Mailchimp Connector for Microsoft Fabric

Read / write MailChimp Campaigns, Lists, Members, Reports and more in without coding.

In this article you will learn how to quickly and efficiently integrate Mailchimp data in Microsoft Fabric without coding. We will use high-performance Mailchimp Connector to easily connect to Mailchimp and then access the data inside Microsoft Fabric.

Let's follow the steps below to see how we can accomplish that!

Download Documentation

Mailchimp Connector for Microsoft Fabric is based on ZappySys API Driver which is part of ODBC PowerPack. It is a collection of high-performance ODBC drivers that enable you to integrate data in SQL Server, SSIS, a programming language, or any other ODBC-compatible application. ODBC PowerPack supports various file formats, sources and destinations, including REST/SOAP API, SFTP/FTP, storage services, and plain files, to mention a few.

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

Step-by-step instructions

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

Download and install ODBC PowerPack.
Open ODBC Data Sources (x64):
Create a User data source (User DSN) based on ZappySys API Driver:

ZappySys API Driver
- 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.
When the Configuration window appears give your data source a name if you haven't done that already, then select "Mailchimp" from the list of Popular Connectors. If "Mailchimp" 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:

MailchimpDSN

Mailchimp

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

Mailchimp authentication

To get the credentials you need in order to set up your OAuth workflow, you'll first need to register your application with Mailchimp:

Login into your Mailchimp account, click on your Profile Icon, and hit Account & billing:
Navigate to the Registered Apps page in your Mailchimp account:
Click Register An App button:
Fill-in the Register An App form and click Create button:
NOTE: For Redirect URI use Redirect URI (also called "Redirect URL" or "Callback URL") given by your IT administrator or just use https://zappysys.com/oauth, if you don't have one.
After successfully registering your application, you'll see the Client ID and Client Secret, record these values and store them securely:
Record your Mailchimp data center, since we will need it later. The data center is located in your browser's address bar URL. If the URL is https://us21.admin.mailchimp.com/account/api, then your data center is us21.
Now go to SSIS package or ODBC data source OAuth authentication configuration.
Proceed by entering the data center into the Data Center field that was recorded in the previous step.
Then enter the Client ID value into the Client ID field that you recorded in the previous step.
Enter the Client Secret value into the Client Secret field that was recorded in the previous step.
Click Generate Token. If proper authentication occurs, you will see a confirmation notice. If you get an error, click Yes on the dialog box and then a large browser window will launch. Then log into your Mailchimp account and approve the use of the application.
Finally, hit the Test Connection button at the bottom of the window to verify proper connectivity with your Mailchimp account.
If the connection test succeeds, select OK.
Done! Now you can use Mailchimp Connector!

API Connection Manager configuration

Just perform these simple steps to finish authentication configuration:

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

MailchimpDSN

Mailchimp

OAuth [OAuth]

https://[$DataCenter$].api.mailchimp.com

Required Parameters
Data Center	Fill-in the parameter...
Client Id	Fill-in the parameter...
Client Secret	Fill-in the parameter...
Default List Id	Fill-in the parameter...
Optional Parameters
RetryMode	RetryWhenStatusCodeMatch
RetryStatusCodeList	429
RetryCountMax	5
RetryMultiplyWaitTime	True

ApiKey Auth

Mailchimp authentication

The simplest way to authenticate a request to the Mailchimp Marketing API is by using an API key (If you require access to Mailchimp on behalf of other Mailchimp users, you'll want to set up OAuth authentication instead)::

Login into your Mailchimp account, click on your Profile Icon, and hit Account & billing:
Navigate to the API keys page in your Mailchimp account:
In the Your API keys section of the page, click Create A Key button:
Give your new key a descriptive name that will remind you which application it's used for:
Copy the API key immediately and store it in a secure location (you won't be able to see or copy the key once you finish generating it):
Record your Mailchimp data center, since we will need it later. The data center is located in your browser's address bar URL. If the URL is https://us21.admin.mailchimp.com/account/api, then your data center is us21.
Now go to SSIS package or ODBC data source ApiKey Auth authentication configuration.
Proceed by entering the data center into the Data Center field that was recorded in the previous step.
Then enter the API key into the Api Key field that you copied earlier.
Finally, click the Test Connection button at the bottom of the window to verify proper connectivity with your Mailchimp account.
Done! Now you can use Mailchimp Connector!

API Connection Manager configuration

Just perform these simple steps to finish authentication configuration:

Set Authentication Type to ApiKey Auth [Http]
Optional step. Modify API Base URL if needed (in most cases default will work).
Fill in all the required parameters and set optional parameters if needed.
Finally, hit OK button:

MailchimpDSN

Mailchimp

ApiKey Auth [Http]

https://[$DataCenter$].api.mailchimp.com

Required Parameters
Api Key	Fill-in the parameter...
Default List Id	Fill-in the parameter...
Optional Parameters
Data Center
RetryMode	RetryWhenStatusCodeMatch
RetryStatusCodeList	429
RetryCountMax	5
RetryMultiplyWaitTime	True

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:

ZappySys API Driver - Mailchimp

Read / write MailChimp Campaigns, Lists, Members, Reports and more in without coding.

MailchimpDSN
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 Microsoft Fabric to retrieve data from Mailchimp. Hit OK button to use this query in the next step.
```
SELECT * FROM Campaigns
```
Some parameters configured in this window will be passed to the Mailchimp 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.
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 Microsoft Fabric:
ZappySys API Driver - Mailchimp

Read / write MailChimp Campaigns, Lists, Members, Reports and more in without coding.

MailchimpDSN
```
SELECT * FROM Campaigns
```
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 Mailchimp 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 Mailchimp servers).
Click OK to finish creating the data source.

