DropBox Connector for MS Excel

In this article you will learn how to integrate DropBox data in MS Excel without coding in just a few clicks (live / bi-directional connection to DropBox). Read / write DropBox data inside your app; perform many DropBox operations without coding, just use easy to use high performance API Connector for DropBox.

Using DropBox Connector you will be able to connect, read, and write data from within MS Excel. Follow the steps below to see how we would accomplish that.

Download Documentation

Create ODBC Data Source (DSN) based on ZappySys API Driver

Step-by-step instructions

To get data from DropBox using MS Excel we first need to create a DSN (Data Source) which will access data from DropBox. We will later be able to read data using MS Excel. Perform these steps:

  1. Install ZappySys ODBC PowerPack.

  2. Open ODBC Data Sources (x64):
    Open ODBC Data Source

  3. Create a User Data Source (User DSN) based on ZappySys API Driver

    ZappySys API Driver
    Create new User DSN for ZappySys API Driver
    You should create a System DSN (instead of a User DSN) if the client application is launched under a Windows System Account, e.g. as a Windows Service. If the client application is 32-bit (x86) running with a System DSN, use ODBC Data Sources (32-bit) instead of the 64-bit version.
  4. When the Configuration window appears give your data source a name if you haven't done that already, then select "DropBox" from the list of Popular Connectors. If "DropBox" is not present in the list, then click "Search Online" and download it. Then set the path to the location where you downloaded it. Finally, click Continue >> to proceed with configuring the DSN:

    DropBoxDSN
    DropBox
    ODBC DSN Template Selection

  5. Now it's time to configure the Connection Manager. Select Authentication Type, e.g. Token Authentication. Then select API Base URL (in most cases, the default one is the right one). More info is available in the Authentication section.

    Steps to get DropBox Credentials : User Account [OAuth]

    To use OAuth authentication, firstly, you need to create OAuth application:

    1. Log into your DropBox account.
    2. Go to https://www.dropbox.com/developers/apps.
    3. Press Create app button to create a new app.
    4. Once a new page opens, select Scoped access option.
    5. Next, select Full Dropbox to access all files and folders or App folder to access specific folder's files and folders option
    6. Give your app a name
    7. Click create app
    8. Once a new page opens, click Scoped App in Permission type line to select application scopes.
    9. Select all Individual Scopes and Team Scopes if you want to manage team data. Click Submit button.
    10. Select Settings tab, scroll down to App key and App secret and copy paste them into Notepad.
    11. Then in OAuth 2 section add a URL as Redirect URI. If you don't have a working Redirect URI, you may add https://zappysys.com/oauth as Redirect URI

    Use App key and App secret and Redirect URI for use in Connection String when connecting or in UI.

    NOTE: If you are planning to use your current data connection/token for automated processes, we recommend that you use a generic account for token generation when the login box appears (e.g. sales_automation@mycompany.com instead of bob_smith@mycompany.com). When you use a personal account which is tied to a specific employee profile and that employee leaves the company, the token may become invalid and any automated processes using that token will fail. Another potentially unwanted effect of using a personal token is incorrect logging; the API calls (e.g. Read, Edit, Delete, Upload) made with that token will record the specific user as performing the calls instead of an automated process.

    Fill in all required parameters and set optional parameters if needed:

    DropBoxDSN
    DropBox
    User Account [OAuth]
    https://api.dropboxapi.com/2/
    Required Parameters
    UseCustomApp Fill in the parameter...
    ReturnUrl Fill in the parameter...
    Optional Parameters
    ClientId Fill in the parameter...
    ClientSecret Fill in the parameter...
    Scope Fill in the parameter...
    RetryMode Fill in the parameter...
    RetryStatusCodeList Fill in the parameter...
    RetryCountMax Fill in the parameter...
    RetryMultiplyWaitTime Fill in the parameter...
    ODBC DSN Oauth Connection Configuration

  6. Once the data source has been configured, you can preview data. Select the Preview tab and use settings similar to the following to preview data:
    ODBC ZappySys Data Source Preview

  7. Click OK to finish creating the data source.

Video instructions

Read data in Excel from the DSN

  1. In Excel click Data, then select Get Data, proceed with From Other Sources and choose From ODBC item. This will get data from ODBC data source we created:
    Create ODBC data source in Excel

  2. A small window opens, then simply select the data source you created in previous steps:

    DropBoxDSN
    Select DSN data source in Excel

  3. Most likely, you will be asked to authenticate to a newly created DSN. Just select Windows authentication option together with Use my current credentials option:

    DropBoxDSN
    Excel DSN Authentication

  4. Finally, you will be asked to select a table or view to get data from. Select one and load the data!
    Excel DSN Authentication

  5. Finally, finally, use data extracted from DropBox API in an Excel worksheet:
    Excel Select DSN Table

Advanced topics

Create Custom Stored Procedure in ZappySys Driver

You can create procedures to encapsulate custom logic and then only pass handful parameters rather than long SQL to execute your API call.

