Connecting Bold BI to Amazon Redshift Database

Using the Amazon Redshift connection type, you can connect to an Amazon Redshift database.

Click the Data Source button in the configuration panel to add a new data connection.

Data source Image

Click CREATE NEW to launch a new connection from the connection type panel.

Data source Button

Click the Amazon Redshift connection button in the connection type panel.

Red shift button

Set the server Name and port number where the Amazon Redshift service is running.

Enter the user name and password to connect to Amazon Redshift.

There are two connection types available in a data source:

  • Live mode
  • Extract mode

Live mode connection

In this type of connection, a data source is directly fetched from the source. Choose the Live mode option for this connection.

Redshift Live mode

NOTE: To connect to a data source using SSH, enable the SSH check box in the NEW DATA SOURCE configuration panel and enter the required credentials.

Enable SSH

The selected database will open in the data design view window.

Data Design view

Drag and drop the table from the table list, and click the Save button to save the data source with a valid name.

Extract mode connection

In this type of connection, a data source is fetched from the source periodically. Choose the Extract mode option for this connection.

Redshift Extract Mode

NOTE: Initially, data will be extracted based on the Max Rows selected in order to proceed with data model creation. The remaining records (there is no limit) will be extracted during the next refresh.

Max rows option

Refresh Settings

Steps to configure the data source refresh settings:

  1. Click Refresh Settings in the configuration panel.

Refresh Setting

  1. Select the recurrence type, recurrence start, and end dates in the Refresh Setting dialog box.

    • Data refresh can be scheduled hourly, daily, weekly, and monthly.
    • Application Time Zone is displayed below the date picker. The start time of the schedule is converted to the client Time Zone and shown on the right side for user convenience. After selecting, click Schedule.

Refresh Setting

Preview and data import

  1. Click Connect to the redshift server with configured details.

  2. The Extract Data dialog opens. This dialog has two modes of connection either via Table or Custom query. Under custom query option, write the required query and click Connect.

Under the Table option, this dialog displays list of tables and views in treeview. Select the required table(s) or view(s) from treeview to use in the designer. The option is available for configuring incremental refresh column (The table must have a primary key column and date column to configure this option) for the selected items in the right-side panel. If you configure it, then the data source will work on Incremental update, otherwise works on Full load concept. And finally click Connect.

Preview Extract

  1. Now, the data design view page with the selected table schema opens. Drag the table.

Query Editor Extract

  • You can use the Code View option for passing a query to display data.

Code view mode extract

Click Save to save the data source with a relevant name.

NOTE: In the future, you can edit the connection information for both live and extract mode connections using the Edit Connection option.

Connect using custom attribute and dashboard parameter

We have added support for custom attributes and dashboard parameters to the data source connection. You can connect to the data source using custom attributes or dashboard parameters.

Custom Attribute

Custom

Dashboard Parameter

Dashboard Parameter

Note: Please refer to the Dashboard Parameter Documentation and Custom Attributes Documentation for more details.

Connecting Bold BI to Amazon Redshift Data Source via REST API

Prerequisites

The type when creating the data source needs to be redshift.

Rest API - v4.0

Modes

Only the live mode data source can be created and edited through the REST API.

Parameters for creating Data Source

NOTE: The ability to provide join support is only available during the creation of a new data source. Join in edit connection mode is not supported.

Parameters Details
Servername

required 		string

Server name or Host name of the connection
Port

required 		string

Port number used to connect to redshift instance.
Username

required 		string

A valid username for the connection
Password

required 		string

A valid Password for the connection
Database

required 		string

database which needs to be connected
Schemaname

required for table mode 		string

Enter a valid Schemaname
Tablename

required for table mode 		string

Enter a valid Tablename
JoinType

Required For Join Info 		string

Enter a valid JoinType For Example (Inner,Outer)
LeftTable

Required For Join Info 		string

Enter a valid Left Table name
RightTable

Required For Join Info 		string

Enter a valid Right Table name
LeftField

Required For Join Info 		string

Enter a valid Left Table Column Name
RightField

Required For Join Info 		string

Enter a valid Right Table Column Name
Condition

Required For Join Info 		string

Enter a valid Condition For Example (AND,OR)
LeftField

Required For Join Info 		string

Enter a valid Left Table Column Name
Operator

Required For Join Info 		string

Enter a Valid Operator For Example (=,>=)
Value

Optional For only Join Info 		string

Specifically choose the column values.
Query

required for code view mode 		string

Enter a valid Query
AdvancedSettings

optional 		string

Additional optional connection parameters can be provided. By default, it is empty.
CommandTimeout

optional 		string

Enter a valid Timeout for connection. By default, it is 300
IsSshConnection

optional 		`boolean`

Enable or disable SSH. By default, it is false.
SshServerName

optional 		string

Enter a valid Ssh Server name. By default, it is empty.
SshPort

optional 		`integer`

Enter a valid Ssh Port number.
SshUserName

optional 		string

Enter a valid Ssh Username. By default, it is empty.
SshPassword

optional 		string

Enter a valid Ssh Password. By default, it is empty.
Expressions

optional

`Array of Objects`

Parameters for edit the connection while upload the dashboard via API

Parameters Details
ServerName

required 		string

Server name or Host name of the connection
Port

required 		string

Port number used to connect to redshift instance.
UserName

required 		string

A valid username for the connection
Password

required 		string

A valid Password for the connection
Database

required 		string

database which needs to be connected
Schema

required for table mode 		string

Enter a valid Schema
AdvancedSettings

optional 		string

Additional optional connection parameters can be provided. By default, it is empty.
CommandTimeout

