Power BI Connector for Smartsheet

Build 23.0.8839

Creating the Data Source Name

This section describes how to edit the DSN configuration and then authenticate and connect to Smartsheet APIs.

DSN Configuration

You can use the Microsoft ODBC Data Source Administrator to edit the DSN configuration. Note that the installation process creates a both a user DSN and a system DSN, as described in Installing the Connector.

Note: The connector stores connection information in the Windows registry. To ensure that the connector can write to the registry, either run Power BI as an administrator or use a User DSN for your connection instead of a System DSN.

User DSN

Complete the following steps to edit the DSN configuration:

  1. Select Start > Search, and enter ODBC Data Sources in the Search box.
  2. Choose the version of the ODBC Administrator that corresponds to the bitness of your Power BI Desktop installation (32-bit or 64-bit).
  3. Select the system data source and click Configure.
  4. Edit the information on the Connection tab and click OK.

System DSN

Configure the system DSN the same way as the user DSN, except you will need to switch to the System DSN tab before performing Step 3.

If you're using Power BI's On-Premises Data Gateway with Standard mode, you must use the system DSN.

You must also specify a valid location for OAuthSettingsLocation (a path where OAuth credentials are locally stored to avoid repeated OAuth prompts).

This is because the Standard mode runs on service mode and can only access permitted locations, such as C:\Windows\ServiceProfiles\PBIEgwService\AppData\Local\Microsoft\On-premises data gateway.

Connecting to Smartsheet

Smartsheet supports connections via the following authentication methods:

  • Using the Personal Access Token

Personal Access Token

Use the personal token to test and to access your own data. To obtain the personal token, follow the steps below:

  1. Log into Smartsheet.
  2. Click Account and select Personal Settings.
  3. Click API Access and use the form to generate new access tokens or manage existing access tokens.
Set the AuthScheme to PersonalAccessToken. You can then set the PersonalAccessToken to the token you generated.

Synch Connections

Before you connect, set the following variables:

  • OAuthClientId: The client Id assigned when you registered your custom OAuth application.
  • OAuthClientSecret: The client secret assigned when you registered your custom OAuth application.

Click Connect to Smartsheet to open the OAuth endpoint in your default browser. Log in and grant permissions to the application.

The driver then completes the OAuth process as follows:

  • Extracts the access token from the callback URL.
  • Obtains a new access token when the old one expires.
  • Saves OAuth values so that they persist across connections.

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Build 23.0.8839