Connecting Bold BI to Azure Search data source
Bold BI dashboard designer supports connecting to Azure Search web services through the REST API.
Choose Azure Search data source
To configure the Azure Search data source, follow the below steps:
- Click the Data Sources button in the configuration panel to add a new data connection.
- Click CREATE NEW to launch a new connection from the connection panel.
- Select the Azure Search connection in the connection panel.
NOTE: You can also create a data source from the home page by clicking the Data Sources menu in the left menu panel and selecting Create Data Source from the data sources page.
Create Azure Search data source
Once you click on the data source, the NEW DATA SOURCE configuration panel will open. Follow these steps to create the Azure Search data source:
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Enter a name and optional description for the data source.
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Enter a valid Azure Search REST API endpoint in the URL text box. Refer to the Azure Search API documentation for more details.
Example:
[https://<:service-name>.search.windows.net/indexes/<:index-name>/docs?api-version=2017-11-11] -
Select GET method for the REST API in the Method combo box.
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Enter the maximum number of rows to be fetched from the Azure Search data source in the Max Rows field. This value is used for pagination.
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Choose a time interval for Refresh Settings using the combo box to periodically trigger the REST API request to keep the data in sync with the dashboard.
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Select JSON data type in the Data Format combo box.
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Replace <:your_api_key> with your API key under Headers with a valid API key.
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Choose None under Authentication Type, as authentication is done through the header.
You can also edit the connection information set here using the Edit Connection option.
How do I get API Key for connecting Azure Search Data source?
Azure Search authentication supports API Key authentication:
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Sign in to the Azure portal and navigate to your search service Overview page.
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Obtain the API key for the specific service as shown in the image below.
3. For more information, refer to the provided link for Azure Search API Key information
Additional information
| Max Rows | Most REST APIs return only a limited amount of data on a single API request. To retrieve the necessary amount of data, you can set a value in this field. Pagination is handled internally and will fetch the required data. |
| Refresh Settings | The period of time before the next refresh call is triggered. This will automatically trigger a call to the API configured in the data source to keep the data up to date. If you do not want to sync your new data, choose ‘Never’. |
Preview and data import
- Click Preview & Connect to connect with the configurations that have been set.
- The Choose Schema(s) dialog will open. The schema represents the key fields of JSON data retrieved from the Azure Search Rest API request. This dialog displays a list of schemas in a tree view and its corresponding values in a grid for preview. Select the required schema(s) from the tree view to use in the designer and click Connect.
- Now, the data design view page with the selected table schema will open. Drag and drop the table.
- Click Save to save the data source with a relevant name.
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
Dashboard Parameter
Note: Refer to the Dashboard Parameter Documentation and Custom Attributes Documentation for more details.