook Ads Query

SAS natively supports querying data either using a low-code, point-and-click Query tool or programmatically with PROC SQL and a custom SQL query. When you create a View in SAS, the defining query is executed each time the view is queried. This means that you always query live Facebook Ads data for reports, charts, and analytics.

Using the Query Tool

1. In SAS, click Tools -> Query
2. Select the table sources and the table(s) you wish to pull data from. Then, click OK. 👁 Selecting table(s) to visualize.
   
3. Select columns and right-click to add filtering, ordering, grouping, etc. 👁 Selecting columns(s) to visualize and configuring the query.
   
4. Create a local view to contain the query results by right-clicking the SQL Query Tool window, selecting Show Query, and clicking Create View. Name the View and click OK. 👁 Create a local view to work with Facebook Ads data.
   

Using PROC SQL

1. In SAS, navigate to the Editor window.
2. Use PROC SQL to query the data and create a local view.
   NOTE: This procedure creates a view in the Work library. You can optionally specify a library in the create view statement.

   proc sql;
    create view adaccounts_view as
    select 
    accountid, 
    name 
    from 
    odbclib.adaccounts 
    where 
    Name = 'Acct Name';
   quit;
   

3. Click Run -> Submit to execute the query and create a local view.

Report On or Visualize Facebook Ads Data in SAS

With a local view created, you can report, visualize, or otherwise analyze Facebook Ads data using the powerful SAS features. Print a simple report using PROC PRINT and create a basic graph based on the data using PROC GCHART.

Print an HTML Report

1. In SAS, navigate to the Editor window.
2. Use PROC PRINT to print an HTML report for the Facebook Ads AdAccounts data.

   proc print data=adaccounts;
    title "Facebook Ads AdAccounts Data";
   run;
   

   👁 A simple Facebook Ads data report.
   

Print a Chart

1. In SAS, navigate to the Editor window.
2. Use PROC GCHART to create a chart for the AdAccounts data.

   proc gchart data=adaccounts;
    pie accountid / sumvar=name
    value=arrow
    percent=arrow
    noheading
    percent=inside plabel=(height=12pt)
    slice=inside value=none
    name='AdAccountsChart';
   run;
   

   👁 A simple Facebook Ads data chart.