Build Dashboards with Salesforce Data Cloud Data in DBxtra

The CData ODBC driver for Salesforce Data Cloud enables access to live data from Salesforce Data Cloud under the ODBC standard, allowing you work with Salesforce Data Cloud data in a wide variety of BI, reporting, and ETL tools and directly, using familiar SQL queries. This article shows how to connect to Salesforce Data Cloud data as a generic ODBC Data Provider and create charts, reports, and dashboards based on Salesforce Data Cloud data in DBxtra.

Connect to Salesforce Data Cloud Data

1. If you have not already done so, provide values for the required connection properties in the data source name (DSN). You can configure the DSN using the built-in Microsoft ODBC Data Source Administrator. This is also the last step of the driver installation. See the "Getting Started" chapter in the Help documentation for a guide to using the Microsoft ODBC Data Source Administrator to create and configure a DSN.
   
   

   Salesforce Data Cloud supports authentication via the OAuth standard.

   OAuth

   Set to OAuth.

   Desktop Applications

   CData provides an embedded OAuth application that simplifies authentication at the desktop.

   You can also authenticate from the desktop via a custom OAuth application, which you configure and register at the Salesforce Data Cloud console. For further information, see Creating a Custom OAuth App in the Help documentation.

   Before you connect, set these properties:

   • : GETANDREFRESH. You can use to avoid repeating the OAuth exchange and manually setting the .
   • (custom applications only): The Client ID assigned when you registered your custom OAuth application.
   • (custom applications only): The Client Secret assigned when you registered your custom OAuth application.

   When you connect, the driver opens Salesforce Data Cloud's OAuth endpoint in your default browser. Log in and grant permissions to the application.

   The driver then completes the OAuth process as follows:

   • Extracts the access token from the callback URL.
   • Obtains a new access token when the old one expires.
   • Saves OAuth values in so that they persist across connections.

   For other OAuth methods, including Web Applications and Headless Machines, refer to the Help documentation.

   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.

   • Open the DBxtra application and in the New menu click Project and name the Project. 👁 Creating a New Project.
     
   • Select ODBC Connection as the Data Connection Type. 👁 Creating an ODBC Connection.
     
   • Click the browse option () for the Data Source.
   • In the Data Link Properties window, select Microsoft OLE DB Provider for ODBC Drivers on the Provider tab. 👁 Select the Provider
     
   • On the Connection tab, select the Data Source Name and the initial catalog to use (CData). 👁 Select the Provider
     
   • Name the Connection and select the appropriate User Groups. 👁 Connection name and User Groups
     
   • Double-click the Connection from within the Project to connect to the data. 👁 Connecting to the data.
     

Create a Dashboard with Salesforce Data Cloud Data

You are now ready to create a dashboard with Salesforce Data Cloud data.

1. Right-click Report Objects under the Project and select New Report Object. 👁 Creating a Report Object for the Project
   
2. In the new Report Object, click the link to create the Query.
3. In the Select Data Connection window, select the newly created data connection. 👁 Select Data Connection
   
4. On the Query tab, expand the connection objects and select the Tables, Views, and specific columns you wish to include in your dashboard. You can specify search requirements and even create complex queries which include JOINs and aggregations. 👁 Selecting the data/building the query.
   
5. On the Dashboard tab, select the visualizations and features for your dashboard. Assign the data values from the query to the appropriate fields for the Dashboards items (Values, Series, etc.) 👁 Building the Dashboard.
   

With a new Dashboard created, you are ready to begin analysis of Salesforce Data Cloud data. Thanks to the ODBC Driver for Salesforce Data Cloud, you can refresh the Dashboard and immediately see any changes made at the source. In the same way, you can create and view Reports with live, up-to-date Salesforce Data Cloud data.