Use Dash to Build to Web Apps on IBM Informix Data

The rich ecosystem of Python modules lets you get to work quickly and integrate your systems more effectively. With the CData Python Connector for IBM Informix, the pandas module, and the Dash framework, you can build IBM Informix-connected web applications for IBM Informix data. This article shows how to connect to IBM Informix with the CData Connector and use pandas and Dash to build a simple web app for visualizing IBM Informix data.

With built-in, optimized data processing, the CData Python Connector offers unmatched performance for interacting with live IBM Informix data in Python. When you issue complex SQL queries from IBM Informix, the driver pushes supported SQL operations, like filters and aggregations, directly to IBM Informix and utilizes the embedded SQL engine to process unsupported operations client-side (often SQL functions and JOIN operations).

Connecting to IBM Informix Data

Connecting to IBM Informix data looks just like connecting to any relational data source. Create a connection string using the required connection properties. For this article, you will pass the connection string as a parameter to the create_engine function.

Set the following properties to connect to IBM Informix

• Server: Set this to the name of the server running IBM Informix.
• Port: Set this to the port the IBM Informix server is listening on.
• Database: Set this to the name of the IBM Informix database.
• User: Set this to the username of a user allowed to access the database.
• Password: Set this to the password of a user allowed to access the database.

After installing the CData IBM Informix Connector, follow the procedure below to install the other required modules and start accessing IBM Informix through Python objects.

Install Required Modules

Use the pip utility to install the required modules and frameworks:

pip install pandas
pip install dash
pip install dash-daq

Visualize IBM Informix Data in Python

Once the required modules and frameworks are installed, we are ready to build our web app. Code snippets follow, but the full source code is available at the end of the article.

First, be sure to import the modules (including the CData Connector) with the following:

import os
import dash
import dash_core_components as dcc
import dash_html_components as html
import pandas as pd
import cdata.informix as mod
import plotly.graph_objs as go

You can now connect with a connection string. Use the connect function for the CData IBM Informix Connector to create a connection for working with IBM Informix data.

cnxn = mod.connect("Server=10.0.1.2;Port=50000;User=admin;Password=admin;Database=test;")

Execute SQL to IBM Informix

Use the read_sql function from pandas to execute any SQL statement and store the result set in a DataFrame.

df = pd.read_sql("SELECT Id, Price FROM Books WHERE Category = 'US'", cnxn)

Configure the Web App

With the query results stored in a DataFrame, we can begin configuring the web app, assigning a name, stylesheet, and title.

app_name = 'dash-informixedataplot'

external_stylesheets = ['https://codepen.io/chriddyp/pen/bWLwgP.css']

app = dash.Dash(__name__, external_stylesheets=external_stylesheets)
app.title = 'CData + Dash'

Configure the Layout

The next step is to create a bar graph based on our IBM Informix data and configure the app layout.

trace = go.Bar(x=df.Id, y=df.Price, name='Id')

app.layout = html.Div(children=[html.H1("CData Extension + Dash", style={'textAlign': 'center'}),
	dcc.Graph(
		id='example-graph',
		figure={
			'data': [trace],
			'layout':
			go.Layout(title='IBM Informix Books Data', barmode='stack')
		})
], className="container")

Set the App to Run

With the connection, app, and layout configured, we are ready to run the app. The last lines of Python code follow.

if __name__ == '__main__':
 app.run_server(debug=True)

Now, use Python to run the web app and a browser to view the IBM Informix data.

python informix-dash.py

👁 IBM Informix data in a Dash web app (Salesforce is shown).

Free Trial & More Information

Download a free, 30-day trial of the CData Python Connector for IBM Informix to start building Python apps with connectivity to IBM Informix data. Reach out to our Support Team if you have any questions.

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Full Source Code

import os
import dash
import dash_core_components as dcc
import dash_html_components as html
import pandas as pd
import cdata.informix as mod
import plotly.graph_objs as go

cnxn = mod.connect("Server=10.0.1.2;Port=50000;User=admin;Password=admin;Database=test;")

df = pd.read_sql("SELECT Id, Price FROM Books WHERE Category = 'US'", cnxn)
app_name = 'dash-informixdataplot'

external_stylesheets = ['https://codepen.io/chriddyp/pen/bWLwgP.css']

app = dash.Dash(__name__, external_stylesheets=external_stylesheets)
app.title = 'CData + Dash'
trace = go.Bar(x=df.Id, y=df.Price, name='Id')

app.layout = html.Div(children=[html.H1("CData Extension + Dash", style={'textAlign': 'center'}),
	dcc.Graph(
		id='example-graph',
		figure={
			'data': [trace],
			'layout':
			go.Layout(title='IBM Informix Books Data', barmode='stack')
		})
], className="container")

if __name__ == '__main__':
 app.run_server(debug=True)