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Using the CData ODBC Driver for Facebook in PyCharm


Connect to Facebook as an ODBC data source in PyCharm using the CData ODBC Driver for Facebook.

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 Facebook 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 Facebook 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.

Connect to Facebook

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.

Most tables require user authentication as well as application authentication. Facebook uses the OAuth authentication standard. To authenticate to Facebook, you can use the embedded OAuthClientId, OAuthClientSecret, and CallbackURL or you can obtain your own by registering an app with Facebook.

See the Getting Started chapter of the help documentation for a guide to using OAuth.

Below is the syntax for a DSN:

[CData Facebook Source] Driver = CData ODBC Driver for Facebook Description = My Description

Execute SQL to Facebook

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 Facebook};') cursor = cnxn.cursor() cursor.execute("SELECT FromName, LikesCount FROM Posts WHERE Target = 'thesimpsons'") rows = cursor.fetchall() for row in rows: print(row.FromName, row.LikesCount)

After connecting to Facebook in PyCharm using the CData ODBC Driver, you will be able to build Python apps with access to Facebook 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].

Ready to get started?

Download a free trial of the Facebook ODBC Driver to get started:

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Facebook Icon Facebook ODBC Driver

The Facebook ODBC Driver is a powerful tool that allows you to connect with live Facebook account data, directly from any applications that support ODBC connectivity.

Access Facebook data like you would a database - read, write, and update Facebook Posts, Groups, Events, Places, etc. through a standard ODBC Driver interface.

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