Microsoft Power BI Custom Data Connectors
The Microsoft Power BI custom connector support-project. Thank you for the support from users all over giving me feedback and using the connectors. Users I know of: Francisco Altamirano, Blastam, Masai, Puori, Bangerhead, Columban Mission, Stanton Fisher and Tanger Outlet
Available custom data connectors
Any wishes?
I would like feedback on which data connector YOU need. Maybe I can help or we can build it together.
Download ready-to-use packages
You can download ready-to-use .mez files from SCITYLANA here.
The Stripe Connector
This connector should be used instead of the broken official connector.
Here is a list of features that have been fixed:
- Limited access API keys (the original connector only works with the master API key, which is REALLY bad when you want to publish a dashboard)
- Fetching all rows data for all tables (the original connector doesn't handle paging correct)
The LinkedIn Connector
To build the connector you need to create a Linked In App to get an OAuth2 key and secret. Create a the app here
In LinkedIn\WebApp.json set Client Id and Client Secret
"client_id": "[Client ID]",
"client_secret": "[Client Secret]",
The connector is an interface to historical endpoints of linkedin Manage Company Pages endpoints
- Get historical follower statistics about a company
- Get historical status update statistics about a company
Focus is on the granular endpoints since they can be aggregated which play well with Power BI. We would prefer the raw hit-level data behind each aggregated date but that is not available through the LinkedIn API
This is how it looks in Power BI:
The Facebook Pages Insight Connector
To build the connector you need to create a Facebook App to get an OAuth2 key and secret. Create a the app here
In FacebookPages\WebApp.json set Client Id and Client Secret
"client_id": "[App ID]",
"client_secret": "[App Secret]",
This connector is focused on accessing page insights using the pages insights API: Facebook Pages Insights
The built-in Facebook connector provides access to Facebook user profile, not pages or ads statistics.
This is how it looks in Power BI:
The Facebook Ads Insight Connector
To build the connector you need to create a Facebook App to get an OAuth2 key and secret. Create a the app here
In FacebookAds\WebApp.json set Client Id and Client Secret
"client_id": "[App ID]",
"client_secret": "[App Secret]",
This connector is focused on accessing page insights using the ads insights API: Facebook Ads Insights
The built-in Facebook connector provides access to Facebook user profile, not pages or ads statistics.
This is how it looks in Power BI:
The Instagram Connector
Instagram - Facebok page association issue
To pull statistics from Instagram you need to set-up an association with a Facebook Page. This is not a big deal. But if you already did this a while ago, you might need doing it again. If the Instagram connector fails with the message "The field 'connected_instagram_account' of the record wasn't found." then the Instagram account and the Facebook page are not completely connected.
I have been able to circumvent this problem by
- Switching the IOS/Android app from Business Account to Personal Account and back to Business Account.
- The again from the IOS/Android app - Unlink Facebook account and Link it again.
Get started
To build the connector you need to create a Facebook/Instagram App to get an OAuth2 key and secret. You need to have your Instagram Account conected to your Facebook Page, read more here
In Instagram\WebApp.json set Client Id and Client Secret
"client_id": "[App ID]",
"client_secret": "[App Secret]",
This connector is focused on accessing page insights using the Instagram insights API: Instagram Insights
This is how it looks in Power BI:
How to use the custom connectors
Microsoft only supports custom connectors for Power BI Desktop. We expect this to change when they release the Power Query SDK.
Using the connectors
- When custom connectors are built into .mez files, they should be copied to Documents\Microsoft Power BI Desktop\Custom Connectors
- Start Power BI
- Ooen the Options dialog
- Select Preview features and Click OK
- Click Get Data and select Other
- You find the Connectors here.