I want to periodically bring in summarized data from Google BigQuery to Coda tables so I can do fun stuff with it.
I already found I can bring the data in through Zapier, but they want to charge me an entire task for every row brought into Coda, which is insane! They charge more based on how many tasks you make, so this would eat through my 2500 tasks/month quota in a flash.
So, I’m wondering if I can make those API calls from a Coda Pack rather than through Zapier.
My coding skills are very limited, but I’d be willing to try. However, I know that sometimes there are blockers to creating certain types of Coda packs (for instance, there is no generic “call a webhook” pack for some reason around having to declare outgoing URLs in advance). Would there be any such blocker to creating a BigQuery pack, where I can pass an arbitrary query and get a set of rows in response?
I actually think this could be super useful, since you could move data in and out of a proper data warehouse from Coda.
Hi @Alberto_Delgado - I’m glad to hear you are interested in building Packs! I looked into BigQuery more, and it is possible to build a Pack for it. In fact, I got a crude version working this weekend:
Getting Google to approve a Pack for general use is a long journey, but I can add you as a beta tester if you are interested. That will allow you to use the Pack, but you’ll have to sign-in again each week. If you are interested, DM me the email address of your Coda account.
@Eric_Koleda for what it’s worth a BigQuery pack would entice an upgrade to the team plan. To get BQ data into Coda today is often jumps through Zapier or Integromat, adding complexity, fragility, and cost. A really nice pack to unlock with the higher tier.
@Eric_Koleda 's beta pack is already working great for querying.
A few thoughts on future development:
A formula to retrieve details from BigQuery would be fantastic. I’m picturing something like BigQueryFetch(dataset, table, search_column, search_term, column_to_retrieve). With something like this, I would be able to consult certain information (e.g. use a client’s ID to get their details) without leaving Coda.
A button to send information to BigQuery. That way I could use Coda to push data into a database. I’m picturing using BigQuery to archive old data, or to add daily records to a database, that kind of thing. Something like BigQueryPush(dataset, table, column, data, column, data... column, data)
I’m wondering what kinds of things should a BigQuery pack do for other users? I’m sure there are useful cases that haven’t come up. A data warehouse is a powerful thing!
