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URL: https://www.cdata.com/kb/tech/xero-cloud-metabase.rst

⇱ How to integrate Metabase with Xero Data

How to integrate Metabase with Xero Data

👁 Jerod Johnson
Jerod Johnson
Director, Technology Evangelism
Use CData Connect AI to connect to live Xero data and create an interactive dashboard in Metabase from Xero data.

Metabase is an open source data visualization tool that allows users to create interactive dashboards. When paired with CData Connect AI, users can easily create visualizations and dashboards linked to live Xero data. This article describes how to connect to Xero and build a simple visualization using Xero data.

CData Connect provides a pure cloud-to-cloud interface for Xero, allowing you to easily integrate with live Xero data in Metabase — without replicating the data. Connect looks exactly like a SQL Server database to Metabase and uses optimized data processing out of the box to push all supported SQL operations (filters, JOINs, etc) directly to Xero, leveraging server-side processing to quickly return Xero data.

About Xero Data Integration

Accessing and integrating live data from Xero has never been easier with CData. Customers rely on CData connectivity to:

  • Connect to Xero Accounts and both US and Australian Payroll APIs.
  • Read, write, update, and delete Xero objects like Customers, Transactions, Invoices, Sales Receipts and more.
  • Use SQL stored procedures for actions like adding items to a cart, submitting orders, and downloading attachments.
  • Work with accounting, payroll, file, fixed asset, and project data.

Customers regularly integrate their Xero data with preferred tools, like Tableau, Qlik Sense, or Excel, and integrate Xero data into their database or data warehouse.


Getting Started


Configure Xero Connectivity for Metabase

Connectivity to Xero from Metabase is made possible through CData Connect AI. To work with Xero data from Metabase, we start by creating and configuring a Xero connection.

  1. Log into Connect AI, click Sources, and then click Add Connection
    2. 👁 Adding a Connection
  2. Select "Xero" from the Add Connection panel
    3. 👁 Selecting a data source
  3. Xero uses OAuth to authenticate. Click "Sign in" to authenticate with Xero. 👁 Authenticating with OAuth (Salesforce is shown).
  4. Navigate to the Permissions tab in the Add Xero 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.

  1. Click on the Gear icon () at the top right of the Connect AI app to open the settings page.
  2. On the Settings page, go to the Access Tokens section and click Create PAT.
  3. Give the PAT a name and click Create. 👁 Creating a new PAT
  4. 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 Xero data from Metabase.

Connect to CData Connect AI from Metabase

After creating the connection in Connect AI, navigate to your Metabase instance. Use the SQL Server interface to connect to Connect AI.

  1. Navigate to the administration screen (Settings -> Admin) and click "Add Database" from the "Databases" tab 👁 Adding a new database connection to Metabase.
  2. Configure the connection to Connect AI and click "Save"
    • Database type: Select "SQL Server"
    • Name: Name the connection (e.g. "Xero (Connect AI)")
    • Host: tds.cdata.com
    • Port: 14333
    • Database name: The name of the connection you just created (e.g. Xero1)
    • Username: A Connect AI username (e.g. [email protected])
    • Password: The PAT previously created
    • Click to Use a secure connection (SSL)
    👁 Configuring the connection to Connect AI.

Execute Xero Data with Metabase

Once you configure the connection to Connect AI, you can query Xero and build visualizations.

  1. Use the "Write SQL" tool to retrieve the Xero data 👁 Click the 'Write SQL' button.
  2. Write a SQL query based on the Xero connection in CData Connect AI, e.g. 

    SELECT Name, SUM(QuantityOnHand) FROM Items GROUP BY Name
    👁 Collected data (Salesforce is shown).
  3. Navigate to the "Visualization" screen, choose a visualization, and configure the visualization 👁 Collected data (Salesforce is shown).

More Information & Free Trial

At this point, you have built a simple visualization from Xero data in Metabase. You can continue to work with live Xero data in Metabase just like you would any SQL Server database. For more information on creating a live connection to Xero (and more than 100 other data sources), visit the Connect AI page. Sign up for a free trial and start working with live Xero data in Metabase today.