Steps to create Custom Stored Procedure in ZappySys Driver. You can insert Placeholders anywhere inside Procedure Body. Read more about placeholders here

  1. Go to Custom Objects Tab and Click on Add button and Select Add Procedure:
    ZappySys Driver - Add Stored Procedure

  2. Enter the desired Procedure name and click on OK:
    ZappySys Driver - Add Stored Procedure Name

  3. Select the created Stored Procedure and write the your desired stored procedure and Save it and it will create the custom stored procedure in the ZappySys Driver:
    Here is an example stored procedure for ZappySys Driver. You can insert Placeholders anywhere inside Procedure Body. Read more about placeholders here

    CREATE PROCEDURE [usp_get_orders]
        @fromdate = '<<yyyy-MM-dd,FUN_TODAY>>'
     AS
        SELECT * FROM Orders where OrderDate >= '<@fromdate>';
    

    ZappySys Driver - Create Custom Stored Procedure

  4. That's it now go to Preview Tab and Execute your Stored Procedure using Exec Command. In this example it will extract the orders from the date 1996-01-01:

    Exec usp_get_orders '1996-01-01';

    ZappySys Driver - Execute Custom Stored Procedure

  5. Let's generate the SQL Server Query Code to make the API call using stored procedure. Go to Code Generator Tab, select language as SQL Server and click on Generate button the generate the code.
    As we already created the linked server for this Data Source, in that you just need to copy the Select Query and need to use the linked server name which we have apply on the place of [MY_API_SERVICE] placeholder.

    SELECT * FROM OPENQUERY([MY_API_SERVICE], 'EXEC usp_get_orders @fromdate=''1996-07-30''')

    ZappySys Driver - Generate SQL Server Query

  6. Now go to SQL served and execute that query and it will make the API call using stored procedure and provide you the response.
    ZappySys Driver - Generate SQL Server Query

Create Custom Virtual Table in ZappySys Driver

ZappySys API Drivers support flexible Query language so you can override Default Properties you configured on Data Source such as URL, Body. This way you don't have to create multiple Data Sources if you like to read data from multiple EndPoints. However not every application support supplying custom SQL to driver so you can only select Table from list returned from driver.

If you're dealing with Microsoft Access and need to import data from an SQL query, it's important to note that Access doesn't allow direct import of SQL queries. Instead, you can create custom objects (Virtual Tables) to handle the import process.

Many applications like MS Access, Informatica Designer wont give you option to specify custom SQL when you import Objects. In such case Virtual Table is very useful. You can create many Virtual Tables on the same Data Source (e.g. If you have 50 URLs with slight variations you can create virtual tables with just URL as Parameter setting.

  1. Go to Custom Objects Tab and Click on Add button and Select Add Table:
    ZappySys Driver - Add Table

  2. Enter the desired Table name and click on OK:
    ZappySys Driver - Add Table Name

  3. And it will open the New Query Window Click on Cancel to close that window and go to Custom Objects Tab.

  4. Select the created table, Select Text Type AS SQL and write the your desired SQL Query and Save it and it will create the custom table in the ZappySys Driver:
    Here is an example SQL query for ZappySys Driver. You can insert Placeholders also. Read more about placeholders here

    SELECT
      "ShipCountry",
      "OrderID",
      "CustomerID",
      "EmployeeID",
      "OrderDate",
      "RequiredDate",
      "ShippedDate",
      "ShipVia",
      "Freight",
      "ShipName",
      "ShipAddress",
      "ShipCity",
      "ShipRegion",
      "ShipPostalCode"
    FROM "Orders"
    Where "ShipCountry"='USA'

    ZappySys Driver - Create Custom Table

  5. That's it now go to Preview Tab and Execute your custom virtual table query. In this example it will extract the orders for the USA Shipping Country only:

    SELECT * FROM "vt__usa_orders_only"

    ZappySys Driver - Execute Custom Virtual Table Query

  6. Let's generate the SQL Server Query Code to make the API call using stored procedure. Go to Code Generator Tab, select language as SQL Server and click on Generate button the generate the code.
    As we already created the linked server for this Data Source, in that you just need to copy the Select Query and need to use the linked server name which we have apply on the place of [MY_API_SERVICE] placeholder.

    SELECT * FROM OPENQUERY([MY_API_SERVICE], 'EXEC [usp_get_orders] ''1996-01-01''')

    ZappySys Driver - Generate SQL Server Query

  7. Now go to SQL served and execute that query and it will make the API call using stored procedure and provide you the response.
    ZappySys Driver - Generate SQL Server Query

