Easysoft ODBC-Salesforce Driver

How do I connect Tableau to Salesforce.com?

Article:
01046
Last Reviewed:
9th July 2013
Revision:
1

Use the Salesforce.com ODBC Driver to connect Tableau Desktop to Salesforce.com and provide real time access to your Salesforce.com objects, enabling you to analyse Salesforce.com data from your Tableau dashboard.

The Salesforce.com ODBC Driver is available to download from the Easysoft web site:

  1. Download the Windows Salesforce.com ODBC Driver. (Registration required.)
  2. Install and license the Salesforce.com ODBC Driver on the machine where Tableau Desktop is installed.

    For installation instructions, see the Salesforce.com ODBC Driver documentation.

Before you can use the Salesforce.com ODBC Driver to connect Tableau to Salesforce, you need to configure an ODBC data source. An ODBC data source stores the connection details for the target database (e.g. Salesforce.com) and the ODBC driver that is required to connect to it (e.g. the Salesforce.com ODBC driver).

You can configure a User ODBC data source, which is only available to the user who creates it, or a System ODBC data source, which is available to all users on the machine. You configure ODBC data sources in ODBC Administrator, which is included with Windows.

To run ODBC Administrator on 32-bit Windows, open Administrative Tools in Control Panel, and then open Data Sources (ODBC). (On older versions of Windows, the Control Panel applet that launches ODBC Administrator is labelled Data Sources.)

To run ODBC Administrator on 64-bit Windows, in the Windows Run dialog box, type:

%windir%\syswow64\odbcad32.exe

If you are not sure whether your version of Windows is 32-bit or 64-bit, follow the instructions for running ODBC Administrator on 64-bit Windows. If you get an error, follow the instructions for 32-bit Windows instead.

Use ODBC Administrator to create your Salesforce.com ODBC Driver data source:

  1. Do one of the following:
    • To create a User data source, in the User DSN tab, choose Add.

      –Or–

    • To create a System data source, choose the System DSN tab, and then choose Add.
  2. In the Create New Data Source dialog box, choose Easysoft ODBC-Salesforce Driver, and then choose Finish.
  3. Complete the Easysoft ODBC-Salesforce Driver DSN Setup dialog box:
    SettingValue
    DSNSalesforce.com
    User NameThe name of your Salesforce.com user. For example, myuser@mydomain.com.
    PasswordThe password for your Salesforce.com user.
    TokenThe security token for your Salesforce.com user, if required.

    To find out whether you need to supply a security token, choose the Test button. If the connection attempt fails with an error which contains LOGIN_MUST_USE_SECURITY_TOKEN, you need to supply one.

    Salesforce.com emails the security token to the email address associated with your Salesforce.com user account. If you have not received a security token, you can regenerate it. Salesforce.com will then email the new security token to you. To regenerate your security token, log in to Salesforce.com and then choose Setup from the user menu. Search for "security token" in the Quick Find box. Click Reset Security Token in the Reset Security Token page. When you receive the token in your email client, copy it and then paste it into the Token field.

  4. Use the Test button to verify that you can successfully connect to Salesforce.com.

You can now connect Tableau to Salesforce.com:

  1. In Tableau Desktop, on the Data menu, choose Connect To Data.
  2. In the Connect To Data page's On a server section, choose Other Databases (ODBC).
  3. In the Generic ODBC Connection dialog box, choose the Salesforce.com ODBC Driver data source from the DSN list, and then click Connect.
  4. Use the Table section of the dialog box to retrieve the Salesforce.com objects that you want to work with.

    For example, to work with a single object, choose Single Table and then select the magnifying glass beneath. In the Select Table dialog box, choose Load. Choose the object that you want to work with, and then choose Select.

  5. Type a name for the ODBC connection in the space provided (or accept the default value), and then click OK.
  6. Note the capabilities reported by Tableau for the data source, and then choose OK.
  7. The Salesforce.com ODBC Driver provides real time access to your Salesforce.com objects and so you can choose Connect Live.

    Your Salesforce.com objects are now ready for use in Tableau.

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