Smartsheet Connector for Tableau Read / write SmartSheet data inside your app, perform many SmartSheet operations such as Read, Insert, Update, Delete, List, Search, Export on objects like Sheets, Rows, Users etc without coding with easy to use high performance API Connector In this article you will learn how to quickly and efficiently integrate Smartsheet data in Tableau without coding. We will use high-performance Smartsheet Connector to easily connect to Smartsheet and then access the data inside Tableau. Let's follow the steps below to see how we can accomplish that! Download Documentation Smartsheet Connector for Tableau 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.

Connect to Smartsheet in other apps Connect to Smartsheet in SSIS Connect to Smartsheet in SQL Server Connect to Smartsheet in Power BI Connect to Smartsheet in SSRS Connect to Smartsheet in Informatica Connect to Smartsheet in MS Access Connect to Smartsheet in MS Excel Connect to Smartsheet in SSAS Connect to Smartsheet in C# Connect to Smartsheet in Python Connect to Smartsheet in JAVA Connect to Smartsheet in SAP Crystal Reports Connect to Smartsheet in Azure Data Factory (Pipeline) Connect to Smartsheet in Azure Data Factory (SSIS) Connect to Smartsheet in Talend Studio Connect to Smartsheet in UiPath Connect to Smartsheet in PowerShell Connect to Smartsheet in ODBC

Create Data Source in ZappySys Data Gateway based on API Driver

1. Download and install ODBC PowerPack.

2. Search for gateway in start menu and 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:
   

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.

   SmartsheetDSN

   
   

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

   SmartsheetDSN

   Smartsheet

   

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.

    OAuth (Dynamic Token) [OAuth]

   Steps how to get and use Smartsheet credentials
   

   OAuth Walkthrough

   Apps connect to Smartsheet using OAuth 2.0 to authenticate and authorize users. If you are building an app, this documentation will walk you through the steps you need to authenticate your users. The Smartsheet SDKs contain APIs for OAuth 2.0.

   NOTE: For users of apps like AWS AppFabric, you will need a Tenant ID. You can find your Tenant ID in Admin Center under Security & Controls. There is a Smartsheet Tenant ID pane.

   First Steps

   Before you can start using OAuth 2.0 with your app, Smartsheet needs the following information:

   1. You must register with Smartsheet to get a developer account*. The developer account gives you access to "Developer Tools", which is where you manage your app.
   2. In "Developer Tools", complete any required fields in your developer profile.
   3. In "Developer Tools", register your app so Smartsheet can assign a client Id and a client secret to the app.
   4. Review the list of access scopes. You'll need to choose which ones your app needs to get to a user's Smartsheet data, and then ask the user to consent to that access.
   5. After you've worked through these steps, you'll be ready to implement the OAuth Flow.

   Open Developer Tools

   1. Log in to Smartsheet with your developer account.
   2. Click the "Account" button in the lower-left corner of your Smartsheet screen, and then click "Developer Tools".
   3. Do one of the following:
      • If you need to register an app, click "Create New App".
      • If you need to manage an app, click "view/edit" for the app.

   Register Your App Using Developer Tools

   1. Log in to Smartsheet with your developer account.
   2. Click the "Account" button in the upper-right corner of your Smartsheet screen, and then click "Developer Tools".
   3. In the "Create New App" form, provide the following information:
      • Name: the name the user sees to identify your app
      • Description: a brief description intended for the user
      • URL: the URL to launch your app, or the landing page if not a web app
      • Contact/support: support information for the user
      • Redirect URL: also known as a callback URL. The URL within your application that will receive the OAuth 2.0 credentials After you click "Save", Smartsheet assigns a client Id and secret to your app. Make a note of these Ids for the next steps; however, you can always look them up again in "Developer Tools".

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

   SmartsheetDSN

   Smartsheet

   OAuth (Dynamic Token) [OAuth]

   https://api.smartsheet.com/2.0

   Required Parameters
   ClientId	Fill-in the parameter...
   ClientSecret	Fill-in the parameter...
   Scope	Fill-in the parameter...
   Optional Parameters
   RetryMode	RetryWhenStatusCodeMatch
   RetryStatusCodeList	429|503
   RetryCountMax	5
   RetryMultiplyWaitTime	True

   

    Static Token [Http]

   Steps how to get and use Smartsheet credentials
   

   Raw Token Requests

   If you want to get started quickly, or are developing a standalone application that can run with your credentials, follow these instructions:

   1. Click the "Account" button in the lower-left corner of the Smartsheet screen, and then click "Personal Settings".
   2. Click the "API Access" tab.
   3. Click the "Generate new access token" button to obtain an access token.

