Use the CData ODBC Driver for Reckon Accounts Hosted in MicroStrategy Desktop

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

The CData ODBC Driver offers unmatched performance for interacting with live Reckon Accounts Hosted data in MicroStrategy due to optimized data processing built into the driver. When you issue complex SQL queries from MicroStrategy to Reckon Accounts Hosted, the driver pushes supported SQL operations, like filters and aggregations, directly to Reckon Accounts Hosted 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 Reckon Accounts Hosted data using native MicroStrategy data types.

Connect to Reckon Accounts Hosted as an ODBC Data Source

Information for connecting to Reckon Accounts Hosted follows, along with different instructions for configuring a DSN in Windows and Linux environments.

The connector makes requests to Reckon Accounts Hosted through OAuth. Specify the following connection properties:

• SubscriptionKey: Required. You get this value when you created your developer account.
• CountryVersion: Defaults to 2021.R2.AU.
• CompanyFile: Required. The path to the company file.
• User: Required. The username of the company file.
• Password: Required. The password of the company file.
• InitiateOAuth: Set this to GETANDREFRESH to let the driver handle access tokens.
• CallbackURL: The redirectURI of your Custom OAuth App.
• OAuthClientId: The client id of your Custom OAuth App.
• OAuthClientSecret: The client secret of your Custom OAuth App.

CData provides an embedded OAuth application that simplifies OAuth desktop authentication. See the Help documentation for information on other OAuth authentication methods (web, headless, etc.), creating custom OAuth applications, and reasons for doing so.

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 Reckon Accounts Hosted 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 ReckonAccountsHosted Sys]
Driver = CData ODBC Driver for Reckon Accounts Hosted
Description = My Description
SubscriptionKey = my_subscription_key
CountryVersion = 2021.R2.AU
CompanyFile = Q:/CompanyName.QBW
User = my_user
Password = my_password
CallbackURL = http://localhost:33333
OAuthClientId = my_oauth_client_id
OAuthClientSecret = my_oauth_client_secret
InitiateOAuth = GETANDREFRESH

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

Connect to and Visualize Reckon Accounts Hosted Data using MicroStrategy Desktop

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

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 Reckon Accounts Hosted data (see below) and click Execute SQL to test the query.

   SELECT * FROM Accounts
   

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

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