Use the CData JDBC Driver for PingOne in MicroStrategy Desktop

MicroStrategy is an analytics and mobility platform that enables data-driven innovation. When you pair MicroStrategy with the CData JDBC Driver for PingOne, you gain database-like access to live PingOne data from MicroStrategy, expanding your reporting and analytics capabilities. In this article, we walk through adding PingOne as a data source in MicroStrategy Desktop and creating a simple visualization of PingOne data.

The CData JDBC Driver offers unmatched performance for interacting with live PingOne data in MicroStrategy due to optimized data processing built into the driver. When you issue complex SQL queries from MicroStrategy to PingOne, the driver pushes supported SQL operations, like filters and aggregations, directly to PingOne and utilizes the embedded SQL engine to process unsupported operations (often SQL functions and JOIN operations) client-side. With built-in dynamic metadata querying, you can use native MicroStrategy data types to visualize and analyze PingOne data.

Connect to and Visualize PingOne Data using MicroStrategy Desktop

In addition to connecting to PingOne in MicroStrategy enterprise products, you can connect to PingOne in MicroStrategy Desktop. Follow the steps below to add PingOne data as a dataset using JDBC and create visualizations and reports of PingOne data.

1. Open MicroStrategy Desktop and create a new dossier.
2. In the datasets panel, click New Data, select Databases, and choose Select a Table as the Import Option.
3. Add a new data source and choose the DSN-less data sources option.
4. Choose Generic in the Database menu and Generic DBMS in the Version menu.
5. Click the link to show the connection string and opt to edit the connection string. In the Driver menu, select MicroStrategy Cassandra ODBC Driver. (MicroStrategy requires a certified driver to interface through JDBC; the actual driver will not be used.)
6. Set the connection string as follows and click OK:
   • Add the JDBC keyword to the connection string.
   • Set MSTR_JDBC_JAR_FOLDER to the path of the JAR file for the JDBC driver. (C:\Program Files\CData JDBC Driver for PingOne\lib\ on Windows.)
   • Set DRIVER to cdata.jdbc.pingone.PingOneDriver, the driver class.
   • Set URL to the JDBC URL for the PingOne driver, setting the necessary connection properties.

     To connect to PingOne, configure these properties:

     • Region: The region where the data for your PingOne organization is being hosted.
     • AuthScheme: The type of authentication to use when connecting to PingOne.
     • Either WorkerAppEnvironmentId (required when using the default PingOne domain) or AuthorizationServerURL, configured as described below.

     Configuring WorkerAppEnvironmentId

     WorkerAppEnvironmentId is the ID of the PingOne environment in which your Worker application resides. This parameter is used only when the environment is using the default PingOne domain (auth.pingone). It is configured after you have created the custom OAuth application you will use to authenticate to PingOne, as described in Creating a Custom OAuth Application in the Help documentation.

     First, find the value for this property:

     1. From the home page of your PingOne organization, move to the navigation sidebar and click Environments.
     2. Find the environment in which you have created your custom OAuth/Worker application (usually Administrators), and click Manage Environment. The environment's home page displays.
     3. In the environment's home page navigation sidebar, click Applications.
     4. Find your OAuth or Worker application details in the list.
     5. Copy the value in the Environment ID field. It should look similar to:
        

        WorkerAppEnvironmentId='11e96fc7-aa4d-4a60-8196-9acf91424eca'

     Now set WorkerAppEnvironmentId to the value of the Environment ID field.

     Configuring AuthorizationServerURL

     AuthorizationServerURL is the base URL of the PingOne authorization server for the environment where your application is located. This property is only used when you have set up a custom domain for the environment, as described in the PingOne platform API documentation. See Custom Domains.

     Authenticating to PingOne with OAuth

     PingOne supports both OAuth and OAuthClient authentication. In addition to performing the configuration steps described above, there are two more steps to complete to support OAuth or OAuthCliet authentication:

     • Create and configure a custom OAuth application, as described in Creating a Custom OAuth Application in the Help documentation.
     • To ensure that the driver can access the entities in Data Model, confirm that you have configured the correct roles for the admin user/worker application you will be using, as described in Administrator Roles in the Help documentation.
     • Set the appropriate properties for the authscheme and authflow of your choice, as described in the following subsections.

     OAuth (Authorization Code grant)

     Set AuthScheme to OAuth.

     Desktop Applications

     Get and Refresh the OAuth Access Token

     After setting the following, you are ready to connect:

     • InitiateOAuth: GETANDREFRESH. To avoid the need to repeat the OAuth exchange and manually setting the OAuthAccessToken each time you connect, use InitiateOAuth.
     • OAuthClientId: The Client ID you obtained when you created your custom OAuth application.
     • OAuthClientSecret: The Client Secret you obtained when you created your custom OAuth application.
     • CallbackURL: The redirect URI you defined when you registered your custom OAuth application. For example: https://localhost:3333

     When you connect, the driver opens PingOne's OAuth endpoint in your default browser. Log in and grant permissions to the application. The driver then completes the OAuth process:

     1. The driver obtains an access token from PingOne and uses it to request data.
     2. The OAuth values are saved in the location specified in OAuthSettingsLocation, to be persisted across connections.

     The driver refreshes the access token automatically when it expires.

     For other OAuth methods, including Web Applications, Headless Machines, or Client Credentials Grant, refer to the Help documentation.

     Built-in Connection String Designer

     For assistance in constructing the JDBC URL, use the connection string designer built into the PingOne JDBC Driver. Either double-click the JAR file or execute the jar file from the command-line.

     java -jar cdata.jdbc.pingone.jar
     

     Fill in the connection properties and copy the connection string to the clipboard.

     

     When you configure the JDBC URL, you may also want to set the Max Rows connection property. This will limit the number of rows returned, which is especially helpful for improving performance when designing reports and visualizations.

   A typical connection string follows:

   JDBC;MSTR_JDBC_JAR_FOLDER=PATH\TO\JAR\;DRIVER=cdata.jdbc.pingone.PingOneDriver;URL={jdbc:pingone:AuthScheme=OAuth;WorkerAppEnvironmentId=eebc33a8-xxxx-4f3a-yyyy-d3e5262fd49e;Region=NA;OAuthClientId=client_id;OAuthClientSecret=client_secret;};
   

   
7. Right-click on the new data source, and choose Edit catalog options.
8. Edit the SQL Statement to SELECT * FROM SYS_SCHEMAS to read the metadata from the JDBC Driver.
9. Select the new data source to view the available tables. You may need to manually click the search icon in the Available Tables section to see the tables.
10. Drag tables into the pane to import them. Note: Since we create a live connection, we can import whole tables and utilize the filtering and aggregation features native to the MicroStrategy products.
11. Click Finish and choose the option to connect Live. Live connections are possible and effective, thanks to the high-performance data processing native to CData JDBC Drivers.
12. Choose a visualization, choose fields to display, and apply any filters to create a new visualization of PingOne 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 PingOne, while any unsupported operations (which can include SQL functions and JOIN operations) will be managed client-side by the CData SQL engine embedded in the driver.
13. Once you are finished configuring the dossier, click File -> Save.

Using the CData JDBC Driver for PingOne in MicroStrategy Desktop, you can easily create robust visualizations and reports on PingOne data. Read our other articles for connecting to PingOne data in MicroStrategy Developer and connecting to PingOne data in MicroStrategy Web for more examples.