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Analyze Google Data Catalog Data in R


Create data visualizations and use high-performance statistical functions to analyze Google Data Catalog data in Microsoft R Open.

Access Google Data Catalog data with pure R script and standard SQL. You can use the CData ODBC Driver for Google Data Catalog and the RODBC package to work with remote Google Data Catalog data in R. By using the CData Driver, you are leveraging a driver written for industry-proven standards to access your data in the popular, open-source R language. This article shows how to use the driver to execute SQL queries to Google Data Catalog data and visualize Google Data Catalog data in R.

Install R

You can complement the driver's performance gains from multi-threading and managed code by running the multithreaded Microsoft R Open or by running R linked with the BLAS/LAPACK libraries. This article uses Microsoft R Open (MRO).

Connect to Google Data Catalog as an ODBC Data Source

Information for connecting to Google Data Catalog follows, along with different instructions for configuring a DSN in Windows and Linux environments.

Google Data Catalog uses the OAuth authentication standard. Authorize access to Google APIs on behalf on individual users or on behalf of users in a domain.

Before connecting, specify the following to identify the organization and project you would like to connect to:

  • OrganizationId: The ID associated with the Google Cloud Platform organization resource you would like to connect to. Find this by navigating to the cloud console.

    Click the project selection drop-down, and select your organization from the list. Then, click More -> Settings. The organization ID is displayed on this page.

  • ProjectId: The ID associated with the Google Cloud Platform project resource you would like to connect to.

    Find this by navigating to the cloud console dashboard and selecting your project from the Select from drop-down. The project ID will be present in the Project info card.

When you connect, the OAuth endpoint opens in your default browser. Log in and grant permissions to the application to completes the OAuth process. For more information, refer to the OAuth section in the Help documentation.

When you configure the DSN, 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.

Windows

If you have not already, first specify connection properties in an ODBC DSN (data source name). This is the last step of the driver installation. You can use the Microsoft ODBC Data Source Administrator to create and configure ODBC DSNs.

Linux

If you are installing the CData ODBC Driver for Google Data Catalog in a Linux environment, the driver installation predefines a system DSN. You can modify the DSN by editing the system data sources file (/etc/odbc.ini) and defining the required connection properties.

/etc/odbc.ini

[CData GoogleDataCatalog Source] Driver = CData ODBC Driver for Google Data Catalog Description = My Description ProjectId = YourProjectId

For specific information on using these configuration files, please refer to the help documentation (installed and found online).

Load the RODBC Package

To use the driver, download the RODBC package. In RStudio, click Tools -> Install Packages and enter RODBC in the Packages box.

After installing the RODBC package, the following line loads the package:

library(RODBC)

Note: This article uses RODBC version 1.3-12. Using Microsoft R Open, you can test with the same version, using the checkpoint capabilities of Microsoft's MRAN repository. The checkpoint command enables you to install packages from a snapshot of the CRAN repository, hosted on the MRAN repository. The snapshot taken Jan. 1, 2016 contains version 1.3-12.

library(checkpoint) checkpoint("2016-01-01")

Connect to Google Data Catalog Data as an ODBC Data Source

You can connect to a DSN in R with the following line:

conn <- odbcConnect("CData GoogleDataCatalog Source")

Schema Discovery

The driver models Google Data Catalog APIs as relational tables, views, and stored procedures. Use the following line to retrieve the list of tables:

sqlTables(conn)

Execute SQL Queries

Use the sqlQuery function to execute any SQL query supported by the Google Data Catalog API.

schemas <- sqlQuery(conn, "SELECT Type, DatasetName FROM Schemas WHERE ProjectId = 'bigquery-public-data'", believeNRows=FALSE, rows_at_time=1)

You can view the results in a data viewer window with the following command:

View(schemas)

Plot Google Data Catalog Data

You can now analyze Google Data Catalog data with any of the data visualization packages available in the CRAN repository. You can create simple bar plots with the built-in bar plot function:

par(las=2,ps=10,mar=c(5,15,4,2)) barplot(schemas$DatasetName, main="Google Data Catalog Schemas", names.arg = schemas$Type, horiz=TRUE)

Ready to get started?

Download a free trial of the Google Data Catalog ODBC Driver to get started:

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Learn more:

Google Data Catalog Icon Google Data Catalog ODBC Driver

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

Access Google Data Catalog data like you would a database - read, write, and update Google Data Catalog Schemas, Tables, etc. through a standard ODBC Driver interface.

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