Use the CData ODBC Driver for Front in MicroStrategy Desktop

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

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

Connect to Front as an ODBC Data Source

Information for connecting to Front follows, along with different instructions for configuring a DSN in Windows and Linux environments.

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

Front API Profile Settings

Generate an API key in Front by navigating to Settings > Plugins & API > API.

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 Front 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 API Sys]
Driver = CData ODBC Driver for Front
Description = My Description
Profile = C:\profiles\Front.apip
ProfileSettings = 'APIKey = your_api_key'

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

Connect to and Visualize Front Data using MicroStrategy Desktop

In addition to connecting Front in MicroStrategy enterprise products, you can connect to Front in MicroStrategy Desktop. Follow the steps below to add Front data as a dataset and create visualizations and reports of Front data.

1. Open MicroStrategy Desktop and create a new dossier.
2. In the datasets panel, click New Data, select Databases, and select Type a Query as the Import Option.
3. Add a new data source and choose DSN data sources.
4. Choose the DSN you previously configured (likely CData API Sys) and select Generic DBMS in the Version menu.
5. Set the User and Password properties for the DSN (or use placeholder values) and name the data source.
👁 Creating a new data source for Front.

6. Select the new database instance to view the tables. You may need to manually click the search icon in the Available Tables section to see the tables.
7. Create a SQL query for the Front data (see below) and click Execute SQL to test the query.

   SELECT * FROM Channels
   

   👁 Querying Front for data.
   NOTE: Since we create a live connection, we can execute a SELECT * query and utilize the filtering and aggregation features native to the MicroStrategy products.
8. Click Finish and choose to connect live.
9. Choose a visualization, choose fields to display (data types are discovered automatically through dynamic metadata discovery) and apply any filters to create a new visualization of Front data. Where possible, the complex queries generated by the filters and aggregations will be pushed down to Front, 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 Front data.
   
10. Once you are finished configuring the dossier, click File -> Save.

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