Using the CData ODBC Driver for XML in PyCharm

The CData ODBC Drivers can be used in any environment that supports loading an ODBC Driver. In this tutorial we will explore using the CData ODBC Driver for XML from within PyCharm. Included are steps for adding the CData ODBC Driver as a data source, as well as basic PyCharm code to query the data source and display results.

To begin, this tutorial will assume that you have already installed the CData ODBC Driver for XML as well as PyCharm.

Add Pyodbc to the Project

Follow the steps below to add the pyodbc module to your project.

1. Click File -> Settings to open the project settings window.
2. Click Project Interpreter from the Project: YourProjectName menu.
3. To add pyodbc, click the + button and enter pyodbc.
4. Click Install Package to install pyodbc.

👁 Image

Connect to XML

You can now connect with an ODBC connection string or a DSN. See the Getting Started section in the CData driver documentation for a guide to creating a DSN on your OS.

Connecting to Local or Cloud-Stored (Box, Google Drive, Amazon S3, SharePoint) XML Files

CData Drivers let you work with XML files stored locally and stored in cloud storage services like Box, Amazon S3, Google Drive, or SharePoint, right where they are.

Setting connection properties for local files

Set the URI property to local folder path.

Setting connection properties for files stored in Amazon S3

To connect to XML file(s) within Amazon S3, set the URI property to the URI of the Bucket and Folder where the intended XML files exist. In addition, at least set these properties:

• AWSAccessKey: AWS Access Key (username)
• AWSSecretKey: AWS Secret Key

Setting connection properties for files stored in Box

To connect to XML file(s) within Box, set the URI property to the URI of the folder that includes the intended XML file(s). Use the OAuth authentication method to connect to Box.

Dropbox

To connect to XML file(s) within Dropbox, set the URI proprerty to the URI of the folder that includes the intended XML file(s). Use the OAuth authentication method to connect to Dropbox. Either User Account or Service Account can be used to authenticate.

SharePoint Online (SOAP)

To connect to XML file(s) within SharePoint with SOAP Schema, set the URI proprerty to the URI of the document library that includes the intended XML file. Set User, Password, and StorageBaseURL.

SharePoint Online REST

To connect to XML file(s) within SharePoint with REST Schema, set the URI proprerty to the URI of the document library that includes the intended XML file. StorageBaseURL is optional. If not set, the driver will use the root drive. OAuth is used to authenticate.

Google Drive

To connect to XML file(s) within Google Drive, set the URI property to the URI of the folder that includes the intended XML file(s). Use the OAuth authentication method to connect and set InitiateOAuth to GETANDREFRESH.

The property is the controlling property over how your data is represented into tables and toggles the following basic configurations.

• Document (default): Model a top-level, document view of your XML data. The data provider returns nested elements as aggregates of data.
• FlattenedDocuments: Implicitly join nested documents and their parents into a single table.
• Relational: Return individual, related tables from hierarchical data. The tables contain a primary key and a foreign key that links to the parent document.

See the Modeling XML Data chapter for more information on configuring the relational representation. You will also find the sample data used in the following examples. The data includes entries for people, the cars they own, and various maintenance services performed on those cars.

Below is the syntax for a DSN:

[CData XML Source]
Driver = CData ODBC Driver for XML
Description = My Description
URI = C:/people.xml
DataModel = Relational

Execute SQL to XML

Instantiate a Cursor and use the execute method of the Cursor class to execute any SQL statement.

import pyodbc

cnxn = pyodbc.connect('DRIVER={CData ODBC Driver for XML};URI = C:/people.xml;DataModel = Relational;')
cursor = cnxn.cursor()
cursor.execute("SELECT [ personal.name.first ], [ personal.name.last ] FROM people WHERE [ personal.name.last ] = 'Roberts'")
rows = cursor.fetchall()
for row in rows:
 print(row.[ personal.name.first ], row.[ personal.name.last ])

After connecting to XML in PyCharm using the CData ODBC Driver, you will be able to build Python apps with access to XML data as if it were a standard database. If you have any questions, comments, or feedback regarding this tutorial, please contact us at [email protected].