Connect to Live Printful Data in MicroStrategy through CData Connect Server

MicroStrategy is an analytics and mobility platform that enables data-driven innovation. When you pair MicroStrategy with CData Connect Server, you gain database-like access to live Printful data from MicroStrategy, expanding your reporting and analytics capabilities. In this article, we walk through creating a virtual database for Printful in Connect Server and connecting to Connect Server in MicroStrategy to create a simple visualization of Printful data.

As a hosted integration platform, Connect Server is ideal for working with cloud-based BI and analytics tools. With no servers to configure or data proxies to set up, you can simply use the web-based UI to create a virtual database for Printful and connect from MicroStrategy to start performing analytics based on live Printful data.

Connect to Printful from MicroStrategy

To work with live Printful data in MicroStrategy, we need to create a virtual database for Printful in Connect Server.

Create a Virtual SQL Server Database for Printful Data

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

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

   Start by setting the Profile connection property to the location of the Printful Profile on disk (e.g. C:\profiles\Printful.apip). Next, set the ProfileSettings connection property to the connection string for Printful (see below).

   Printful API Profile Settings

   In order to authenticate to Printful, you'll need to provide your API Key. To get your API Key, first go to 'Settings' then 'Stores'. Select the Store you would like to connect to, then click the 'Add API Access' button to generate an API Key. Set the API Key in the ProfileSettings property to connect.

4. Click Save Changes
5. Click Privileges -> Add and add the new user (or an existing user) with the appropriate permissions.

With the virtual database created, you are ready to connect to Printful data from MicroStrategy.

Connect to and Visualize Printful Data Using MicroStrategy

You can connect to Printful in MicroStrategy by adding a data source based on the native SQL Server functionality. Once you have created a data source, you can build dynamic visualizations of Printful data in MicroStrategy.

1. Open MicroStrategy and select your account.
2. Click Add External Data, select Databases, and use Select Tables as the Import Option.
3. In the Import from Tables wizard, click to add a new Data Source.
4. Select "SQL Server" in the Database menu and select "SQL Server 2017" in the Version menu.
5. Sat the connection properties as follows:
   • Server Name: e.g. connect_server_url
   • Port Number: 1433
   • Database Name: the name of your Printful connection (e.g. API1)
   • User: a Connect Server user
   • Password: a Connect Server password
   • Data Source Name: a name for the new external data source, like "CData Connect Printful"
6. Expand the menu for the new data source and choose "Edit Catalog Options"
7. Edit the "SQL statement retrieve columns ..." query to include TABLE_SCHEMA = '#?Schema_Name?#' in the WHERE clause, and click Apply and then OK (the complete query is below).
   
   

   SELECT DISTINCT 
     TABLE_SCHEMA NAME_SPACE, 
     TABLE_NAME TAB_NAME, 
     COLUMN_NAME COL_NAME, 
     (CASE 
       WHEN 
         (DATA_TYPE LIKE '%char' AND (CHARACTER_SET_NAME='utf8' OR CHARACTER_SET_NAME='usc2')) 
       THEN 
         CONCAT('a',DATA_TYPE) 
       ELSE 
         DATA_TYPE 
     END) DATA_TYPE, 
     CHARACTER_MAXIMUM_LENGTH DATA_LEN, 
     NUMERIC_PRECISION DATA_PREC, 
     NUMERIC_SCALE DATA_SCALE 
   FROM 
     INFORMATION_SCHEMA.COLUMNS 
   WHERE 
     TABLE_NAME 
   IN 
     (#TABLE_LIST#) AND TABLE_SCHEMA='#?Schema_Name?#' 
   ORDER BY 
     1,2,3
   

8. Select the new data source and select the Namespace that corresponds to your virtual Printful database (like API1).
9. Drag tables into the pane to insert then. Note: Since we create a live connection, we can insert whole tables and utilize the filtering and aggregation features native to the MicroStrategy products to customize our datasets.
10. Click Finish, choose the option to connect live, save the query, and choose the option to create a new dossier. Live connections are possible and effective, thanks to high-performance data processing native to CData Connect Cloud.
11. Choose a visualization, choose fields to display, and apply any filters to create a new visualization of Printful data. Data types are discovered automatically through dynamic metadata discovery. Where possible, the complex queries generated by the filters and aggregations will be pushed down to Printful, while any unsupported operations (which can include SQL functions and JOIN operations) will be managed by the CData SQL engine embedded in Connect Cloud.
12. Once you have finished configuring the dossier, click File -> Save.

Using CData Connect Server with MicroStrategy, you can easily create robust visualizations and reports on Printful data. For more information on creating virtual databases for Printful (and more than 200 other data sources), visit the Connect Server page. Sign up for a free trial and start working with live Printful data in MicroStrategy.