Use Dash to Build to Web Apps on Salesforce CRM Analytics 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 Salesforce CRM Analytics, the pandas module, and the Dash framework, you can build Salesforce CRM Analytics-connected web applications for Salesforce CRM Analytics data. This article shows how to connect to Salesforce CRM Analytics with the CData Connector and use pandas and Dash to build a simple web app for visualizing Salesforce CRM Analytics data.

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

Connecting to Salesforce CRM Analytics Data

Connecting to Salesforce CRM Analytics 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.

Salesforce CRM Analytics uses the OAuth 2 authentication standard. Obtain the OAuthClientId and OAuthClientSecret by registering an app with Salesforce CRM Analytics.

See the Getting Started section of the Help documentation for an authentication guide.

Multi-Factor Authentication (MFA)

If the connected Salesforce org has MFA enforcement enabled, set MFACode to the time-based one-time passcode (TOTP) generated by your authenticator app (such as Salesforce Authenticator or Google Authenticator). MFACode applies alongside the standard OAuth flow.

After installing the CData Salesforce CRM Analytics Connector, follow the procedure below to install the other required modules and start accessing Salesforce CRM Analytics 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 Salesforce CRM Analytics 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.salesforcecrmanalytics as mod
import plotly.graph_objs as go

You can now connect with a connection string. Use the connect function for the CData Salesforce CRM Analytics Connector to create a connection for working with Salesforce CRM Analytics data.

cnxn = mod.connect("OAuthClientId=MyConsumerKey;OAuthClientSecret=MyConsumerSecret;CallbackURL=http://localhost:portNumber;InitiateOAuth=GETANDREFRESH;MFACode=YourMFACode")

Execute SQL to Salesforce CRM Analytics

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 Name, CloseDate FROM Dataset_Opportunity WHERE StageName = 'Closed Won'", 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-salesforcecrmanalyticsedataplot'

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 Salesforce CRM Analytics data and configure the app layout.

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

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='Salesforce CRM Analytics Dataset_Opportunity 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 Salesforce CRM Analytics data.

python salesforcecrmanalytics-dash.py

Free Trial & More Information

Download a free, 30-day trial of the CData Python Connector for Salesforce CRM Analytics to start building Python apps with connectivity to Salesforce CRM Analytics 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.salesforcecrmanalytics as mod
import plotly.graph_objs as go

cnxn = mod.connect("OAuthClientId=MyConsumerKey;OAuthClientSecret=MyConsumerSecret;CallbackURL=http://localhost:portNumber;InitiateOAuth=GETANDREFRESH;MFACode=YourMFACode")

df = pd.read_sql("SELECT Name, CloseDate FROM Dataset_Opportunity WHERE StageName = 'Closed Won'", cnxn)
app_name = 'dash-salesforcecrmanalyticsdataplot'

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.Name, y=df.CloseDate, name='Name')

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='Salesforce CRM Analytics Dataset_Opportunity Data', barmode='stack')
		})
], className="container")

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