Create ODBC Data Source (DSN) based on

Step-by-step instructions

To get data from Google Analytics using SAP Crystal Reports we first need to create a DSN (Data Source) which will access data from Google Analytics. We will later be able to read data using SAP Crystal Reports. Perform these steps:

1. Download and install ODBC PowerPack.

2. Open ODBC Data Sources (x64):

   

3. Create a User data source (User DSN) based on :

   
   • Create and use User DSN if the client application is run under a User Account. This is an ideal option in design-time, when developing a solution, e.g. in Visual Studio 2019. Use it for both type of applications - 64-bit and 32-bit.
   • Create and use System DSN if the client application is launched under a System Account, e.g. as a Windows Service. Usually, this is an ideal option to use in a production environment. Use ODBC Data Source Administrator (32-bit), instead of 64-bit version, if Windows Service is a 32-bit application.

4. When the Configuration window appears give your data source a name if you haven't done that already, then select "Google Analytics" from the list of Popular Connectors. If "Google Analytics" 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:

   GoogleAnalyticsDSN

   Google Analytics

   

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.

   OAuth Authentication

   Google Analytics authentication

   Amazon OAuth Security Profile has be created in Amazon Developer portal. [API reference]

   1. Firstly, login into Amazon Developer portal in https://developer.amazon.com.
   2. Then click Sign in.
   3. If you don't have an account, press Create your Amazon Developer account button to create one.
   4. Once logged in, click on your profile icon on the right-top of the window and hit Settings:
   5. Then click Security Profiles and proceed with creating a new Security Profile:
   
   6. After that, click Web Settings subtab, then hit Show Secret button to reveal the Client Secret (you will need it later), and click Edit to add a Redirect URL:
   
   7. Continue by setting Allowed Return URLs (you can have your own or use https://zappysys.com/oauth):
   8. Done! Now you can use Client ID, Client Secret, and Redirect URL when configuring OAuth Authentication parameters:

   API Connection Manager configuration

   Just perform these simple steps to finish authentication configuration:

   1. Set Authentication Type to OAuth Authentication [OAuth]
   2. Optional step. Modify API Base URL if needed (in most cases default will work).
   3. Fill in all the required parameters and set optional parameters if needed.
   4. Press Generate Token button to generate the tokens.
   5. Finally, hit OK button:

   GoogleAnalyticsDSN

   Google Analytics

   OAuth Authentication [OAuth]

   https://advertising-api.amazon.com/v2

   Required Parameters
   ClientId	Fill-in the parameter...
   ClientSecret	Fill-in the parameter...
   AuthorizationUrl	Fill-in the parameter...
   ReturnUrl	Fill-in the parameter...
   Scope	Fill-in the parameter...
   Profile (click 'Generate Token' before this)	Fill-in the parameter...
   Optional Parameters
   RetryMode	RetryWhenStatusCodeMatch
   RetryStatusCodeList	429
   RetryCountMax	5
   RetryMultiplyWaitTime	True

   

6. Once the data source connection has been configured, it's time to configure the SQL query. Select the Preview tab and then click Query Builder button to configure the SQL query:

   

   - Google Analytics

   Google Analytics Connector can be used to read data from Google Analytics Service without learning complex API. Easy to use interface allows you extract large amount of data adjusting parameters such as dimensions, metrics, filters, sortby, date range etc. You can also use inbuilt reports or specify direct query URL to get desired data.

   GoogleAnalyticsDSN

   

7. Start by selecting the Table or Endpoint you are interested in and then configure the parameters. This will generate a query that we will use in SAP Crystal Reports to retrieve data from Google Analytics. Hit OK button to use this query in the next step.

   SELECT * FROM Orders

   
   Some parameters configured in this window will be passed to the Google Analytics API, e.g. filtering parameters. It means that filtering will be done on the server side (instead of the client side), enabling you to get only the meaningful data much faster.

8. Now hit Preview Data button to preview the data using the generated SQL query. If you are satisfied with the result, use this query in SAP Crystal Reports:

   

   - Google Analytics

   Google Analytics Connector can be used to read data from Google Analytics Service without learning complex API. Easy to use interface allows you extract large amount of data adjusting parameters such as dimensions, metrics, filters, sortby, date range etc. You can also use inbuilt reports or specify direct query URL to get desired data.

   GoogleAnalyticsDSN

   SELECT * FROM Orders

   
   You can also access data quickly from the tables dropdown by selecting <Select table>.
   A WHERE clause, LIMIT keyword will be performed on the client side, meaning that the whole result set will be retrieved from the Google Analytics API first, and only then the filtering will be applied to the data. If possible, it is recommended to use parameters in Query Builder to filter the data on the server side (in Google Analytics servers).

9. Click OK to finish creating the data source.

Read data in SAP Crystal Reports from the ODBC data source

1. First of all, open SAP Crystal Reports and create the new Crystal Report.

   

2. And it will open the new data source selection window. Under ODBC(RDO) double click on the Make New Connection and Select the desired ODBC DSN, in our case we need to select GoogleAnalyticsDSN which we created in upper section. And Click on Next.

   GoogleAnalyticsDSN

   

3. Expand the Connection and under the data select the desired table(s) or view(s) and click Add > button and click on Next.