optional 		string

Enter a valid Timeout for connection. By default, it is 300
IsSshConnection

optional 		`boolean`

Enable or disable SSH. By default, it is false.
TrustServerCertificate

optional 		`boolean`

To enable trusting the server's certificate without validation, set it to true. To perform standard SSL certificate validation, set it to false. By default, it is false.
SshServerName

optional 		string

Enter a valid Ssh Server name. By default, it is empty.
SshPort

optional 		`integer`

Enter a valid Ssh Port number.
SshUserName

optional 		string

Enter a valid Ssh Username. By default, it is empty.
SshPassword

optional 		string

Enter a valid Ssh Password. By default, it is empty.

Parameters for adding expressions when creating Data Source

Parameters Details
Name

required

string

Name of the Expression
Expression



required

string

Expression


Parameters for editing Data Source

NOTE: To edit the Data Source via the API, all parameters are optional. Only the parameter that needs to be changed should be provided.

Parameters for modifying expressions when editing Data Source

Parameters Details
Name

required

string

Name of the Expression
Expression



required

string

Expression


Action



optional

string

add/delete/edit

By default, it is add.
NewName

optional

string

For renaming the expression. This is applicable only if the Action is edit

Connection Sample for Table Mode

For creating connection:

"Connection":
{
"Servername": "string",
"Port": "string",
"Username": "string",
"Password": "string",
"Database": "string",
"Schemaname": "string",
"Tablename": "string",
"AdvancedSettings": "string",
"CommandTimeout": "string",
"IsSshConnection": "false",
"SshServerName": "string",
"SshPort": 0,
"SshUsername": "string",
"SshPassword": "string",
"Expressions" : [{
"Name": "Expression1",
"Expression" : "SUM(numeric expression)"
    },
    {
"Name": "Expression2",
"Expression" :  "UPPER(string expression)"
}]
}

For creating connection with multiple tables :

"Connection":
{
"Servername": "string",
"Port": "string",
"Username": "string",
"Password": "string",
"Database": "string",
"Tables": [
            {
                "Tablename": "string",
                "Schemaname": "string"
            },
            {
                "Tablename": "string",
                "Schemaname": "string"
            }
        ],
"JoinInfo": [
            {
                "JoinType": "string",
                "LeftTable": "string",
                "RightTable": "string",
                "JoinFieldInfos": [
                    {
                        "Condition": "string",
                        "LeftField": "string",
                        "Operator": "string",
                        "RightField": "string",
                        "Value": "string"
                    },
                    {
                        "Condition": "string",
                        "LeftField": "string",
                        "Operator": "string",
                        "RightField": "string",
                        "Value": "string"
                    }
                ]
            }
        ]
    },
"AdvancedSettings": "string",
"CommandTimeout": "string",
"IsSshConnection": "false",
"SshServerName": "string",
"SshPort": 0,
"SshUsername": "string",
"SshPassword": "string",
"Expressions" : [{
"Name": "Expression1",
"Expression" : "SUM(numeric expression)"
    },
    {
"Name": "Expression2",
"Expression" :  "UPPER(string expression)"
}]

For editing connection:

"Connection":
{
"Servername": "string",
"Port": "string",
"Username": "string",
"Password": "string",
"Database": "string",
"Schemaname": "string",
"Tablename": "string",
"AdvancedSettings": "string",
"CommandTimeout": "string",
"IsSshConnection": "false",
"SshServerName": "string",
"SshPort": 0,
"SshUsername": "string",
"SshPassword": "string",
"Expressions" : [{
"Name": "Expression1",
"Expression" : "SUM(numeric expression)",
"NewName" : "Sum",
"Action": "edit"
    },
    {
"Name": "Expression2",
"Expression" :  "UPPER(string expression)"
"Action": "delete"
}]
}

NOTE: Through the Rest API, the data source can be created or edited using only one table. If a different table is provided for editing the data source, the table will be replaced. The widgets will be retained only if the schema is the same as the previous table.

Connection Sample for Code View Mode

"Connection":
{
"Servername": "string",
"Port": "string",
"Username": "string",
"Password": "string",
"Database": "string",
"Query": "string",
"AdvancedSettings": "string",
"CommandTimeout": "string",
"IsSshConnection": "false",
"SshServerName": "string",
"SshPort": 0,
"SshUsername": "string",
"SshPassword": "string",
"Expressions" : [{
"Name": "Expression1",
"Expression" : "SUM(numeric expression)"
    },
    {
"Name": "Expression2",
"Expression" :  "UPPER(string expression)"
}]
}

Sample connection for editing the connection while uploading the dashboard via API.

"Connection":  {
    "ServerName": "string", 
    "Database": "string",
    "UserName": "string",
    "Password": "string",
    "Port": "string",
    "SslMode": "string",
    "TrustServerCertificate": "string",
    "AdvancedSettings": "string",
    "CommandTimeout": "string",
    "Schema": "string"
  }

Data Transformation

Editing a Data Connection

Dashboard Designer Walkthrough

Blog post for Amazon Redshift

Amazon Redshift Integration