How to integrate Metabase with Bing Search Results

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

CData Connect provides a pure cloud-to-cloud interface for Bing Search, allowing you to easily integrate with live Bing Search results 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 Bing Search, leveraging server-side processing to quickly return Bing Search results.

Configure Bing Search Connectivity for Metabase

Connectivity to Bing Search from Metabase is made possible through CData Connect Cloud. To work with Bing Search results from Metabase, we start by creating and configuring a Bing Search connection.

1. Log into Connect Cloud, click Connections and click Add Connection
2. Select "Bing Search" from the Add Connection panel
3. Enter the necessary authentication properties to connect to Bing Search.

   To connect to Bing, set the ApiKey connection property. To obtain the API key, sign into Microsoft Cognitive Services and register for the Bing Search APIs.

   Two API keys are then generated; select either one.

   When querying tables, the SearchTerms parameter must be supplied in the WHERE clause.

4. Click Create & Test
5. Navigate to the Permissions tab in the Add Bing Search Connection page and update the User-based permissions.

Add a Personal Access Token

If you are connecting from a service, application, platform, or framework that does not support OAuth authentication, you can create a Personal Access Token (PAT) to use for authentication. Best practices would dictate that you create a separate PAT for each service, to maintain granularity of access.

1. Click on your username at the top right of the Connect Cloud app and click User Profile.
2. On the User Profile page, scroll down to the Personal Access Tokens section and click Create PAT.
3. Give your PAT a name and click Create.
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, you are ready to connect to Bing Search results from Metabase.

Connect to CData Connect from Metabase

After creating the virtual database, navigate to your Metabase instance. Use the SQL Server interface to connect to Connect Cloud.

1. Navigate to the administration screen (Settings -> Admin) and click "Add Database" from the "Databases" tab
2. Configure the connection to Connect Cloud and click "Save"
   • Database type: Select "SQL Server"
   • Name: Name the connection (e.g. "Bing Search (Connect Cloud)")
   • Host: tds.cdata.com
   • Port: 14333
   • Database name: The name of the connection you just created (e.g. Bing1)
   • Username: A Connect Cloud username (e.g. user@mydomain.com)
   • Password: The PAT for the above Connect Cloud user
   • Click to Use a secure connection (SSL)

Execute Bing Search Results with Metabase

Once you configure the connection to Connect Cloud, you can query Bing Search and build visualizations.

1. Use the "Write SQL" tool to retrieve the Bing Search results
2. Write a SQL query based on the Bing Search connection in CData Connect Cloud, e.g.
   
   

   SELECT Title, ViewCount FROM VideoSearch WHERE SearchTerms = 'WayneTech'

3. Navigate to the "Visualization" screen, choose a visualization, and configure the visualization

More Information & Free Trial

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