Video Tutorial

Installing Microsoft On-premises data gateway

To access and read Mailchimp data in Microsoft Fabric, you will have to download and install Microsoft On-premises data gateway.

There are two types of On-premises data gateways:

Standard Mode
Personal Mode

Standard Mode supports Power BI and other Microsoft Data Fabric services. It fits perfectly for Enterprise solutions as it installs as a Windows Service and also supports Direct Query feature.

Personal Mode, on the other hand, can be configured faster, but is designed more for home users (you cannot install it as a Windows Service and it does not support DirectQuery). You will find a detailed comparison in the link above.

We recommend to go with Personal Mode for a quick POC solution, but use Standard Mode in production environment. You can download On-premises data gateway straight from Microsoft Data Fabric or Power BI web app:

Download Power BI On-premises data gateway

Standard mode

Follow these steps how to configure On-premises data gateway in Standard mode:

Install On-premises data gateway (standard mode) and sign-in:

Use the same email address you use when logging in into your account.
Register a new gateway (or migrate an existing one):
If you are creating a new gateway, name your gateway, enter a Recovery key, and click Configure button:
Once Microsoft gateway is installed, check if it registered correctly:
- Go back to Microsoft Fabric portal
- Click Gear icon on top-right
- And then hit Manage connections and gateways menu item
Continue by clicking On-premises data gateway tab and select Standard mode gateways option from the dropdown:
If your gateway is not listed, the registration may have failed. To resolve this:
- Wait a couple of minutes and refresh Microsoft Fabric portal page
- Restart the machine where On-premises data gateway is installed
- Check firewall settings
Done!

Now we are ready to read data in Microsoft Fabric.

Personal mode

Follow this single step to configure On-premises data gateway in Personal mode:

Install On-premises data gateway (personal mode) and sign-in:

Use the same email address you use when logging in into your account.
Once Microsoft gateway is installed, check if it registered correctly:
- Go back to Microsoft Fabric portal
- Click Gear icon on top-right
- And then hit Manage connections and gateways menu item
Continue by clicking On-premises data gateway tab and select Personal mode option from the dropdown:
If your gateway is not listed, the registration may have failed. To resolve this:
- Wait a couple of minutes and refresh Microsoft Fabric portal page
- Restart the machine where On-premises data gateway is installed
- Check firewall settings
Done!

Now we are ready to read data in Microsoft Fabric.

Loading Mailchimp data into Microsoft Fabric

We created ODBC data source and installed Microsoft On-premises data gateway, and we are ready to load the data into Microsoft Fabric.

Let's roll!

Log in to the Microsoft Fabric Portal.
Select an existing Workspace or create a new one by clicking New workspace (make sure you are in Home section):
Inside your workspace, click the New item button in the toolbar to start creating your data pipeline:
In the item selection window, choose Copy job to open the data ingestion wizard:
In the Choose data source screen, search for odbc and select the Odbc source:
Then enter your ODBC connection string (DSN=MailchimpDSN) and select MyGateway from the Data gateway dropdown we configured in the previous step:

DSN=MailchimpDSN

DSN=MailchimpDSN
Select the table(s) and preview the data you wish to copy from Mailchimp. Once done, click Next:

DSN=MailchimpDSN
Choose your Data Destination. You can create a New Fabric item (like a Lakehouse or Warehouse) or select an existing one:

As an example, we will be using Lakehouse as destination type in this article
Choose Full copy to load all data or Incremental copy if you want to load only changed data in subsequent runs:
Review the Column and Table mappings section:
On the summary screen, review your settings. You can optionally enable Run on schedule. Click Save + Run to execute the job:

DSN=MailchimpDSN

DSN=MailchimpDSN
The job will enter the queue. Monitor the Status column to see the progress:

DSN=MailchimpDSN
Wait for the status to change to Succeeded. Your Mailchimp data is now successfully integrated into Microsoft Fabric!
Let's go to our Lakehouse MyLakehouse and double-check if it's true:
It's true, done!

Centralized data access via Data Gateway

In some situations, you may need to provide Mailchimp 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 Mailchimp, and to create an ODBC data source to connect to Data Gateway in Microsoft Fabric.

Let's not wait and get going!

Creating Mailchimp data source in Gateway

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

Search for gateway in Windows Start Menu and open ZappySys Data Gateway Configuration:
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
Now we are ready to add a data source:
- Click Add button
- Give Datasource a name (have it handy for later)
- Then select Native - ZappySys API Driver
- Finally, click OK
MailchimpDSN

ZappySys API Driver
When the ZappySys API Driver 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.
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 Microsoft Fabric. To achieve that, let's perform these steps:

Open ODBC Data Sources (x64):
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.
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.
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
Then set the default database property to MailchimpDSN (the one we used in Data Gateway):

MailchimpDSN
Continue by checking Trust server certificate option:
Once you do that, test the connection:
If connection is successful, everything is good:
Done!

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

Accessing data in Microsoft Fabric via Data Gateway

Finally, we are ready to read data from Mailchimp in Microsoft Fabric via Data Gateway. Follow these final steps:

Go back to Microsoft Fabric.
In the Choose data source screen, search for odbc and select the Odbc source:
Then enter your ODBC connection string (DSN=GatewayDSN) and select MyGateway from the Data gateway dropdown we configured in the previous step:

DSN=GatewayDSN

DSN=GatewayDSN
Read the data the same way we discussed at the beginning of this article.
That's it!

Now you can connect to Mailchimp data in Microsoft Fabric via the Data Gateway.

If you are asked for authentication details, use Database authentication or SQL Authentication option and enter credentials you used when configuring Data Gateway, e.g. john and your password.