After Installing the Connector you can connect and create a Data Source for data in LinkedIn.

Setting Up a Data Source

Complete the following steps to connect to the data:

1. Under Connect | To a Server, click More....
2. Select the data source called LinkedIn by CData.
3. Enter the information required for the connection.
4. Click Sign In.
5. If necessary, select a Database and Schema to discover what tables and views are available.

Using the Connection Builder

The connector makes the most common connection properties available directly in Tableau. However, it can be difficult to use if you need to use more advanced settings or need to troubleshoot connection issues. The connector includes a separate connection builder that allows you to create and test connections outside of Tableau.

There are two ways to access the connection builder:

• On Windows, use a shortcut called Connection Builder in the Start menu, under the CData Tableau Connector for LinkedIn folder.
• You can also start the connection builder by going to the driver install directory and running the .jar file in the lib directory.

In the connection builder, you can set values for connection properties and click Test Connection to validate that they work. You can also use the Copy to Clipboard button to save the connection string. This connection string can be given to the Connection String option included in the connector connection window in Tableau.

Connecting to LinkedIn

The LinkedIn CompanyId is a string of numbers, usually 6 to 9 digits long, that is unique to your company. Working with LinkedIn entities that require the CompanyId to be exposed, requires Company Page Administrator permissions.

There are two ways to find your site's LinkedIn Company ID:

• Look at the URL of the search results page when you search for your company name in your LinkedIn page's Company dropdown. The ID is the value in the URL after /search/?f_C=[numeric value]&.

• As a LinkedIn Page Admin, use the All Pages or Home tab to navigate to the page's Admin View. The ID is the numbers in the URL that come after https://www.linkedin.com/company/.

CompanyId is required in most of the LinkedIn data model entities. You can specify it directly as part of a query or -- if the query you are using is not easily modified -- you can set it globally.

If you are not sure if it is required for a query you want to run, check the table or view description, or see whether it is specified as a column or pseudo-column.

Authenticating to LinkedIn

LinkedIn provides embedded OAuth credentials that simplify connection from a Desktop application . To connect from a Web application, you must create a custom OAuth application, as described in Creating a Custom OAuth Application.

To connect via OAuth from all authentication flows, you must set AuthScheme to OAuth.

The following subsections describe how to authenticate to LinkedIn from the available OAuth flows. For information about how to create a custom OAuth application, and why you might want to create one even for auth flows that already have embedded OAuth credentials, see Creating a Custom OAuth Application.

For a complete list of connection string properties available in LinkedIn, see Connection.

Desktop Applications

CData provides an embedded OAuth application that simplifies authentication at the desktop; that is, in situations where the user is using a local server not connected to the internet.

You can also authenticate from the desktop via a custom OAuth application, which you configure and register at the LinkedIn console. For further information, see Creating a Custom OAuth Application.

Before you connect, set these properties:

• InitiateOAuth: GETANDREFRESH. Used to automatically get and refresh the OAuthAccessToken.
• Custom OAuth applications only:
  • OAuthClientId: The client Id assigned when you registered your custom OAuth application.
  • OAuthClientSecret: The client secret assigned when you registered your custom OAuth application.
  • CallbackURL: The redirect URI defined when you registered your custom OAuth application.

When you connect, the connector opens LinkedIn's OAuth endpoint in your default browser. Log in and grant permissions to the application.

After you grant permissions to the application, the connector completes the OAuth process:

1. Obtains an access token from LinkedIn and uses it to request data.
2. Saves the OAuth values in the path specified in OAuthSettingsLocation. These values persist across connections.

When the access token expires, the connector refreshes it automatically.

Next Step

See Using the Connector to create data visualizations.