Integrate Google Sheets 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 Google Sheets, in their SnapLogic workflows.

With built-in optimized data processing, the CData JDBC Driver offers unmatched performance for interacting with live Google Sheets data. When platforms issue complex SQL queries to Google Sheets, the driver pushes supported SQL operations, like filters and aggregations, directly to Google Sheets 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 Google Sheets data using native data types.

Connect to Google Sheets in SnapLogic

To connect to Google Sheets data in SnapLogic, download and install the CData Google Sheets 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 Google Spreadsheets/lib by default).

Upload the Google Sheets 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 Google Sheets.

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.googlesheets.GoogleSheetsDriver

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

     jdbc:googlesheets:Spreadsheet=MySheet;InitiateOAuth=GETANDREFRESH;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 Google Sheets JDBC Driver. Either double-click the JAR file or execute the jar file from the command-line.

     java -jar cdata.jdbc.googlesheets.jar

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

     You can connect to a spreadsheet by providing authentication to Google and then setting the Spreadsheet connection property to the name or feed link of the spreadsheet. If you want to view a list of information about the spreadsheets in your Google Drive, execute a query to the Spreadsheets view after you authenticate.

     ClientLogin (username/password authentication) has been officially deprecated since April 20, 2012 and is now no longer available. Instead, use the OAuth 2.0 authentication standard. To access Google APIs on behalf on individual users, you can use the embedded credentials or you can register your own OAuth app.

     OAuth also enables you to use a service account to connect on behalf of users in a Google Apps domain. To authenticate with a service account, register an application to obtain the OAuth JWT values.

     See the Getting Started chapter in the help documentation to connect to Google Sheets from different types of accounts: Google accounts, Google Apps accounts, and accounts using two-step verification. 👁 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 Google Sheets Data

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

• Set Schema name to "GoogleSheets"
• Set Table name to a table for Google Sheets using the schema name, for example: "GoogleSheets"."Orders" (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 Google Sheets data to another endpoint.

👁 Previewing data (Salesforce is shown).

Piping Google Sheets 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 Google Sheets data to a Google Spreadsheet 👁 Writing to a Google Spreadsheet
   

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

👁 Data written to Google Spreadsheets (Salesforce is shown)

Piping External Data to Google Sheets

As mentioned above, you can also use the JDBC Driver for Google Sheets in SnapLogic to write data to Google Sheets. 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 "GoogleSheets"
   • Set Table name to a table for Google Sheets using the schema name, for example: "GoogleSheets"."Orders" (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 Google Sheets, inserting new records or updating existing ones.

More Information & Free Trial

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