SQL Cloud allows creating and sharing CSV tables from SQL queries for desktop third-party tools like MS PowerBI, etc.
Please follow the instructions below in order to connect them:
Download
Windows only: admin permission required
Multi-platform (Windows, macOS, Linux): Java installed is required.
Step 1. Run the installer
c:\> java -jar install
Step 2. Run up the CSV Server
Type in your PC search bar “CSV”. In the appeared list of docs and applications click on the “SQL Cloud CSV Server” app.
This will start the SQL Cloud CSV Query Server locally:
Step 3. Copy the CSV URL from SQL Cloud CSV Server console
Step 4. Open any browser and insert into the address bar the previously copied URL
“ http://localhost:4231/sqlc/csv?sql= “
Step 5. Insert your query into the previously copied URL.
You have two options how to do this:
You can write your query right in the address bar of your browser ( example: http://localhost:4231/sqlc/csv?sql=select * from PROJECT ). And press “Enter”.
You can go to your query console, write a query there or use SQLC Query Library to choose one, copy it from there, and insert it into the address bar.
1. Copy your query from the console (select all query +Ctrl+C /Comnd+C)
2. Enter copied query:
http://localhost:4231/sqlc/csv?sql=YOUR QUERY
And press Enter. It will automatically open a new page of SQLC Query Server and will ask you to enable the Server, and set a password (if you haven't done this before).
Step 6. Run a SQL query from your browser
3. Enable your server and set a password. Go back to the browser and refresh page. It will send you back to the SQL Cloud Query Server page so you could see whether the Server is connected.
4. Go back to your browser and copy the entire URL.
Now This URL you can use to connect to a third-party tool that supports Data resources as URL.
Step 7. Share the query with third-parties
The URLs above displaying CSV on your browser can be safely shared as a data source with third-party tools like MS Power BI:
Open Power Bi. Select “Get Data”. Chose as a resource for your data “Web”
2. In opened dialog window insert the previously copied URL from your browser (look at Step 6. )
3. Press Ok and then Load.
Every time refreshing data it will execute the copied query in real-time.
Please pay attention that when you close the Server or CSV Cloud Console or stop Server - your data will not be refreshing anymore and you'll get this alert:
Why a local server?
Since it is a JavaScript database running on the browser you need to run a local server on your desktop to listen to some port and connect third-party tools to that port.
We provide that server. You have to download, install and start it up on your PC, first.
Then connect from third-party tools to the local server. The local server will care about the rest of the process in an automatic way.
You may wonder why a local server is required… for a Cloud app!. Simple: we realized that Cloud reporting & analytic tools are not yet as powerful as their desktop counterparts (ie: MS PowerBI) and many users still would like to use their desktop tools while their data are on the Cloud. For that reason, we created a local server in order to close this gap and allow desktop users to run SQL Cloud locally. Therefore, with this premise in mind, it is not a major issue that you have to run an extra tool on your desktop to complete the chain.
Sure we would have provided an URL… BUT this would imply your data would pass through our servers and this would compromise our premise that no one will read your data between Jira and you, even ourselves.
We want to provide a hybrid solution for Cloud-Desktop at the moment.
If the approach above meets your requirements then, please, follow the instructions above in order to get your local CSV server working.