This QuickStart introduces Sigma API Actions by connecting to the Open-Meteo Weather API, a free weather data service that requires no authentication.

You'll build a workbook from scratch that allows users to select a city from a list and fetch current weather details in real-time.

Along the way you'll learn how to:

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Target Audience

The typical audience for this QuickStart includes users of Excel, common Business Intelligence or Reporting tools, and semi-technical users who want to try out or learn Sigma.

Prerequisites

Sigma Free Trial

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Open-Meteo Weather API Account

While there are services that require credentials, we want to demonstrate using one that doesn't require credentials, as that is a simple first example.

We will use the Open-Meteo API in this QuickStart.

API Connectors

API Connectors in Sigma define the endpoint that will be called by our Sigma workbook actions. Given that, it makes sense to first configure the endpoint we want to call and then we can configure an action to request data from it.

Log into Sigma as an administrator and navigate to Administration > API connectors and click Create connector.

We will configure a simple example to request weather data with the location and temperature format hard-coded.

Name: The name of the connector as it appears to users in a workbook.
Use this name:

Current Temp - Hard Coded

Description: [optional] A custom description that helps users identify the connector and verify its contents.

Base URL: Select an HTTP method and the URL for the request.
Use this URL:

https://api.open-meteo.com/v1/forecast?latitude=20.7702&longitude=-156.2682&timezone=auto&temperature_unit=fahrenheit

Headers: [optional] Set a header for the request. None required.

Params: [optional] Set query and path parameters for the request. To set path parameters, you must include /:param in the Base URL. You can then select whether to populate the path param with Static or Dynamic values.
None required.

Body: [optional] Enter a request body.
None required.

Farther down we can see a preview of the endpoint and credentials settings (No authentication is required for this API):

Credentials: [optional] Select a credential from your configured API credentials in Sigma.
None required.

For more information, see Add a new API credential to Sigma

Testing the connection

Since no authentication is required, we can just click Test connector:

We have the option to do a Dry run which just pings the endpoint but in this case, we want to get a response so we leave that option off.

If the connector is configured correctly we expect a 200 response with the data in the body:

If you prefer to use a 3rd party tool like Postman, that is also fine:

Copy and paste the preview URL into Postman to see if we get the expected response.

For example, a quick test in Postman to check the response:

Save the working API connector.

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Now that we have an API connector configured, let's create a workbook to use it.

Create a New Workbook

Log into Sigma and click the Create New button in the top left corner.

Select Workbook.

Add City Data

We'll create a table of cities with coordinates that users can select from to fetch weather data.

Using the Element bar, add a new Table from the Data group. Select SQL as the source.

Select the Sigma Sample Database for the connection to use:

Paste the following SQL:

SELECT
    STORE_CITY AS cityname,
    ANY_VALUE(STORE_LATITUDE) AS lat,
    ANY_VALUE(STORE_LONGITUDE) AS lon
FROM RETAIL.PLUGS_ELECTRONICS.PLUGS_ELECTRONICS_HANDS_ON_LAB_DATA
GROUP BY STORE_CITY
ORDER BY STORE_CITY;

Click Run to execute the query:

The element will return data. Click SQL icon to hide the SQL query:

Rename this element to Cities.

Rename the current workbook page to Data.

Add a Text Area Control

Create a new workbook page and rename it Raw-Response.

Add a new Text area control from the Controls group on the Element bar.

This control will be used to display the raw API response when we call the weather API.

Rename this control to Raw Response and set its Control ID to raw-response.

Add a Button

Add a Button element to the page from the UI group.

Change the button text to Call API.

Now we can configure the button's actions:

Select the Call API button and click + adjacent to Action sequence in the element properties panel.

Action 1: Clear ‘Raw Response'

This action clears any previous API response from the text area.

Action type: Set control value
Control: Raw Response
Value: Leave blank (this clears the control)

Actions are saved as you add them.

Action 2: Call ‘Current Temp - Hard Coded'

This action calls the API connector we configured earlier.

Add another action.

