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Loading Pipedrive Data to Azure Synapse with Python dlt Library

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This page provides technical documentation on how to utilize the open-source Python library, dlt, to load data from Pipedrive to Azure Synapse. Pipedrive is a business-oriented tool that manages customer relationship data, much like how Slack manages business communications. On the other hand, Azure Synapse is an expansive analytics service that combines enterprise data warehousing and Big Data analytics. The dlt library serves as a bridge, facilitating the transfer of data from Pipedrive to Azure Synapse. For more information about Pipedrive, please visit https://pipedrive.com.

dlt Key Features​

  • Automated Maintenance: With features like schema inference, evolution and alerts, and short declarative code, dlt simplifies maintenance tasks. Learn more about these features here.
  • Flexible Deployment: dlt can run anywhere Python runs, including Airflow, serverless functions, and notebooks. It scales on both micro and large infrastructures alike. Learn more about deployment options here.
  • User-friendly Interface: dlt provides a declarative interface that removes knowledge obstacles for beginners while empowering senior professionals. Learn more about the interface here.
  • Extensive Tutorial and Guides: dlt provides a detailed tutorial and how-to guides to help users get started with building data pipelines. Check out the tutorial here and the how-to guides here.
  • Active Community: dlt has a thriving community of users and developers ready to answer questions and share their experiences. Join the community on Slack or check out the code on GitHub.

Getting started with your pipeline locally​

0. Prerequisites​

dlt requires Python 3.8 or higher. Additionally, you need to have the pip package manager installed, and we recommend using a virtual environment to manage your dependencies. You can learn more about preparing your computer for dlt in our installation reference.

1. Install dlt​

First you need to install the dlt library with the correct extras for Azure Synapse:

pip install "dlt[synapse]"

The dlt cli has a useful command to get you started with any combination of source and destination. For this example, we want to load data from Pipedrive to Azure Synapse. You can run the following commands to create a starting point for loading data from Pipedrive to Azure Synapse:

# create a new directory
mkdir pipedrive_pipeline
cd pipedrive_pipeline
# initialize a new pipeline with your source and destination
dlt init pipedrive synapse
# install the required dependencies
pip install -r requirements.txt

The last command will install the required dependencies for your pipeline. The dependencies are listed in the requirements.txt:

dlt[synapse]>=0.3.5

You now have the following folder structure in your project:

pipedrive_pipeline/
├── .dlt/
│   ├── config.toml          # configs for your pipeline
│   └── secrets.toml         # secrets for your pipeline
├── pipedrive/                   # folder with source specific files
│   └── ...
├── pipedrive_pipeline.py        # your main pipeline script
├── requirements.txt         # dependencies for your pipeline
└── .gitignore               # ignore files for git (not required)

2. Configuring your source and destination credentials​

The dlt cli will have created a .dlt directory in your project folder. This directory contains a config.toml file and a secrets.toml file that you can use to configure your pipeline. The automatically created version of these files look like this:

generated config.toml​

# put your configuration values here

[runtime]
log_level="WARNING"  # the system log level of dlt
# use the dlthub_telemetry setting to enable/disable anonymous usage data reporting, see https://dlthub.com/docs/telemetry
dlthub_telemetry = true

generated secrets.toml​

# put your secret values and credentials here. do not share this file and do not push it to github

[sources.pipedrive]
pipedrive_api_key = "pipedrive_api_key" # please set me up!

[destination.synapse]
create_indexes = false
default_table_index_type = "heap"
staging_use_msi = false

[destination.synapse.credentials]
database = "database" # please set me up!
password = "password" # please set me up!
username = "username" # please set me up!
host = "host" # please set me up!
port = 1433
connect_timeout = 15
driver = "driver" # please set me up!

2.1. Adjust the generated code to your usecase​

Further help setting up your source and destinations
  • Read more about setting up the Pipedrive source in our docs.
  • Read more about setting up the Azure Synapse destination in our docs.

3. Running your pipeline for the first time​

The dlt cli has also created a main pipeline script for you at pipedrive_pipeline.py, as well as a folder pipedrive that contains additional python files for your source. These files are your local copies which you can modify to fit your needs. In some cases you may find that you only need to do small changes to your pipelines or add some configurations, in other cases these files can serve as a working starting point for your code, but will need to be adjusted to do what you need them to do.

