Configuring a Connection
After Installing the Connector you can connect and create a Data Source for data in Google BigQuery.
Setting Up a Data Source
Complete the following steps to connect to the data:
- Under Connect | To a Server, click More....
- Select the data source called Google BigQuery by CData.
- Enter the information required for the connection.
- Click Sign In.
- 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 Google BigQuery 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 Google BigQuery
By default, the CData connector connects to all available projects in your database. To limit the scope of your connection, set combinations of the following properties:- ProjectId: specifies which projects the driver connects to
- BillingProjectId: specifies which projects are billed
- DatasetId: specifies which datasets the driver accesses
Authenticating to Google BigQuery
The connector supports using user accounts, service accounts and GCP instance accounts for authentication.
The following sections discuss the available authentication schemes for Google BigQuery:
- User Accounts (OAuth)
- Service Account (OAuthJWT)
- GCP Instance Account
User Accounts (OAuth)
AuthScheme must be set to OAuth in all user account flows.
Desktop Applications
CData provides an embedded OAuth application that simplifies OAuth desktop Authentication. Alternatively, you can create a custom OAuth application. See Creating a Custom OAuth App for information about creating custom applications and reasons for doing so.
For authentication, the only difference between the two methods is that you must set two additional connection properties when using custom OAuth applications.
After setting the following connection properties, you are ready to connect:
- InitiateOAuth: Set this to GETANDREFRESH, which instructs the connector to automatically attempt to get and refresh the OAuth access token.
- OAuthClientId: (custom applications only) Set this to the Client Id in your custom OAuth application settings.
- OAuthClientSecret: (custom applications only) Set this to the Client Secret in the custom OAuth application settings.
- Extracts the access token from the callback URL.
- Obtains a new access token when the old one expires.
- Saves OAuth values in OAuthSettingsLocation that persist across connections.
Web Applications
When connecting via a Web application, you need to create and register a custom OAuth application with Google BigQuery. You can then use the connector to acquire and manage the OAuth token values. See Creating a Custom OAuth App for more information about custom applications.Get an OAuth Access Token
Set the following connection properties to obtain the OAuthAccessToken:
- OAuthClientId: Set this to the Client Id in your application settings.
- OAuthClientSecret: Set this to the Client Secret in your application settings.
Then call stored procedures to complete the OAuth exchange:
- Call the GetOAuthAuthorizationURL stored procedure. Set the CallbackURL input to the Callback URL you specified in your application settings. The stored procedure returns the URL to the OAuth endpoint.
- Navigate to the URL that the stored procedure returned in Step 1. Log in to the custom OAuth application and authorize the web application. Once authenticated, the browser redirects you to the callback URL.
- Call the GetOAuthAccessToken stored procedure. Set AuthMode to WEB and the Verifier input to the "code" parameter in the query string of the callback URL.
Once you have obtained the access and refresh tokens, you can connect to data and refresh the OAuth access token either automatically or manually.
Automatic Refresh of the OAuth Access Token
To have the driver automatically refresh the OAuth access token, set the following on the first data connection:
- InitiateOAuth: Set this to REFRESH.
- OAuthClientId: Set this to the Client Id in your application settings.
- OAuthClientSecret: Set this to the Client Secret in your application settings.
- OAuthAccessToken: Set this to the access token returned by GetOAuthAccessToken.
- OAuthRefreshToken: Set this to the refresh token returned by GetOAuthAccessToken.
- OAuthSettingsLocation: Set this to the location where the connector saves the OAuth token values, which persist across connections.
Manual Refresh of the OAuth Access Token
The only value needed to manually refresh the OAuth access token when connecting to data is the OAuth refresh token.
Use the RefreshOAuthAccessToken stored procedure to manually refresh the OAuthAccessToken after the ExpiresIn parameter value returned by GetOAuthAccessToken has elapsed, then set the following connection properties:
- OAuthClientId: Set this to the Client Id in your application settings.
- OAuthClientSecret: Set this to the Client Secret in your application settings.
Then call RefreshOAuthAccessToken with OAuthRefreshToken set to the OAuth refresh token returned by GetOAuthAccessToken. After the new tokens have been retrieved, open a new connection by setting the OAuthAccessToken property to the value returned by RefreshOAuthAccessToken.
Finally, store the OAuth refresh token so that you can use it to manually refresh the OAuth access token after it has expired.
Headless Machines
To configure the driver to use OAuth with a user account on a headless machine, you need to authenticate on another device that has an internet browser.
- Choose one of two options:
- Option 1: Obtain the OAuthVerifier value as described in "Obtain and Exchange a Verifier Code" below.
