Visualize Strava Data in Sisense

Sisense lets you join, analyze, and picture data to make more intelligent business decisions and craft effective strategies. The CData API Driver for JDBC makes it easy to integrate with Strava data in Sisense. This article shows how to create an ElastiCube that connects to Strava data and use the ElastiCube to visualize Strava data in Sisense.

Configure the Connection to Strava

Before creating the ElastiCube, note the installation location for the JAR file for the JDBC Driver (typically C:\Program Files\CData\CData API Driver for JDBC 20XX\lib) or copy the jar file (cdata.jdbc.api.API.jar) to a new folder in the Sisense JDBC driver directory (typically C:\ProgramData\Sisense\DataConnectors\jdbcdrivers).

1. In the Data page of the Sisense application, create a new ElastiCube (or open an existing one).
2. In the Model Editor, click "+ Data" to open the Add Data dialog box.
3. Click Generic JDBC to open the JDBC settings. 👁 Connecting via JDBC
   
4. Set the connection string property to the JDBC URL for Strava, adding required properties.

   To authenticate to Strava, and connect to your own data or to allow other users to connect to their data, you can use the OAuth standard.

   Using OAuth Authentication

   You must create a custom OAuth application to connect to Strava. To create a custom OAuth application:

   1. Log into the Strava API Settings page
   2. Create a new application or select an existing application
   3. Set the "Authorization Callback Domain" to your callback URL domain (e.g. localhost)
   4. Note down the Client ID and Client Secret

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

   • AuthScheme: Set this to OAuth.
   • InitiateOAuth: Set this to GETANDREFRESH. You can use InitiateOAuth to manage the process to obtain the OAuthAccessToken.
   • OAuthClientId: Set this to the Client ID from your Strava API application.
   • OAuthClientSecret: Set this to the Client Secret from your Strava API application.
   • CallbackURL: Set this to the redirect URI matching your application's callback domain.

   Example connection string:

   Profile=C:\profiles\Strava.apip;AuthScheme=OAuth;InitiateOAuth=GETANDREFRESH;OAuthClientId=your_client_id;OAuthClientSecret=your_client_secret;CallbackURL=http://localhost:33333;
   

   Built-in Connection String Designer

   For assistance in constructing the JDBC URL, use the connection string designer built into the Strava JDBC Driver. Either double-click the JAR file or execute the jar file from the command-line.

   java -jar cdata.jdbc.api.jar
   

   Fill in the connection properties and copy the connection string to the clipboard.

   👁 Using the built-in connection string designer to generate a JDBC URL (Salesforce is shown.)
   

   When you configure the JDBC URL, 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.

   A typical example follows:

   jdbc:api:Profile=C:\profiles\Strava.apip;AuthScheme=OAuth;InitiateOAuth=GETANDREFRESH;OAuthClientId=your_client_id;OAuthClientSecret=your_client_secret;CallbackURL=http://localhost:33333;
   

5. Set the JDBC JARs folder property to the location of the CData JDBC Driver JAR file (see above).
6. Set the driver's class name to the class name for the JDBC Driver: cdata.jdbc.api.APIDriver
7. Leave the username and password properties blank.
8. Click Next. 👁 A configured connection in Sisense (HubSpot is shown).
   

Add Strava Data to an ElastiCube

Once you are connected to Strava, you can add views to your ElastiCubes.

1. From the Tables list, select the tables and/or views you wish to work with.
2. (Optional) Click "+" to customize the data you want to import with SQL.
3. Click Done. 👁 Selected tables to add to the ElastiCube
   
4. Click Build to build the ElastiCube for analytics.

Visualize Strava Data

With Strava tables added to your ElastiCube, you can perform analytics on your Strava data.

1. Navigate to the Analytics page of the Sisense application
2. Select a Dashboard (or create a new one)
3. Select your Data Source and click Create 👁 Selecting the newly created ElastiCube
   
4. Click "+ Select Data" and choose fields to add to your visualization. 👁 Visualizing data in Sisense (HubSpot is shown).
   

With the CData API Driver for JDBC, you can access Strava data right in Sisense for powerful visualization and analytics. Download a free, 30-day trial and start working with Strava data in Sisense today!