Use Dash to Build to Web Apps on Microsoft Ads Data

The rich ecosystem of Python modules lets you get to work quickly and integrate your systems more effectively. With the CData Python Connector for Microsoft Ads, the pandas module, and the Dash framework, you can build Microsoft Ads-connected web applications for Microsoft Ads data. This article shows how to connect to Microsoft Ads with the CData Connector and use pandas and Dash to build a simple web app for visualizing Microsoft Ads data.

With built-in, optimized data processing, the CData Python Connector offers unmatched performance for interacting with live Microsoft Ads data in Python. When you issue complex SQL queries from Microsoft Ads, the driver pushes supported SQL operations, like filters and aggregations, directly to Microsoft Ads and utilizes the embedded SQL engine to process unsupported operations client-side (often SQL functions and JOIN operations).

Connecting to Microsoft Ads Data

Connecting to Microsoft Ads data looks just like connecting to any relational data source. Create a connection string using the required connection properties. For this article, you will pass the connection string as a parameter to the create_engine function.

The Microsoft Ads APIs use the OAuth 2 standard. To authenticate, you will need valid Microsoft Ads OAuth credentials and obtain a developer token. See the Getting Started section in the Microsoft Ads data provider help documentation for an authentication guide.

After installing the CData Microsoft Ads Connector, follow the procedure below to install the other required modules and start accessing Microsoft Ads through Python objects.

Install Required Modules

Use the pip utility to install the required modules and frameworks:

pip install pandas
pip install dash
pip install dash-daq

Visualize Microsoft Ads Data in Python

Once the required modules and frameworks are installed, we are ready to build our web app. Code snippets follow, but the full source code is available at the end of the article.

First, be sure to import the modules (including the CData Connector) with the following:

import os
import dash
import dash_core_components as dcc
import dash_html_components as html
import pandas as pd
import cdata.microsoftads as mod
import plotly.graph_objs as go

You can now connect with a connection string. Use the connect function for the CData Microsoft Ads Connector to create a connection for working with Microsoft Ads data.

cnxn = mod.connect(" OAuthClientId=MyOAuthClientId; OAuthClientSecret=MyOAuthClientSecret; CallbackURL=http://localhost:portNumber; AccountId=442311; CustomerId=5521444; DeveloperToken=11112332233;InitiateOAuth=GETANDREFRESH;")

Execute SQL to Microsoft Ads

Use the read_sql function from pandas to execute any SQL statement and store the result set in a DataFrame.

df = pd.read_sql("SELECT Id, Name FROM AdGroups WHERE CampaignId = '234505536'", cnxn)

Configure the Web App

With the query results stored in a DataFrame, we can begin configuring the web app, assigning a name, stylesheet, and title.

app_name = 'dash-microsoftadsedataplot'

external_stylesheets = ['https://codepen.io/chriddyp/pen/bWLwgP.css']

app = dash.Dash(__name__, external_stylesheets=external_stylesheets)
app.title = 'CData + Dash'

Configure the Layout

The next step is to create a bar graph based on our Microsoft Ads data and configure the app layout.

trace = go.Bar(x=df.Id, y=df.Name, name='Id')

app.layout = html.Div(children=[html.H1("CData Extension + Dash", style={'textAlign': 'center'}),
	dcc.Graph(
		id='example-graph',
		figure={
			'data': [trace],
			'layout':
			go.Layout(title='Microsoft Ads AdGroups Data', barmode='stack')
		})
], className="container")

Set the App to Run

With the connection, app, and layout configured, we are ready to run the app. The last lines of Python code follow.

if __name__ == '__main__':
    app.run_server(debug=True)

Now, use Python to run the web app and a browser to view the Microsoft Ads data.

python microsoftads-dash.py

Free Trial & More Information

Download a free, 30-day trial of the CData Python Connector for Microsoft Ads to start building Python apps with connectivity to Microsoft Ads data. Reach out to our Support Team if you have any questions.

Full Source Code

import os
import dash
import dash_core_components as dcc
import dash_html_components as html
import pandas as pd
import cdata.microsoftads as mod
import plotly.graph_objs as go

cnxn = mod.connect(" OAuthClientId=MyOAuthClientId; OAuthClientSecret=MyOAuthClientSecret; CallbackURL=http://localhost:portNumber; AccountId=442311; CustomerId=5521444; DeveloperToken=11112332233;InitiateOAuth=GETANDREFRESH;")

df = pd.read_sql("SELECT Id, Name FROM AdGroups WHERE CampaignId = '234505536'", cnxn)
app_name = 'dash-microsoftadsdataplot'

external_stylesheets = ['https://codepen.io/chriddyp/pen/bWLwgP.css']

app = dash.Dash(__name__, external_stylesheets=external_stylesheets)
app.title = 'CData + Dash'
trace = go.Bar(x=df.Id, y=df.Name, name='Id')

app.layout = html.Div(children=[html.H1("CData Extension + Dash", style={'textAlign': 'center'}),
	dcc.Graph(
		id='example-graph',
		figure={
			'data': [trace],
			'layout':
			go.Layout(title='Microsoft Ads AdGroups Data', barmode='stack')
		})
], className="container")

if __name__ == '__main__':
    app.run_server(debug=True)