MicroStrategy is an analytics and mobility platform that enables data-driven innovation. When you pair MicroStrategy with CData Connect AI, you gain database-like access to live Quickbase data from MicroStrategy, expanding your reporting and analytics capabilities. In this article, we walk through connecting to Quickbase in Connect AI and connecting to Connect AI in MicroStrategy to create a simple visualization of Quickbase data.
As a cloud-based integration platform, Connect AI is ideal for working with cloud-based BI and analytics tools. With no servers to configure or data proxies to set up, you can simply use the web-based UI to create a live connection to Quickbase and connect from MicroStrategy to start performing analytics based on live Quickbase data.
Configure Quickbase Connectivity for Microstrategy
Connectivity to Quickbase from Microstrategy is made possible through CData Connect AI. To work with Quickbase data from Microstrategy, we start by creating and configuring a Quickbase connection.
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Log into Connect AI, click Sources, and then click Add Connection
👁 Adding a Connection
- Select "Quickbase" from the Add Connection panel
👁 Selecting a data source
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Enter the necessary authentication properties to connect to Quickbase.
User Authentication Method
To authenticate with user credentials, specify the following connection properties:
- Set the User and Password.
- If your application requires an ApplicationToken;, you must provide it otherwise an error will be thrown. You can find the ApplicationToken under SpecificApp > Settings > App management > App properties > Advanced settings > Security options > Manage Application Token.
User Token Authentication
To authenticate with a user token, specify the following connection properties:
- Set UserToken and you are ready to connect. You can find the UserToken under Quick Base > My Preferences > My User Information > Manage User Tokens.
👁 Configuring a connection (Salesforce is shown)
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Click Save & Test
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Navigate to the Permissions tab in the Add Quickbase Connection page and update the User-based permissions.
👁 Updating permissions
Add a Personal Access Token
When connecting to Connect AI through the REST API, the OData API, or the Virtual SQL Server, a Personal Access Token (PAT) is used to authenticate the connection to Connect AI. It is best practice to create a separate PAT for each service to maintain granularity of access.
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Click on the Gear icon () at the top right of the Connect AI app to open the settings page.
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On the Settings page, go to the Access Tokens section and click Create PAT.
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Give the PAT a name and click Create.
👁 Creating a new PAT
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The personal access token is only visible at creation, so be sure to copy it and store it securely for future use.
With the connection configured and a PAT generated, you are ready to connect to Quickbase data from MicroStrategy.
Connect to and Visualize Quickbase Data Using MicroStrategy
You can connect to Quickbase in MicroStrategy by adding a data source based on the native SQL Server functionality.
Once you have created a data source, you can build dynamic visualizations of Quickbase data in MicroStrategy.
- Open MicroStrategy and select your account.
- Click Add External Data, select Databases, and use Select Tables as the Import Option.
👁 Adding External Data
- In the Import from Tables wizard, click to add a new Data Source.
- Select "SQL Server" in the Database menu and select "SQL Server 2017" in the Version menu.
- Sat the connection properties as follows:
- Server Name: tds.cdata.com
- Port Number: 14333
- Database Name: the name of your Quickbase connection (e.g. QuickBase1)
- User: a Connect AI user
- Password: the PAT for your Connect AI user
- Data Source Name: a name for the new external data source, like "CData Cloud Quickbase"
- Expand the menu for the new data source and choose "Edit Catalog Options"👁 Edit the catalog options.
- Edit the "SQL statement retrieve columns ..." query to include TABLE_SCHEMA = '#?Schema_Name?#' in the WHERE clause, and click Apply and then OK (the complete query is below).
SELECT DISTINCT
TABLE_SCHEMA NAME_SPACE,
TABLE_NAME TAB_NAME,
COLUMN_NAME COL_NAME,
(CASE
WHEN
(DATA_TYPE LIKE '%char' AND (CHARACTER_SET_NAME='utf8' OR CHARACTER_SET_NAME='usc2'))
THEN
CONCAT('a',DATA_TYPE)
ELSE
DATA_TYPE
END) DATA_TYPE,
CHARACTER_MAXIMUM_LENGTH DATA_LEN,
NUMERIC_PRECISION DATA_PREC,
NUMERIC_SCALE DATA_SCALE
FROM
INFORMATION_SCHEMA.COLUMNS
WHERE
TABLE_NAME
IN
(#TABLE_LIST#) AND TABLE_SCHEMA='#?Schema_Name?#'
ORDER BY
1,2,3
- Select the new data source and select the Namespace that corresponds to your virtual Quickbase database (like QuickBase1).
- Drag tables into the pane to insert then.
👁 Select tables to insert.
Note: Since we create a live connection, we can insert whole tables and utilize the filtering and aggregation features native to the MicroStrategy products to customize our datasets.
- Click Finish, choose the option to connect live, save the query, and choose the option to create a new dossier. Live connections are possible and effective, thanks to high-performance data processing native to CData Connect AI.
👁 Save the query and create a new dossier.
- Choose a visualization, choose fields to display, and apply any filters to create a new visualization of Quickbase data. Data types are discovered automatically through dynamic metadata discovery. Where possible, the complex queries generated by the filters and aggregations will be pushed down to Quickbase, while any unsupported operations (which can include SQL functions and JOIN operations) will be managed by the CData SQL engine embedded in Connect AI.
👁 Visualize Quickbase data.
- Once you have finished configuring the dossier, click File -> Save.
Using CData Connect AI with MicroStrategy, you can easily create robust visualizations and reports on Quickbase data. For more information on connecting to Quickbase (and more than 100 other data sources), visit the Connect AI page. Sign up for a free trial and start working with live Quickbase data in MicroStrategy.
