Visualize Gmail Data in TIBCO Spotfire through OData

OData is a major protocol enabling real-time communication among cloud-based, mobile, and other online applications. The CData Connect Server provides Gmail data to OData consumers like TIBCO Spotfire. This article shows how to use the Connect Server and Spotfire's built-in support for OData to access Gmail data in real time.

Configuring Connect Server

To work with live Gmail data in TIBCO Spotfire, we need to connect to Gmail from Connect Server, provide user access to the new virtual database, and create OData endpoints for the Gmail data.

Add a Connect Server User

Create a User to connect to Gmail from TIBCO Spotfire through Connect Server.

1. Click Users -> Add
2. Configure a User
3. Click Save Changes and make note of the Authtoken for the new user

Connect to Gmail from Connect Server

CData Connect Server uses a straightforward, point-and-click interface to connect to data sources and generate APIs.

1. Open Connect Server and click Connections
2. Select "Gmail" from Available Data Sources
3. Enter the necessary authentication properties to connect to Gmail.

   There are two ways to authenticate to Gmail. Before selecting one, first ensure that you have enabled IMAP access in your Gmail account settings. See the "Connecting to Gmail" section under "Getting Started" in the installed documentation for a guide.

   The User and Password properties, under the Authentication section, can be set to valid Gmail user credentials.

   Alternatively, instead of providing the Password, you can use the OAuth authentication standard. To access Google APIs on behalf on individual users, you can use the embedded credentials or you can register your own OAuth app.

   OAuth also enables you to use a service account to connect on behalf of users in a Google Apps domain. To authenticate with a service account, you will need to register an application to obtain the OAuth JWT values.

   In addition to the OAuth values, you will need to provide the User. See the "Getting Started" chapter in the help documentation for a guide to using OAuth.

4. Click Save Changes
5. Click Privileges -> Add and add the new user (or an existing user) with the appropriate permissions (SELECT is all that is required for Reveal).

Add Gmail OData Endpoints in Connect Server

After connecting to Gmail, create OData Endpoints for the desired table(s).

1. Click OData -> Tables -> Add Tables
2. Select the Gmail database
3. Select the table(s) you wish to work with and click Next
4. (Optional) Edit the resource to select specific fields and more
5. Save the settings

(Optional) Configure Cross-Origin Resource Sharing (CORS)

When accessing and connecting to multiple domains from an application such as Ajax, there is a possibility of violating the limitations of cross-site scripting. In that case, configure the CORS settings in OData -> Settings.

• Enable cross-origin resource sharing (CORS): ON
• Allow all domains without '*': ON
• Access-Control-Allow-Methods: GET, PUT, POST, OPTIONS
• Access-Control-Allow-Headers: Authorization

Save the changes to the settings.

Create Data Visualizations on External Gmail Data

1. Open Spotfire and click Data -> Add data...
2. Then, click "Connect to" -> OData -> New Connection. In the OData Connection dialog, enter the following information:
   • Service URL: Enter the Connect Server's OData endpoint. For example: http://localhost:8080/odata.rsc
   • Authentication Method: Select Username and Password.
   • Username: Enter the username of a Connect Server user. You can create API users on the Security tab of the administration console.
   • Password: Enter the authtoken of a Connect Server user.
3. Select the tables and columns you want to add to the dashboard. This example uses Inbox.

4. If you want to work with the live data, click the Keep Data Table External option. This option enables your dashboards to reflect changes to the data in real time.

   If you want to load the data into memory and process the data locally, click the Import Data Table option. This option is better for offline use or if a slow network connection is making your dashboard less interactive.

5. After you have selected a table, Spotfire uses the data to detect number, time, and other categories. You are now on your way to creating new visualizations for analytics, reporting, and more.

Free Trial & More Information

If you are interested in connecting to your Gmail data (or data from any of our other supported data sources) from TIBCO Spotfire, sign up for a free trial of CData Connect Server today! For more information on Connect Server and to see what other data sources we support, refer to our CData Connect page.