Shopify ODBC Driver

Shopify Connector can be used to integrate Shopify REST API in your App / BI Tools. You can read/write data about Customers, Orders, OrderItems, Products and more.

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

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

Download Documentation

Shopify ODBC Driver 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 Shopify using ODBC we first need to create a DSN (Data Source) which will access data from Shopify. We will later be able to read data using ODBC. 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 "Shopify" from the list of Popular Connectors. If "Shopify" 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:

ShopifyDSN

Shopify

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.

Access Token

Shopify authentication

Setting up your Shopify store account for API access involves creating an "app" for your store. The "app" is installed into the Shopify account and configured with the appropriate access levels for your data integration needs.

Visit https://accounts.shopify.com and log into your Shopify store account.
After logging in, select the store to connect to with the ZappySys Shopify Connector.
Select the Settings link (usually in the lower-left corner) to launch the Settings screen.
On the left menu panel, select Apps and sales channels.
On the Apps and sales channels screen, select Develop apps (near the top of the screen).
On the App development screen, select Create an app (near the upper-right corner of the screen).
Give the app that will be used to provide Shopify API access a name, select the appropriate developer from the App developer drop-down, and then select Create app.
Select Configure Admin API scopes and the Admin API access scopes screen will appear.
In the Admin API access scopes screen, select every access scope checkbox that applies to your integration needs. It is generally not a good idea to allow more access than what is needed in order to fulfill your integration needs.
- To enable the reading of customer information, select read_customers.
- To enable the writing of customer information, select write_customers.
- To enable the reading of inventory item information, select read_inventory.
- To enable the writing of inventory item information, select write_inventory.
- To enable the reading of order information, select read_orders.
- To enable the writing of order information, select write_orders.
After selecting all applicable access scopes, select Save.
Install the app by selecting the Install app button (near the upper-right corner of the screen). If any other prompts for installation appears, select Install.
After the app is installed, the Admin API access token will be available in the API credentials tab of the page. It can only be revealed ONCE for security purposes. Select Reveal token once to show the new Admin API access token. SAVE THE ADMIN API ACCESS TOKEN IN A SAFE PLACE WHERE YOU HAVE IT CONFIDENTIAL, SECURE, AND NOT ACCESSIBLE TO UNAUTHORIZED INDIVIDUALS. The Admin API access token will be needed in this process later.
In the ZappySys connector API screen, enter the subdomain of your Shopify store into the Subdomain parameter textbox. For example, if your Shopify URL is https://acmetoys.myshopify.com, the subdomain would be acmetoys.
In the same screen, enter the Admin API access token saved from step 11 above into the Admin API Access Token textbox. In order to edit the text in this field, select the ellipses (...) button that appears when the textbox is clicked and edit the access token with the dialog box that appears.
Select the Test Connection button at the bottom of the window to verify proper connectivity with the Shopify store.
If the connection test succeeds, select OK.

API Connection Manager configuration

Just perform these simple steps to finish authentication configuration:

Set Authentication Type to Access Token [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:

ShopifyDSN

Shopify

Access Token [Http]

https://[$Subdomain$].myshopify.com/admin/api/2023-01

Required Parameters
Sub-domain	Fill-in the parameter...
Admin API Access Token	Fill-in the parameter...
Optional Parameters
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 - Shopify

Shopify Connector can be used to integrate Shopify REST API in your App / BI Tools. You can read/write data about Customers, Orders, OrderItems, Products and more.

ShopifyDSN
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 ODBC to retrieve data from Shopify. Hit OK button to use this query in the next step.
```
SELECT * FROM Products
```
Some parameters configured in this window will be passed to the Shopify 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 ODBC:
ZappySys API Driver - Shopify

Shopify Connector can be used to integrate Shopify REST API in your App / BI Tools. You can read/write data about Customers, Orders, OrderItems, Products and more.

ShopifyDSN
```
SELECT * FROM Products
```
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 Shopify 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 Shopify servers).
Click OK to finish creating the data source.

Video Tutorial

Centralized data access via Data Gateway

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

Let's not wait and get going!

Creating Shopify data source in Gateway

In this section we will create a data source for Shopify 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
ShopifyDSN

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 ODBC. 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 ShopifyDSN (the one we used in Data Gateway):

ShopifyDSN
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 ODBC via Data Gateway

Finally, we are ready to read data from Shopify in ODBC via Data Gateway. Follow these final steps:

Go back to ODBC.
Open your ODBC client application and use GatewayDSN to connect to Shopify.
Read the data the same way we discussed at the beginning of this article.
That's it!

Now you can connect to Shopify data in ODBC 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.