Use the CData ODBC Driver for Google Sheets in MicroStrategy Desktop

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

The CData ODBC Driver offers unmatched performance for interacting with live Google Sheets data in MicroStrategy due to optimized data processing built into the driver. When you issue complex SQL queries from MicroStrategy 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 (often SQL functions and JOIN operations) client-side. With built-in dynamic metadata querying, you can visualize and analyze Google Sheets data using native MicroStrategy data types.

Connect to Google Sheets as an ODBC Data Source

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

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.

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 Google Sheets 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 GoogleSheets Sys]
Driver = CData ODBC Driver for Google Sheets
Description = My Description
Spreadsheet = MySheet
InitiateOAuth = GETANDREFRESH

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

Connect to and Visualize Google Sheets Data using MicroStrategy Desktop

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

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 Google Sheets data (see below) and click Execute SQL to test the query.

   SELECT * FROM Orders
   

   👁 Querying Google Sheets 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 Google Sheets data. Where possible, the complex queries generated by the filters and aggregations will be pushed down to Google Sheets, 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 Google Sheets data.
   
10. Once you are finished configuring the dossier, click File -> Save.

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