Tableau Shopify Connector

In this article you will learn how to integrate Shopify data to Tableau without coding in just a few clicks (live / bi-directional connection to 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..

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

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Create Data Source in ZappySys Data Gateway based on ZappySys API Driver

  1. Download and install ZappySys ODBC PowerPack.

  2. Search for gateway in start menu and Open ZappySys Data Gateway:
    Open ZappySys Data Gateway

  3. Go to Users Tab to add our first Gateway user. Click Add; we will give it a name tdsuser and enter password you like to give. Check Admin option and click OK to save. We will use these details later when we create linked server:
    ZappySys Data Gateway - Add User

  4. Now we are ready to add a data source. Click Add, give data source a name (Copy this name somewhere, we will need it later) and then select Native - ZappySys API Driver. Finally, click OK. And it will create the Data Set for it and open the ZS driver UI.

    ShopifyDSN

    ZappySys Data Gateway - Add Data Source

  5. 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
    ODBC DSN Template Selection

  6. 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 Shopify Credentials : Access Token [Http]
    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.
    1. Visit https://accounts.shopify.com and log into your Shopify store account.
    2. After logging in, select the store to connect to with the ZappySys Shopify Connector.
    3. Select the Settings link (usually in the lower-left corner) to launch the Settings screen.
    4. On the left menu panel, select Apps and sales channels.
    5. On the Apps and sales channels screen, select Develop apps (near the top of the screen).
    6. On the App development screen, select Create an app (near the upper-right corner of the screen).
    7. 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.
    8. Select Configure Admin API scopes and the Admin API access scopes screen will appear.
    9. 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.
    10. 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.
    11. 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.
    12. 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.
    13. 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.
    14. Select the Test Connection button at the bottom of the window to verify proper connectivity with the Shopify store.
    15. If the connection test succeeds, select OK.

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

    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 Fill in the parameter...
    RetryStatusCodeList Fill in the parameter...
    RetryCountMax Fill in the parameter...
    RetryMultiplyWaitTime Fill in the parameter...
    ODBC DSN HTTP Connection Configuration

  7. 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

  8. Click OK to finish creating the data source.

Read data in SQL Server from the ZappySys Data Gateway data source

  1. To read the data in SQL Server the first thing you have to do is create a Linked Server. Go to SQL Server Management Studio and configure it in a similar way:
    SSMS SQL Server Configure Linked Server

  2. Then click on Security option and configure username we created in ZappySys Data Gateway in one of the previous steps:
    SSMS SQL Server Configure Linked Server User Name

  3. Finally, open a new query and execute a query we saved in one of the previous steps:

    SELECT * FROM OPENQUERY([MY_LINKED_SERVER_NAME], 'SELECT * FROM Products');

    SSMS SQL Server Query Data Results
  4. Finally, use this or similar query in a view or stored procedure, which you will be able to use in Tableau. We will create a view to return invoices:

    CREATE VIEW vwApiInvoices AS
     SELECT * FROM OPENQUERY([MY_LINKED_SERVER_NAME], 'SELECT * FROM Invoices')

Read data in Tableau from SQL Server

Actually, we will be getting data from SQL Server which in turn will be getting data from ZappySys Data Gateway data source. Let's begin and see how to accomplish that:

  1. Open Tableau Desktop and click File > New
  2. To create new Connection click More > Microsoft SQL Server > Enter your credentials to connect to SQL Server (in our example before we used tdsuser): Tableau connect to SQL Server
  3. Once connection is created for SQL Server we can read REST API data 3 different ways:
    1. Query View which contains OPENQUERY to Linked Server for REST API data
    2. Use direct SQL Query using OPENQUERY
    3. Use Stored Procedure (Mostly useful to parameterize calls
  4. See below example to pull data from REST API in Tableau using SQL View approach: Create data source in Tableau
  5. Once your data sources are created you can click on Sheet1 and drag fields to create visualizations for Tableau Dashboard: Create data source in Tableau