   GoogleAnalyticsDSN

   GoogleAnalyticsDSN

   

4. Add the desired Fields to Display in the Reports. Here we are adding all fields and click on Finish.

   

5. That's it and you will be able to load the data in the Report.

   

Using ZappySys Driver Custom Views and Stored Procedure in SAP Crystal Report

You can create parameterized Stored Procedure and Virtual Tables on the same Data Source (ODBC DSN or Data Gateway Data Source). Please refer to this article for the same. You can create procedures to encapsulate custom logic and then only pass handful parameters rather than long SQL to execute your API call.

Using Custom Views in the SAP Crystal Report

After establishing the connection with GoogleAnalyticsDSN Data Source you can use the custom view in SQL Crystal Report.

Using Custom Stored Procedure in the SAP Crystal Report

1. First of all, create the custom stored procedure in the ZappySys Driver. Please refer to this article to create the custom stored procedure.
   
2. After establishing the connection with GoogleAnalyticsDSN Data Source you can use the custom Stored Procedure in SQL Crystal Report. Same way you can write custom queries also in the query box.
   GoogleAnalyticsDSN

   

Centralized data access via Data Gateway

In some situations, you may need to provide Google Analytics data access to multiple users or services. Configuring the data source on a Data Gateway creates a single, centralized connection point for this purpose.

This configuration provides two primary advantages:

• Centralized data access
  The data source is configured once on the gateway, eliminating the need to set it up individually on each user's machine or application. This significantly simplifies the management process.
• Centralized access control
  Since all connections route through the gateway, access can be governed or revoked from a single location for all users.

	Data Gateway	Local ODBC data source
Simple configuration
Installation	Single machine	Per machine
Connectivity	Local and remote	Local only
Connections limit	Limited by License	Unlimited
Central data access
Central access control
More flexible cost

If you need any of these requirements, you will have to create a data source in Data Gateway to connect to Google Analytics, and to create an ODBC data source to connect to Data Gateway in SAP Crystal Reports.

Let's not wait and get going!

Creating Google Analytics data source in Gateway

In this section we will create a data source for Google Analytics in Data Gateway. Let's follow these steps to accomplish that:

1. Search for gateway in Windows Start Menu and open ZappySys Data Gateway Configuration:

   

2. Go to Users tab and follow these steps to add a Data Gateway user:

   • Click Add button
   • In Login field enter username, e.g., john
   • Then enter a Password
   • Check Is Administrator checkbox
   • Click OK to save
   

3. Now we are ready to add a data source:

   • Click Add button
   • Give Datasource a name (have it handy for later)
   • Then select Native -
   • Finally, click OK
   GoogleAnalyticsDSN

   

4. When the configuration window opens, configure the Data Source the same way you configured it in ODBC Data Sources (64-bit), in the beginning of this article.

5. Very important step. Now, after creating or modifying the data source make sure you:

   • Click the Save button to persist your changes.
   • Hit Yes, once asked if you want to restart the Data Gateway service.

   This will ensure all changes are properly applied:

   
   Skipping this step may result in the new settings not taking effect and, therefore you will not be able to connect to the data source.

Creating ODBC data source for Data Gateway

In this part we will create ODBC data source to connect to Data Gateway from SAP Crystal Reports. To achieve that, let's perform these steps:

1. Open ODBC Data Sources (x64):

   

2. Create a User data source (User DSN) based on ODBC Driver 17 for SQL Server:

   ODBC Driver 17 for SQL Server

   
   If you don't see ODBC Driver 17 for SQL Server driver in the list, choose a similar version driver.

3. Then set a Name of the data source (e.g. Gateway) and the address of the Data Gateway:

   GatewayDSN

   localhost,5000

   
   Make sure you separate the hostname and port with a comma, e.g. localhost,5000.

4. Proceed with authentication part:

   • Select SQL Server authentication
   • In Login ID field enter the user name you used in Data Gateway, e.g., john
   • Set Password to the one you configured in Data Gateway
   

5. Then set the default database property to GoogleAnalyticsDSN (the one we used in Data Gateway):

   GoogleAnalyticsDSN

   

6. Continue by checking Trust server certificate option:

   

7. Once you do that, test the connection:

   

8. If connection is successful, everything is good:

   

9. Done!

We are ready to move to the final step. Let's do it!

Accessing data in SAP Crystal Reports via Data Gateway

Finally, we are ready to read data from Google Analytics in SAP Crystal Reports via Data Gateway. Follow these final steps:

1. Go back to SAP Crystal Reports.

2. First of all, open SAP Crystal Reports and create the new Crystal Report.

   

3. And it will open the new data source selection window. Under ODBC(RDO) double click on the Make New Connection and Select the desired ODBC DSN, in our case we need to select GatewayDSN which we created in upper section. And Click on Next.

   GatewayDSN

   

4. Read the data the same way we discussed at the beginning of this article.

5. That's it!

Now you can connect to Google Analytics data in SAP Crystal Reports via the Data Gateway.

Conclusion

In this article we showed you how to connect to Google Analytics in SAP Crystal Reports and integrate data without any coding, saving you time and effort.

We encourage you to download Google Analytics Connector for SAP Crystal Reports and see how easy it is to use it for yourself or your team.

If you have any questions, feel free to contact ZappySys support team. You can also open a live chat immediately by clicking on the chat icon below.

Download Google Analytics Connector for SAP Crystal Reports Documentation

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