   The access token must be sent with every API call in an HTTP authorization header (except for therequests to Get Access Token or Refresh Access Token). Once you have an access token, include it in the Authorization header for every request you make:

   Authorization: Bearer JKlMNOpQ12RStUVwxYZAbcde3F5g6hijklM789

   The header name is Authorization and the value of the header is Bearer JKlMNOpQ12RStUVwxYZAbcde3F5g6hijklM789. Since the access token is being transmitted in clear text, all API calls are done over HTTPS.

   NOTE: A best practice is to use a shared account, such as ticket-processor@example.com, rather than your individual work account.

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

   SmartsheetDSN

   Smartsheet

   Static Token [Http]

   https://api.smartsheet.com/2.0

   Required Parameters
   Access Token	Fill-in the parameter...
   Optional Parameters
   RetryMode	RetryWhenStatusCodeMatch
   RetryStatusCodeList	429|503
   RetryCountMax	5
   RetryMultiplyWaitTime	True

   

7. 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 - Smartsheet

   Read / write SmartSheet data inside your app, perform many SmartSheet operations such as Read, Insert, Update, Delete, List, Search, Export on objects like Sheets, Rows, Users etc without coding with easy to use high performance API Connector

   SmartsheetDSN

   

8. 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 Tableau to retrieve data from Smartsheet. Hit OK button to use this query in the next step.

   SELECT * FROM Sheets --Where Id='5815807987847055'

   
   Some parameters configured in this window will be passed to the Smartsheet 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.

9. 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 Tableau:

   

   ZappySys API Driver - Smartsheet

   Read / write SmartSheet data inside your app, perform many SmartSheet operations such as Read, Insert, Update, Delete, List, Search, Export on objects like Sheets, Rows, Users etc without coding with easy to use high performance API Connector

   SmartsheetDSN

   SELECT * FROM Sheets --Where Id='5815807987847055'

   
   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 Smartsheet 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 Smartsheet servers).

10. Click OK to finish creating the data source.

Read data in SQL Server using ZappySys Data Gateway

To read the data in SQL Server, the first thing you have to do is create a Linked Server:

1. First, let's open SQL Server Management Studio, create a new Linked Server, and start configuring it:

   LS_TO_SMARTSHEET_IN_GATEWAY

   Microsoft OLE DB Driver for SQL Server

   localhost,5000

   SmartsheetDSN

   SmartsheetDSN

   
   Choose SQL Server Native Client 11.0 as Provider if you don't see the option shown above.

2. Then click on Security option and configure username we created in ZappySys Data Gateway in one of the previous steps:

   

3. Optional step. Under the Server Options, Enable RPC and RPC Out and Disable Promotion of Distributed Transactions(MSDTC).

   

   You need to enable RPC Out if you plan to use EXEC(...) AT [LS_TO_SMARTSHEET_IN_GATEWAY] rather than OPENQUERY.
   If don't enabled it, you will encounter the Server 'LS_TO_SMARTSHEET_IN_GATEWAY' is not configured for RPC error.

   Query Example:

   EXEC('SELECT * FROM Sheets --Where Id=''5815807987847055''') AT [LS_TO_SMARTSHEET_IN_GATEWAY]

   ---

   If you plan to use 'INSERT INTO <TABLE> EXEC(...) AT [LS_TO_SMARTSHEET_IN_GATEWAY]' in that case you need to Disable Promotion of Distributed Transactions(MSDTC).
   If don't disabled it, you will encounter the The operation could not be performed because OLE DB provider "SQLNCLI11" for linked server "MY_LINKED_SERVER_NAME" was unable to begin a distributed transaction. error.

   Query Example:

   INSERT INTO dbo.Products
   EXEC('SELECT * FROM Sheets --Where Id=''5815807987847055''') AT [LS_TO_SMARTSHEET_IN_GATEWAY]
   

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

   SELECT * FROM OPENQUERY([LS_TO_SMARTSHEET_IN_GATEWAY], 'SELECT * FROM Sheets --Where Id=''5815807987847055''')

   

   SELECT * FROM OPENQUERY([LS_TO_SMARTSHEET_IN_GATEWAY], 'SELECT * FROM Sheets --Where Id=''5815807987847055''')

Create Linked Server using Code

In previous section you saw how to create a Linked Server from UI. You can do similar action by code too (see below). Run below script after changing necessary parameters. Assuming your Data Source name on ZappySys Data Gateway UI is 'SmartsheetDSN'

USE [master]
GO
--///////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////
--Run below code in SSMS to create Linked Server and use ZappySys Drivers in SQL Server
--///////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////

