DataBind Charts to Splunk Data

DataBinding facilitates two-way interaction with data through UI controls. Using the CData ADO.NET Provider for Splunk streamlines the process of binding Splunk data to Windows Forms and Web controls within Visual Studio. In this article, we will demonstrate using wizards to establish a binding between Splunk data and a chart that dynamically updates. Additionally, the code walk-through section will guide you through the creation of a chart using just 10 lines of code.

Binding Data to a Chart

DataBinding to a Chart consists of three steps: Instantiate the control, configure the data source, and databind.

Configure the Connection and Select Database Objects

To create a chart control and establish a connection to Splunk, follow the steps outlined below using the Data Source Configuration Wizard. Within the wizard, you'll have the option to choose the specific Splunk entities you wish to bind to.

1. In a Windows Forms project, drag and drop a Chart control from the toolbox to the form. In the Data section of the Chart properties, select DataSource and then select Add Project Data Source from the menu. 👁 Add a data source to be bound to the chart.
   
2. In the Data Source Configuration Wizard that appears, select Database -> Dataset.
3. In the Choose Your Data Connection step, click New Connection.

4. In the Add Connection dialog, click Change to select the CData Splunk Data Source.

   Below is a typical connection string:

   user=MyUserName;password=MyPassword;URL=MyURL;InitiateOAuth=GETANDREFRESH;

   To authenticate requests, set the , , and properties to valid Splunk credentials. The port on which the requests are made to Splunk is port 8089.

   The data provider uses plain-text authentication by default, since the data provider attempts to negotiate TLS/SSL with the server.

   If you need to manually configure TLS/SSL, see Getting Started -> Advanced Settings in the data provider help documentation.

   When you configure the connection, 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.

   👁 Connection properties for the selected data source in the Add Connection dialog. (Salesforce is shown.)
   
5. Choose the database objects you want to work with. This example uses the DataModels table. 👁 Select database objects. (Salesforce is shown.)
   

DataBind

After adding the data source and selecting database objects, you can bind the objects to the chart. This example assigns the x-axis to Name and the y-axis to Owner.

1. In the Chart properties, click the button in the Series property to open the Series Collection Editor.
2. In the Series properties, select the columns you want for the x- and y-axes: Select columns from the menu in the XValueMember and YValueMember properties.

The chart is now databound to the Splunk data. Run the chart to display the current data. 👁 The chart, filled with data at run time.

Code Walk-through

DataBinding to Splunk data requires only a few lines of code and can be completed in three easy steps.

1. Connect to Splunk.
2. Create the SplunkDataAdapter to execute the query and create a DataSet to be filled with its results.
3. DataBind the result set to the chart.

Below is the complete code:

SplunkConnection conn = new SplunkConnection("user=MyUserName;password=MyPassword;URL=MyURL;InitiateOAuth=GETANDREFRESH;");
SplunkCommand comm = new SplunkCommand("SELECT Name, Owner FROM DataModels", conn);
SplunkDataAdapter da = new SplunkDataAdapter(comm);
DataSet dataset = new DataSet();
da.Fill(dataset);

chart1.DataSource = dataset; 
chart1.Series[0].XValueMember = "Name";
chart1.Series[0].YValueMembers = "Owner";
// Insert code for additional chart formatting here.
chart1.DataBind();