Actions supported by DropBox Connector

DropBox Connector support following actions for REST API integration. If some actions are not listed below then you can easily edit Connector file and enhance out of the box functionality.
 Make connection test
Makes a connection test    [Read more...]
 List folder
Lists folder    [Read more...]
Parameter Description
Path
Recursive
Option Value
true true
false false
 Download a file
Downloads a file    [Read more...]
Parameter Description
SourceFilePath
 Download a folder and folders/files within as ZIP archive
Downloads a folder with all the files and folders it contains as ZIP file    [Read more...]
Parameter Description
SourcePath
 Upload a file
Upload a file    [Read more...]
Parameter Description
TargetFilePath Specify a file path in DropBox to save file to
SourceFilePath Specify a disk file path to upload
 Create folder
Creates folder    [Read more...]
Parameter Description
Path
 Delete
Deletes file or folder    [Read more...]
Parameter Description
Path
 Generic Request
This is generic endpoint. Use this endpoint when some actions are not implemented by connector. Just enter partial URL (Required), Body, Method, Header etc. Most parameters are optional except URL.    [Read more...]
Parameter Description
Url API URL goes here. You can enter full URL or Partial URL relative to Base URL. If it is full URL then domain name must be part of ServiceURL or part of TrustedDomains
Body Request Body content goes here
IsMultiPart Set this option if you want to upload file(s) (i.e. POST RAW file data) or send data using Multi-Part encoding method (i.e. Content-Type: multipart/form-data). Multi-Part request allows you to mix key/value and upload files in same request. On the other hand raw upload allows only single file upload (without any key/value) ==== Raw Upload (Content-Type: application/octet-stream) ===== To upload single file in raw mode check this option and specify full file path starting with @ sign in the Body (e.g. @c:\data\myfile.zip ) ==== Form-Data / Multipart Upload (Content-Type: multipart/form-data) ===== To treat your Request data as multi part fields you must specify key/value pairs separated by new lines into RequestData field (i.e. Body). Each key value pair is entered on new-line and key/value are separated using equal sign (=). Preceding and trailing spaces are ignored also blank lines are ignored. If field value has some any special character(s) then use escape sequence (e.g. For NewLine: \r\n, For Tab: \t, For at (@): \@). When value of any field starts with at sign (@) its automatically treated as File you want to upload. By default file content type is determined based on extension however you can supply content type manually for any field using this way [ YourFileFieldName.Content-Type=some-content-type ]. By default File Upload Field always includes Content-Type in the request (non file fields do not have content-type by default unless you supply manually). For some reason if you dont want to use Content-Type header in your request then supply blank Content-Type to exclude this header altogather [e.g. SomeFieldName.Content-Type= ]. In below example we have supplied Content-Type for file2 and SomeField1, all other fields are using default content-type. See below Example of uploading multiple files along with additional fields. If some API requires you to pass Content-Type: multipart/form-data rather than multipart/form-data then manually set Request Header => Content-Type: multipart/mixed (it must starts with multipart/ else will be ignored). file1=@c:\data\Myfile1.txt file2=@c:\data\Myfile2.json file2.Content-Type=application/json SomeField1=aaaaaaa SomeField1.Content-Type=text/plain SomeField2=12345 SomeFieldWithNewLineAndTab=This is line1\r\nThis is line2\r\nThis is \ttab \ttab \ttab SomeFieldStartingWithAtSign=\@MyTwitterHandle
Filter Enter filter to extract array from response. Example: $.rows[*] --OR-- $.customers[*].orders[*]. Check your response document and find out hierarchy you like to extract
Headers Headers for Request. To enter multiple headers use double pipe or new line after each {header-name}:{value} pair

DropBox Connector Examples for MS Excel Connection

This page offers a collection of SQL examples designed for seamless integration with the ZappySys API ODBC Driver under ODBC Data Source (36/64) or ZappySys Data Gateway, enhancing your ability to connect and interact with Prebuilt Connectors effectively.

Test connection    [Read more...]

Tests connection

SELECT *
  FROM make_test

List folder #1    [Read more...]

Lists all files and folders within a folder

SELECT *
  FROM list_folder

List folder #2    [Read more...]

Lists all files and folders within a folder

SELECT *
  FROM list_folder
  WITH (Path='/MySubfolder'
       ,Recursive='true')

Download file    [Read more...]

Downloads a file

SELECT *
  FROM download_file
  WITH (SourceFilePath='/file-I-want-to-download.dat'
        ,ResponseDataFile='C:\path\I\want\to\save\my\file\to.dat'
      )

Download folder as ZIP file    [Read more...]

Downloads a folder with all files and folders within it as ZIP file

SELECT *
  FROM download_folder
  WITH (SourcePath='/folder-I-want-to-download'
        ,ResponseDataFile='C:\path\I\want\to\save\my\folder\to.zip'
      )

Upload a file    [Read more...]

Uploads a file

SELECT *
  FROM upload_file
  WITH (TargetFilePath='/MySubfolder/file-I-want-to-upload-to-dropbox.dat'
        ,DiskFilePath='C:\file\I\want\to\upload.dat'
      )

Delete a file or a folder    [Read more...]

Deletes a file or a folder

SELECT *
  FROM delete
  WITH (Path='/path/to/file/in/dropbox/I/want/to/delete.dat')

Create a folder    [Read more...]

Creates a folder

SELECT *
  FROM create_folder
  WITH (Path='/folder/in/dropbox/I/want/to/create')

Conclusion

In this article we discussed how to connect to DropBox in MS Excel and integrate data without any coding. Click here to Download DropBox Connector for MS Excel and try yourself see how easy it is. If you still have any question(s) then ask here or simply click on live chat icon below and ask our expert (see bottom-right corner of this page).

Download DropBox Connector for MS Excel Documentation 

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Download DropBox Connector for MS Excel Documentation

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