Action type: Call API
API Connector: Current Temp - Hard Coded

Notice the Outputs section shows three action variables that can be referenced in subsequent actions:

Action 3: Set ‘Raw Response'

This action displays the API response in the text area control.

Click Add action to create the third action.

Action type: Set control value
Control: Raw Response
Value: Click the reference icon and select Call 'Current Temp - Hard Coded' - Data

Your action sequence should now look like this:

Test the API Call

Click the Call API button to see the raw response from Open-Meteo:

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Now that we see how to get data, we need to format the data so that we can reliably read values from it.

Since the data is raw, we can easily convert it to JSON using a formula. Let's use a KPI chart to show the current temperature from the raw response.

Add a new KPI chart from the Charts group.

Set its source to use the Cities table on the Data page.

Before this will work, we need to convert the raw response to JSON by adding a new column to the KPI using the Json conversion function:

Set the formula to:

Json([Raw-Response])

Rename the new column to Convert Raw Response to Json.

Once converted, we can parse the temperature from the JSON by adding another new column and setting its formula to:

Number([Raw-Response].current_weather.temperature)

Rename this new column to Temperature and move it to the KPI charts VALUE group.

Clicking the button displays the current temperature for our hard-coded location.

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Now we want to allow the user to get the temperature from any city that is in the Cities table, via a list select control.

Return to Administration > API Connectors and add a new one.

Name: Current Temp - City Select

Base URL: Select an HTTP method and the URL for the request.
Use this URL:

https://api.open-meteo.com/v1/forecast?latitude={{latitude}}&longitude={{longitude}}&current_weather=true&temperature_unit=fahrenheit

Params: Add four query parameters:

KEY                 TYPE          VALUE
latitude            Dynamic
longitude           Dynamic
current_weather     Static        true
temperature_unit    Static        fahrenheit

Also check the endpont preview (at the bottom of the page) carefully. Small mistakes will cause API call failures:

Add list select control

Return to your workbook and the Raw-Response page.

Add a new List select control to the page and configure it to get the Cityname from the Cities page:

Set the list control to target the Cityname column of the Cities table:

Add three Text controls to the page from the UI group.

For each text control, press the = key to enter formula mode and set the formulas as follows:

Text control 1:

[Cities/Cityname]

Text control 2:

[Cities/Lat]

Text control 3:

[Cities/Lon]

The text controls will show Multiple values until a city is selected from the list control:

Before we configure actions, let's organize the page layout.

Move the list select control to the right of the Call API button.

Select the three text controls showing cityname, latitude, and longitude, and place them in a container:

This allows us to target all the elements in the container at once from an action, saving time.

Add Actions to the list control

Now we'll configure the list control to call the new API connector when a city is selected.

Select the list control and click + adjacent to Action sequence in the element properties panel.

Action 1: Clear controls in ‘Container 1'

This action clears the text controls showing the selected city, latitude, and longitude.

Action type: Clear control value
Control: Select the container holding the three text controls

Action 2: Clear ‘Raw Response'

This action clears the previous API response.

Add another action.

Action type: Clear control
Control: Raw Response

Action 3: Call ‘Current Weather - City Select'

This action calls the new API connector with dynamic latitude and longitude parameters.

Add another action.

Action type: Call API
API Connector: Current Weather - City Select

In the Map with section, map the API parameters to columns from the Cities table. We need to convert the latitude and longitude values to text format using the TEXT() function.

latitude: Click the mapping dropdown, select Formula, and enter:

TEXT([Cities/Lat])

longitude: Click the mapping dropdown, select Formula, and enter:

TEXT([Cities/Lon])

Action 4: Grab Raw Response

This action displays the new API response in the text area control.

Add another action.

Action type: Set control value
Control: Raw Response
Set value as: Action variable > Data

Your complete action sequence should now have four actions configured.

Test the Dynamic API Call

Select a city from the list control to see it work:

Really simple and crazy powerful too!

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In this QuickStart, we explored the fundamentals of Sigma API Actions by building a simple weather data application. You learned how to:

These techniques form the foundation for integrating any REST API into your Sigma workbooks, enabling you to combine cloud data warehouse analytics with real-time external data sources.

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