-- Replace YOUR_GATEWAY_USER, YOUR_GATEWAY_PASSWORD
-- Replace localhost with IP/Machine name if ZappySys Gateway Running on different machine other than SQL Server
-- Replace Port 5000 if you configured gateway on a different port


--1. Configure your gateway service as per this article https://zappysys.com/links?id=10036

--2. Make sure you have SQL Server Installed. You can download FREE SQL Server Express Edition from here if you dont want to buy Paid version https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/sql-server/sql-server-editions-express

--Uncomment below if you like to drop linked server if it already exists
--EXEC master.dbo.sp_dropserver @server=N'LS_TO_SMARTSHEET_IN_GATEWAY', @droplogins='droplogins'

--3. Create new linked server

EXEC master.dbo.sp_addlinkedserver
    @server = N'LS_TO_SMARTSHEET_IN_GATEWAY'  --Linked server name (this will be used in OPENQUERY sql
, @srvproduct=N''
---- For MSSQL 2012,2014,2016 and 2019 use below (SQL Server Native Client 11.0)---
, @provider=N'SQLNCLI11'
---- For MSSQL 2022 or higher use below (Microsoft OLE DB Driver for SQL Server)---
--, @provider=N'MSOLEDBSQL'
, @datasrc=N'localhost,5000' --//Machine / Port where Gateway service is running
, @provstr=N'Network Library=DBMSSOCN;'
, @catalog=N'SmartsheetDSN' --Data source name you gave on Gateway service settings

--4. Attach gateway login with linked server

EXEC master.dbo.sp_addlinkedsrvlogin
@rmtsrvname=N'LS_TO_SMARTSHEET_IN_GATEWAY'  --linked server name
, @useself=N'False'
, @locallogin=NULL
, @rmtuser=N'YOUR_GATEWAY_USER' --enter your Gateway user name
, @rmtpassword='YOUR_GATEWAY_PASSWORD'  --enter your Gateway user's password
GO

--5. Enable RPC OUT (This is Optional - Only needed if you plan to use EXEC(...) AT YourLinkedServerName rather than OPENQUERY
EXEC sp_serveroption 'LS_TO_SMARTSHEET_IN_GATEWAY', 'rpc', true;
EXEC sp_serveroption 'LS_TO_SMARTSHEET_IN_GATEWAY', 'rpc out', true;

--Disable MSDTC - Below needed to support INSERT INTO from EXEC AT statement
EXEC sp_serveroption 'LS_TO_SMARTSHEET_IN_GATEWAY', 'remote proc transaction promotion', false;

--Increase query timeout if query is going to take longer than 10 mins (Default timeout is 600 seconds)
--EXEC sp_serveroption 'LS_TO_SMARTSHEET_IN_GATEWAY', 'query timeout', 1200;
GO

Create View in SQL Server

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:

1. CREATE VIEW vwApiInvoices AS
    SELECT * FROM OPENQUERY([LS_TO_SMARTSHEET_IN_GATEWAY], '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):
3. Once connection is created for SQL Server we can read Smartsheet data 3 different ways:
   1. Query View which contains OPENQUERY to Linked Server for Smartsheet 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 Smartsheet in Tableau using SQL View approach:
5. Once your data sources are created you can click on Sheet1 and drag fields to create visualizations for Tableau Dashboard:

Passing Parameters to Smartsheet 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 Smartsheet 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_TO_SMARTSHEET_IN_GATEWAY], ''' + 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.
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.
6. When you create Tableau Dashboard you will see Parameter dropdown (If you selected List) elase you may see Textbox to enter custom value.

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).

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

Actions supported by Smartsheet Connector

Learn how to perform common Smartsheet actions directly in Tableau with these how-to guides:

• Add Sheet Rows
• Delete Sheet Rows
• Export Report (to PDF, Excel, CSV file)
• Export Sheet (to PDF, Excel, CSV file)
• Get Contacts
• Get Sheet Fields
• Get Sheet Row by ID(s)
• Get Sheet Rows
• List Contacts
• List Groups
• List Reports
• List Sheets
• Search (cell data or other object types)
• Send Report via Email (EXCEL, PDF, or PDF_GANTT format)
• Send Sheet via Email (EXCEL, PDF, or PDF_GANTT format)
• update_sheet_rows
• Generic Request
• Generic Request (Bulk Write)

Conclusion

In this article we showed you how to connect to Smartsheet in Tableau and integrate data without any coding, saving you time and effort. It's worth noting that ZappySys API Driver allows you to connect not only to Smartsheet, but to any Java application that supports JDBC (just use a different JDBC driver and configure it appropriately).

We encourage you to download Smartsheet Connector for Tableau 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 Smartsheet Connector for Tableau Documentation

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