Passing Parameters to REST API calls in Tableau (Dynamic SQL)

Now let's look at scenario where you have to pass parameters to build Dynamic Dashboard. You can try to insert Parameters in your Direct SQL when you build Dynamic SQL but we found some issues with that so we are going to suggest Stored Procedure approach. For more information on Known issue on Dynamic Metadata Check this post.
  1. First lets create a stored procedure in SQL Server for Parameter Example. Notice how we added WITH RESULT SETS in the code to describe metadata.
    --DROP PROC dbo.usp_GetInvoicesByCountry
    --GO
    /*
    Purpose: Parameterize REST API call via SQL. Call ZappySys Drivers inside SQL Server.
    */
    CREATE PROC dbo.usp_GetInvoicesByCountry
    	@country varchar(100) 
    AS 
    
    DECLARE @sql varchar(max)
    --//Escape single ticks carefully
    SET @sql =  'SELECT OrderID,CustomerID,Country,Quantity FROM $
    WITH (Src=''https://services.odata.org/V3/Northwind/Northwind.svc/Invoices?$format=json@filter=Country eq '+ @country +'''
    	 ,Filter=''$.value[*]''
    	 ,DataFormat=''OData''
    )'
    
    DECLARE @sqlFull varchar(max)
    SET @sqlFull='SELECT * FROM OPENQUERY( LS , ''' + REPLACE( @sql, '''', '''''' ) + ''' )'
    PRINT @sqlFull --//For DEBUG purpose
    
    EXECUTE (@sqlFull) 
    WITH RESULT SETS ( 
     (OrderID int,CustomerID varchar(100),Country varchar(100),Quantity int) --//describe first result. If you don't do this then wont work in Tableau 
    )
    GO
    -- Example call
    EXEC dbo.usp_GetInvoicesByCountry @country='Germany'
  2. Once you create a stored procedure go to Tableau datasource and select Database which contains the stored procedure we just created.
  3. Now find your stored proc and drag it on the datasource pane. You will see parameters UI as below. You can create new parameter - Select New Parameter under Value Column. Parameterize Tableau REST API datasource (Stored Procedure Parameters)
  4. Thats it now you can reuse your parameterized datasource anywhere in Dashboard.
  5. If you have need to select Parameters from predefined values rather than free text then edit your parameter and select List option. Define values you like to select from as below. Allow Tableau Parameter selection from multiple values
  6. When you create Tableau Dashboard you will see Parameter dropdown (If you selected List) elase you may see Textbox to enter custom value. Tableau Dashboard Example - REST API Source with Parameterized Datasource

Firewall settings

So far we have assumed that Gateway is running on the same machine as SQL Server. However there will be a case when ZappySys ODBC PowerPack is installed on a different machine than SQL Server. In such case you may have to perform additional Firewall configurations. On most computers firewall settings wont allow outside traffic to ZappySys Data Gateway. In such case perform following steps to allow other machines to connect to Gateway.

Method-1 (Preferred)

If you are using newer version of ZappySys Data Gateway then adding firewall rule is just a single click.

  1. Search for gateway in start menu and open ZappySys Data Gateway.
  2. Go to Firewall Tab and click Add Firewall Rule button like below. This will create Firewall rule to all Inbound Traffic on Port 5000 (Unless you changed it). Allow Inbound Traffic - Add Firewall Rule for ZappySys Data Gateway

Method-2 Here is another way to add / edit Inbound Traffic rule in windows firewall. Use below method if you choose to customize your rule (for advanced users).
  1. Search for Windows Firewall Advanced Security in start menu.
  2. Under Inbound Rules > Right click and click [New Rule] >> Click Next
  3. Select Port on Rule Type >> Click Next
  4. Click on TCP and enter port number under specified local port as 5000 (use different one if you changed Default port) >> Click Next
  5. Select Profile (i.e. Private, Public) >> Click Next
  6. Enter Rule name [i.e. ZappySys Data Gateway – Allow Inbound ] >> Click Next
  7. Click OK to save the rule
SQL Server Firewall Allow Inbound Data Gateway

Create Custom Store 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 Store 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 Store Procedure

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

  3. Select the created Store Procedure and write the your desired store procedure and Save it and it will create the custom store 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 Store Procedure

  4. That's it now go to Preview Tab and Execute your Store 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 Store Procedure

  5. Let's generate the SQL Server Query Code to make the API call using store 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

  6. Now go to SQL served and execute that query and it will make the API call using store 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.

