PowerShell Scripting to Replicate SharePoint Excel Services Data to MySQL

The CData Cmdlets for SharePoint Excel Services offer live access to SharePoint Excel Services data from within PowerShell. Using PowerShell scripts, you can easily automate regular tasks like data replication. This article will walk through using the CData Cmdlets for SharePoint Excel Services and the CData Cmdlets for MySQL in PowerShell to replicate SharePoint Excel Services data to a MySQL database.

After obtaining the needed connection properties, accessing SharePoint Excel Services data in PowerShell and preparing for replication consists of four basic steps.

The URL, User, and Password properties, under the Authentication section, must be set to valid credentials for SharePoint Online, SharePoint 2010, or SharePoint 2013. Additionally, the Library property must be set to a valid SharePoint Document Library and the File property must be set to a valid .xlsx file in the indicated Library.

Collecting SharePoint Excel Services Data

1. Install the module:

   Install-Module ExcelServicesCmdlets

2. Connect to SharePoint Excel Services:

   $excelservices = Connect-ExcelServices -URL $URL -User $User -Password $Password -File $File

3. Retrieve the data from a specific resource:

   $data = Select-ExcelServices -Connection $excelservices -Table "Account"

   You can also use the Invoke-ExcelServices cmdlet to execute pure SQL-92 statements:

   $data = Invoke-ExcelServices -Connection $excelservices -Query 'SELECT * FROM Account WHERE Industry = @Industry' -Params @{'@Industry'='Floppy Disks'}

4. Save a list of the column names from the returned data.

   $columns = ($data | Get-Member -MemberType NoteProperty | Select-Object -Property Name).Name

Inserting SharePoint Excel Services Data into the MySQL Database

With the data and column names collected, you are ready to replicate the data into a MySQL database.

1. Install the module:

   Install-Module MySQLCmdlets

2. Connect to MySQL, using the server address and port of the MySQL server, valid user credentials, and a specific database with the table in which the data will be replicated:

   $mysql = Connect-MySQL -User $User -Password $Password -Database $Database -Server $Server -Port $Port

3. Loop through the SharePoint Excel Services data, store the values, and use the Add-MySQL cmdlet to insert the data into the MySQL database, one row at a time. In this example, the table will need to have the same name as the SharePoint Excel Services resource (Account) and to exist in the database.

   $data | % { $row = $_ $values = @() $columns | % { $col = $_ $values += $row.$($col) } Add-MySQL -Connection $mysql -Table "Account" -Columns $columns -Values $values }

You have now replicated your SharePoint Excel Services data to a MySQL database. This gives you freedom to work with SharePoint Excel Services data in the same way that you work with other MySQL tables, whether that is performing analytics, building reports, or other business functions.

Notes

• Once you have connected to SharePoint Excel Services and MySQL in PowerShell, you can pipe command results to perform the replication in a single line:

  Select-ExcelServices -Connection $excelservices -Table "Account" | % { $row = $_ $values = @() $columns | % { $col = $_ $values += $row.$($col) } Add-MySQL -Connection $mysql -Table "Account" -Columns $columns -Values $values }

• If you wish to replicate the SharePoint Excel Services data to another database using another PowerShell module, you will want to exclude the Columns, Connection, and Table columns from the data returned by the Select-ExcelServices cmdlet since those columns are used to help pipe data from one CData cmdlet to another:

  $columns = ($data | Get-Member -MemberType NoteProperty | Select-Object -Property Name).Name | ? {$_ -NotIn @('Columns','Connection','Table')}