Analyze Google Cloud Storage Data in Infragistics Reveal

Reveal is a data visualization solution provided by Infragistics and can be paired with the CData Connect Server and Google Cloud Storage Connector to build dynamic dashboards from live Google Cloud Storage data. The CData Connect Server creates a virtual database for Google Cloud Storage and can be used to generate an OData API (natively consumable in Reveal) for Google Cloud Storage. In this article, we walk through connecting to Google Cloud Storage in Connect Server and connecting to Connect Server from Infragistics Reveal to create a simple dashboard.

Add a Connect Server User

Create a User to connect to Google Cloud Storage from Reveal 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 Google Cloud Storage 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 "Google Cloud Storage" from Available Data Sources
3. Enter the necessary authentication properties to connect to Google Cloud Storage.

   Authenticate with a User Account

   You can connect without setting any connection properties for your user credentials. After setting InitiateOAuth to GETANDREFRESH, you are ready to connect.

   When you connect, the Google Cloud Storage OAuth endpoint opens in your default browser. Log in and grant permissions, then the OAuth process completes

   Authenticate with a Service Account

   Service accounts have silent authentication, without user authentication in the browser. You can also use a service account to delegate enterprise-wide access scopes.

   You need to create an OAuth application in this flow. See the Help documentation for more information. After setting the following connection properties, you are ready to connect:

   • InitiateOAuth: Set this to GETANDREFRESH.
   • OAuthJWTCertType: Set this to "PFXFILE".
   • OAuthJWTCert: Set this to the path to the .p12 file you generated.
   • OAuthJWTCertPassword: Set this to the password of the .p12 file.
   • OAuthJWTCertSubject: Set this to "*" to pick the first certificate in the certificate store.
   • OAuthJWTIssuer: In the service accounts section, click Manage Service Accounts and set this field to the email address displayed in the service account Id field.
   • OAuthJWTSubject: Set this to your enterprise Id if your subject type is set to "enterprise" or your app user Id if your subject type is set to "user".
   • ProjectId: Set this to the Id of the project you want to connect to.

   The OAuth flow for a service account then completes.

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 Google Cloud Storage OData Endpoints in Connect Server

After connecting to Google Cloud Storage, create OData Endpoint for the desired table(s).

1. Click OData -> Tables -> Add Tables
2. Select the Google Cloud Storage 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 different 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 a Dashboard in Reveal

With Connect Server configured, we can visualize Google Cloud Storage data in Reveal.

1. Log into Reveal and click Dashboards -> New
2. Click Data Source -> OData Feed
3. Specify the Connect Server API endpoint URL (found in API -> Discovery -> Base URL), for example: CONNECT_SERVER_URL/api.rsc
4. Select Generic Credentials and specify the Connect Server username and authentication token
5. Select the entity you wish to visualize
6. Select fields and choose a chart type

More Information & Free Trial

At this point, you have created a simple dashboard from live Google Cloud Storage data. For more information on creating OData feeds from Google Cloud Storage (and more than 150 other sources), visit the Connect Server page. Download a free, 30-day trial and start working live Google Cloud Storage data in tools that consume OData APIs.