Access Live Postmark Data in SAS JMP via ODBC

You can use the CData API Driver for ODBC to integrate live data into your statistical analysis with SAS JMP. The driver proxies your queries directly to the Postmark API, ensuring that your analysis reflects any changes to the data. The CData ODBC Driver supports the standard SQL used by JMP in the background as you design reports.

This article shows how to access Postmark data into a report and create data visualization. It also shows how to use SQL to query Postmark data from the JMP Query Builder.

Access Postmark Data as an ODBC Data Source

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.

Using API Key Authentication

Postmark uses server API tokens to authenticate requests. Each Postmark server has its own API token, which controls access to messages, bounces, templates, and statistics associated with that server.

To obtain your Server API Token, log in to your Postmark account and navigate to the server you want to connect to. Go to API Tokens under the server settings and copy the token labeled Server API token.

After setting the following connection properties, you are ready to connect:

• AuthScheme: Set this to APIKey.
• APIKey: Set this to your Postmark Server API Token. This value is sent as the X-Postmark-Server-Token header on every request.

Example connection string:

Profile=C:\profiles\Postmark.apip;AuthScheme=APIKey;ProfileSettings="APIKey=your-server-api-token"

Connecting to Postmark

Once the authentication is configured, you can connect to Postmark and query data from any of the available tables such as OutboundMessages, Bounces, and Templates.

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.

Import Postmark Data with the Query Builder

After you have created the Postmark DSN, you can use SQL to invoke the capabilities of the Postmark API. Follow the steps below to execute some supported queries in the Query Builder:

1. In SAS JMP, click File -> Database -> Query Builder. The Select Database Connection dialog is displayed.
2. Click New Connection.
3. On the Machine Data Source tab, select the ODBC DSN you configured and then click Next. 👁 Select the ODBC DSN you configured. (Salesforce is shown.)
   
4. The Select Tables for Query dialog is displayed and in the Available Tables section, select a table and click Primary. After choosing the primary table, click Build Query to open the Query Builder. 👁 Select the Primary table for the Query. (Salesforce is shown.)
   
5. As you drag Available Columns to the Included Columns tab, the underlying SQL query is updated and you can view the generated SQL Query in the SQL tab. 👁 The generated query in the Query Builder. (Salesforce is shown.)
   
6. Click Run Query to display the data. 👁 The results of a query in the Query Builder. (Salesforce is shown.)
   
7. To refresh the results with the current data, right-click Update from Database and click Run Script.

Visualize Postmark Data

After importing, you can use the Graph Builder to create graphs visually. To open the Graph Builder, click the Graph Builder button in the toolbar.

1. Drag a dimension column onto the x axis. For example, .
2. Drag a measure column onto the y axis. For example, .
3. Select a chart type. For example, a bar chart. 👁 Configuration of a basic chart. (Salesforce is shown.)