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 store 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 store procedure and provide you the response.
    ZappySys Driver - Generate SQL Server Query

Conclusion

In this article we discussed how to connect to Shopify in Tableau and integrate data without any coding. Click here to Download Shopify Connector for Tableau 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 Shopify Connector for Tableau Documentation 

Actions supported by Shopify Connector

Shopify 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.
 Get Customers
Gets a list of customers.
Parameter Description
Customer Id(s) - Comma separated Restrict results to records specified by a comma-separated list of IDs.
 Get Customer
Gets a specific customer.
 Create a Customer
Creates a new customer.
 Update a Customer
Updates an existing customer.
 Delete a Customer
Deletes a specific customer.
 Get Orders
Gets a list of orders.
Parameter Description
Order Id(s) - Comma separated Restrict results to records specified by a comma-separated list of IDs.
 Get Order
Gets a specific order.
 Create an Order
Creates a new order.
 Update an Order
Updates an existing order.
 Delete an Order
Deletes a specific order.
 Get Order Items
Gets a list of line items for all orders or the specified order(s).
Parameter Description
Order Id(s) - Comma separated Restrict results to records specified by a comma-separated list of IDs.
 Get Products
Gets a list of products.
Parameter Description
Product Id(s) - Comma separated Restrict results to records specified by a comma-separated list of IDs.
 Get Product
Gets a specific product.
 Get Product Variants
Gets a list of products with their variants.
Parameter Description
Product Id(s) - Comma separated Restrict results to records specified by a comma-separated list of IDs.
Since Product Id Restrict results created after the specified product ID.
Only Fields to Show Limit data retrieval to only the selected product-related fields.
Option Value
id id
title title
body_html body_html
vendor vendor
product_type product_type
created_at created_at
handle handle
updated_at updated_at
published_at published_at
template_suffix template_suffix
status status
published_scope published_scope
tags tags
admin_graphql_api_id admin_graphql_api_id
variants variants
options options
images images
image image
Created Before Restrict results to products created before a specified date. (format: 2014-04-25T16:15:47-04:00)
Created After Restrict results to products created after a specified date. (format: 2014-04-25T16:15:47-04:00)
Updated Before Restrict results to products last updated before a specified date. (format: 2014-04-25T16:15:47-04:00)
Updated After Restrict results to products last updated after a specified date. (format: 2014-04-25T16:15:47-04:00)
 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.
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 Check 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 =&gt; 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

Other App Integration scenarios for Shopify

Other Connectors for Tableau


Download Shopify Connector for Tableau Documentation 

  • How to connect Shopify in Tableau?

  • How to get Shopify data in Tableau?

  • How to read Shopify data in Tableau?

  • How to load Shopify data in Tableau?

  • How to import Shopify data in Tableau?

  • How to pull Shopify data in Tableau?

  • How to push data to Shopify in Tableau?

  • How to write data to Shopify in Tableau?

  • How to POST data to Shopify in Tableau?

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  • Consume Shopify API in Tableau

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  • Shopify Tableau Integration

  • Integration Shopify in Tableau

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  • Consume realtime Shopify API data in Tableau

  • Shopify ODBC Driver | ODBC Driver for Shopify | ODBC Shopify Driver | SSIS Shopify Source | SSIS Shopify Destination

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  • Load Shopify in Tableau

  • Load Shopify data in Tableau

  • Read Shopify data in Tableau

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