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How to Query Live Airtable Data in Natural Language in Python using LlamaIndex


Use LlamaIndex to query live Airtable data data in natural language using Python.

Start querying live data from Airtable using the CData Python Connector for Airtable. Leverage the power of AI with LlamaIndex and retrieve insights using simple English, eliminating the need for complex SQL queries. Benefit from real-time data access that enhances your decision-making process, while easily integrating with your existing Python applications.

With built-in, optimized data processing, the CData Python Connector offers unmatched performance for interacting with live Airtable data in Python. When you issue complex SQL queries from Python, the driver pushes supported SQL operations, like filters and aggregations, directly to Airtable and utilizes the embedded SQL engine to process unsupported operations client-side (often SQL functions and JOIN operations).

Whether you're analyzing trends, generating reports, or visualizing data, our Python connectors enable you to harness the full potential of your live data source with ease.

Overview

Here's how to query live data with CData's Python connector for Airtable data using LlamaIndex:

  • Import required Python, CData, and LlamaIndex modules for logging, database connectivity, and NLP.
  • Retrieve your OpenAI API key for authenticating API requests from your application.
  • Connect to live Airtable data using the CData Python Connector.
  • Initialize OpenAI and create instances of SQLDatabase and NLSQLTableQueryEngine for handling natural language queries.
  • Create the query engine and specific database instance.
  • Execute natural language queries (e.g., "Who are the top-earning employees?") to get structured responses from the database.
  • Analyze retrieved data to gain insights and inform data-driven decisions.

Import Required Modules

Import the necessary modules CData, database connections, and natural language querying.

import os import logging import sys # Configure logging logging.basicConfig(stream=sys.stdout, level=logging.INFO, force=True) logging.getLogger().addHandler(logging.StreamHandler(stream=sys.stdout)) # Import required modules for CData and LlamaIndex import cdata.airtable as mod from sqlalchemy import create_engine from llama_index.core.query_engine import NLSQLTableQueryEngine from llama_index.core import SQLDatabase from llama_index.llms.openai import OpenAI

Set Your OpenAI API Key

To use OpenAI's language model, you need to set your API key as an environment variable. Make sure you have your OpenAI API key available in your system's environment variables.

# Retrieve the OpenAI API key from the environment variables OPENAI_API_KEY = os.environ["OPENAI_API_KEY"] ''as an alternative, you can also add your API key directly within your code (though this method is not recommended for production environments due to security risks):'' # Directly set the API key (not recommended for production use) OPENAI_API_KEY = "your-api-key-here"

Create a Database Connection

Next, establish a connection to Airtable using the CData connector using a connection string with the required connection properties.

APIKey, BaseId and TableNames parameters are required to connect to Airtable. ViewNames is an optional parameter where views of the tables may be specified.

  • APIKey : API Key of your account. To obtain this value, after logging in go to Account. In API section click Generate API key.
  • BaseId : Id of your base. To obtain this value, it is in the same section as the APIKey. Click on Airtable API, or navigate to https://airtable.com/api and select a base. In the introduction section you can find "The ID of this base is appxxN2ftedc0nEG7."
  • TableNames : A comma separated list of table names for the selected base. These are the same names of tables as found in the UI.
  • ViewNames : A comma separated list of views in the format of (table.view) names. These are the same names of the views as found in the UI.

Connecting to Airtable

# Create a database engine using the CData Python Connector for Airtable engine = create_engine("cdata_airtable_2:///?User=APIKey=keymz3adb53RqsU;BaseId=appxxN2fe34r3rjdG7;TableNames=Table1,...;ViewNames=Table1.View1,...;")

Initialize the OpenAI Instance

Create an instance of the OpenAI language model. Here, you can specify parameters like temperature and the model version.

# Initialize the OpenAI language model instance llm = OpenAI(temperature=0.0, model="gpt-3.5-turbo")

Set Up the Database and Query Engine

Now, set up the SQL database and the query engine. The NLSQLTableQueryEngine allows you to perform natural language queries against your SQL database.

# Create a SQL database instance sql_db = SQLDatabase(engine) # This includes all tables # Initialize the query engine for natural language SQL queries query_engine = NLSQLTableQueryEngine(sql_database=sql_db)

Execute a Query

Now, you can execute a natural language query against your live data source. In this example, we will query for the top two earning employees.

# Define your query string query_str = "Who are the top earning employees?" # Get the response from the query engine response = query_engine.query(query_str) # Print the response print(response)

Download a free, 30-day trial of the CData Python Connector for Airtable and start querying your live data seamlessly. Experience the power of natural language processing and unlock valuable insights from your data today.

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