- Option 2: Install the connector on a machine with an Internet browser and transfer the OAuth authentication values after you authenticate through the usual browser-based flow, as described in "Transfer OAuth Settings" below.
- Then configure the connector to automatically refresh the access token on the headless machine.
Option 1: Obtain and Exchange a Verifier Code
To obtain a verifier code, you must authenticate at the OAuth authorization URL.
Follow the steps below to authenticate from the machine with an Internet browser and obtain the OAuthVerifier connection property.
- Choose one of these options:
- If you are using the Embedded OAuth Application click Google BigQuery OAuth endpoint to open the endpoint in your browser.
- If you are using a custom OAuth application, create the Authorization URL by setting the following properties:
- InitiateOAuth: Set to OFF.
- OAuthClientId: Set to the client Id assigned when you registered your application.
- OAuthClientSecret: Set to the client secret assigned when you registered your application.
- Log in and grant permissions to the connector. You are then redirected to the callback URL, which contains the verifier code.
- Save the value of the verifier code. Later you will set this in the OAuthVerifier connection property.
On the headless machine, set the following connection properties to obtain the OAuth authentication values:
- InitiateOAuth: Set this to REFRESH.
- OAuthVerifier: Set this to the verifier code.
- OAuthClientId: (custom applications only) Set this to the Client Id in your custom OAuth application settings.
- OAuthClientSecret: (custom applications only) Set this to the Client Secret in the custom OAuth application settings.
- OAuthSettingsLocation: Set this to persist the encrypted OAuth authentication values to the specified location.
After the OAuth settings file is generated, you need to re-set the following properties to connect:
- InitiateOAuth: Set this to REFRESH.
- OAuthClientId: (custom applications only) Set this to the client Id assigned when you registered your application.
- OAuthClientSecret: (custom applications only) Set this to the client secret assigned when you registered your application.
- OAuthSettingsLocation: Set this to the location containing the encrypted OAuth authentication values. Make sure this location gives read and write permissions to the connector to enable the automatic refreshing of the access token.
Option 2: Transfer OAuth Settings
Prior to connecting on a headless machine, you need to create and install a connection with the driver on a device that supports an Internet browser. Set the connection properties as described in "Desktop Applications" above.
After completing the instructions in "Desktop Applications", the resulting authentication values are encrypted and written to the location specified by OAuthSettingsLocation. The default filename is OAuthSettings.txt.
Once you have successfully tested the connection, copy the OAuth settings file to your headless machine.
On the headless machine, set the following connection properties to connect to data:
- InitiateOAuth: Set this to REFRESH.
- OAuthClientId: (custom applications only) Set this to the client Id assigned when you registered your application.
- OAuthClientSecret: (custom applications only) Set this to the client secret assigned when you registered your application.
- OAuthSettingsLocation: Set this to the location of your OAuth settings file. Make sure this location gives read and write permissions to the connector to enable the automatic refreshing of the access token.
Service Accounts (OAuthJWT)
To authenticate using a service account, you must create a new service account and have a copy of the accounts certificate. If you do not already have a service account, you can create one by following the procedure in Creating a Custom OAuth App.
For a JSON file, set these properties:
- AuthScheme: Set this to OAuthJWT.
- InitiateOAuth: Set this to GETANDREFRESH.
- OAuthJWTCertType: Set this to GOOGLEJSON.
- OAuthJWTCert: Set this to the path to the .json file provided by Google.
- OAuthJWTSubject: (optional) Only set this value if the service account is part of a GSuite domain and you want to enable delegation. The value of this property should be the email address of the user whose data you want to access.
For a PFX file, set these properties instead:
- AuthScheme: Set this to OAuthJWT.
- InitiateOAuth: Set this to GETANDREFRESH.
- OAuthJWTCertType: Set this to PFXFILE.
- OAuthJWTCert: Set this to the path to the .pfx file provided by Google.
- OAuthJWTCertPassword: (optional) Set this to the .pfx file password. In most cases you must provide this since Google encrypts PFX certificates.
- OAuthJWTCertSubject: (optional) Set this only if you are using a OAuthJWTCertType which stores multiple certificates. Should not be set for PFX certificates generated by Google.
- OAuthJWTIssuer: Set this to the email address of the service account. This address will usually include the domain iam.gserviceaccount.com.
- OAuthJWTSubject: (optional) Only set this value if the service account is part of a GSuite domain and you want to enable delegation. The value of this property should be the email address of the user whose data you want to access.
GCP Instance Accounts
When running on a GCP virtual machine, the connector can authenticate using a service account tied to the virtual machine. To use this mode, set AuthScheme to GCPInstanceAccount.
Next Step
See Using the Connector to create data visualizations.