API Key use w/ Tableau

Question

We would like to use the Podio API Key to directly connect to Tableau and have the data refreshed at a cadence set in Tableau. Is this possible?

Answer 1

Yes, connecting to data via an API is possible and there are a couple of ways to do it:

Option #1: Web Data Connector

A WDC is a hosted web application built with JavaScript that connects to an API, converts the data to a JSON format, and passes the data to Tableau. You'll require a webserver to host your WDC and JavaScript skills to write it. Once set up, anyone in your org can just grab the link and use it in Desktop. With WDCs, since the data connection is made when the end-user is requesting the WDC, you can build in customizations for your users. (Ex: users can add filter parameters or authenticate with their own user/pass to only get what they have access to). WDC connections are extracts and can be refreshed on Tableau Server and Online. If you're using Tableau Online you'll need to use Bridge to auto-refresh.

Option #2:Hyper API

The Hyper API allows you to create, modify, and update extract (.hyper) files that you can then publish to Tableau Server/Online on a regular cadence. It's available for Python, Java, .NET, and C++ so you will need skills in one of those languages. I suggest Python as we have the most samples for it. You'll also need a server where you can run the extract refresh and publish scripts on a schedule. With the Hyper API you are creating a single extract for everyone to connect to. Once published to Tableau Server/Online, end users can just connect to this data source directly without having to do any input but this also means the connection can't be customized per user or use case.

Option #3: Use a 3rd-party connector

If building your own connector doesn't appeal to you there are also plenty of services out there you can pay for that can bring your data into Tableau. Ex: tray.io , dataddo , and skyvia are a couple I found after a quick google search.