The main pipeline script will look something like this:


import dlt
from pipedrive import pipedrive_source


def load_pipedrive() -> None:
    """Constructs a pipeline that will load all pipedrive data"""
    # configure the pipeline with your destination details
    pipeline = dlt.pipeline(
        pipeline_name="pipedrive", destination='synapse', dataset_name="pipedrive_data"
    )
    load_info = pipeline.run(pipedrive_source())
    print(load_info)


def load_selected_data() -> None:
    """Shows how to load just selected tables using `with_resources`"""
    pipeline = dlt.pipeline(
        pipeline_name="pipedrive", destination='synapse', dataset_name="pipedrive_data"
    )
    # Use with_resources to select which entities to load
    # Note: `custom_fields_mapping` must be included to translate custom field hashes to corresponding names
    load_info = pipeline.run(
        pipedrive_source().with_resources(
            "products", "deals", "deals_participants", "custom_fields_mapping"
        )
    )
    print(load_info)
    # just to show how to access resources within source
    pipedrive_data = pipedrive_source()
    # print source info
    print(pipedrive_data)
    print()
    # list resource names
    print(pipedrive_data.resources.keys())
    print()
    # print `persons` resource info
    print(pipedrive_data.resources["persons"])
    print()
    # alternatively
    print(pipedrive_data.persons)


def load_from_start_date() -> None:
    """Example to incrementally load activities limited to items updated after a given date"""
    pipeline = dlt.pipeline(
        pipeline_name="pipedrive", destination='synapse', dataset_name="pipedrive_data"
    )

    # First source configure to load everything except activities from the beginning
    source = pipedrive_source()
    source.resources["activities"].selected = False

    # Another source configured to activities starting at the given date (custom_fields_mapping is included to translate custom field hashes to names)
    activities_source = pipedrive_source(
        since_timestamp="2023-03-01 00:00:00Z"
    ).with_resources("activities", "custom_fields_mapping")

    # Run the pipeline with both sources
    load_info = pipeline.run([source, activities_source])
    print(load_info)


if __name__ == "__main__":
    # run our main example
    # load_pipedrive()
    # load selected tables and display resource info
    # load_selected_data()
    # load activities updated since given date
    load_from_start_date()

Provided you have set up your credentials, you can run your pipeline like a regular python script with the following command:

python pipedrive_pipeline.py

4. Inspecting your load result​

You can now inspect the state of your pipeline with the dlt cli:

dlt pipeline pipedrive info

You can also use streamlit to inspect the contents of your Azure Synapse destination for this:

# install streamlit
pip install streamlit
# run the streamlit app for your pipeline with the dlt cli:
dlt pipeline pipedrive show

5. Next steps to get your pipeline running in production​

One of the beauties of dlt is, that we are just a plain Python library, so you can run your pipeline in any environment that supports Python >= 3.8. We have a couple of helpers and guides in our docs to get you there:

The Deploy section will show you how to deploy your pipeline to​

  • Deploy with Github Actions: dlt provides a simple command dlt deploy <script>.py github-action --schedule "*/30 * * * *" to deploy your pipeline using Github Actions. This CI/CD runner is basically free and you can specify when the action should run using a cron schedule expression.
  • Deploy with Airflow: You can also deploy your pipeline using Airflow. dlt provides a command dlt deploy <script>.py airflow-composer to create an Airflow DAG for your pipeline script that you should customize. The DAG uses dlt Airflow wrapper to make this process trivial.
  • Deploy with Google Cloud Functions: dlt allows you to deploy your pipeline with Google cloud functions. You can use the command dlt deploy <script>.py gcf to prepare your pipeline for deployment with Google Cloud Functions.
  • Other Deployment Options: dlt provides several other options for deploying your pipeline. You can learn more about these options here.

The running in production section will teach you about:​

  • How to Monitor your pipeline: Keep track of your pipeline's performance and status with the monitoring tools provided by dlt. You can find detailed instructions on how to set up and use these tools here.
  • Set up alerts: Stay informed about any issues or changes in your pipeline by setting up alerts. dlt offers a simple way to set up alerts and notifications. Learn how to set up alerts here.
  • Set up tracing: Tracing allows you to track and understand the flow of data and operations in your pipeline. dlt provides tools to set up tracing for your pipeline. Find out how to set up tracing here.

Available Sources and Resources​

For this verified source the following sources and resources are available

Source pipedrive​

Pipedrive source provides comprehensive data on sales activities, customer interactions, deals, and user information.

Resource NameWrite DispositionDescription
activitiesmergeRefers to scheduled events or tasks associated with deals, contacts, or organizations
custom_fields_mappingreplaceMapping for custom fields in Pipedrive
dealsmergePotential sale or transaction that you can track through various stages
deals_flowmergeRepresents the flow of deals in Pipedrive
deals_participantsmergeRepresents the participants of deals in Pipedrive
leadsmergeProspective customers or individuals that have shown interest in a company's products or services
organizationsmergeCompany or entity with which you have potential or existing business dealings
personsmergeIndividual contact or lead with whom sales deals can be associated
productsmergeGoods or services that a company sells, which can be associated with deals
usersmergeIndividual with a unique login credential who can access and use the platform

Additional pipeline guides​

This demo works on codespaces. Codespaces is a development environment available for free to anyone with a Github account. You'll be asked to fork the demo repository and from there the README guides you with further steps.
The demo uses the Continue VSCode extension.

Off to codespaces!

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