Excel Add-In for Jira

Build 26.0.9770

Establishing a Connection

Configure a Connection Profile

From the CData ribbon, click Get Data and select From Jira connection/s to launch the CData Query window. To setup a new connection, you will have to click the New Jira Connection button. Here you can set the connection settings, test the connection, and save the connection profile.

Connecting to Jira

To connect, set the URL to your Jira endpoint; for example, https://yoursitename.atlassian.net.

Authenticating to Jira

Jira supports several authentication schemes. The available methods depend on your instance type: Cloud or Data Center (on-premise).

  • Cloud
    • OAuth
    • API Token
  • Data Center
    • OAuth
    • Personal Access Token (PAT)
    • Okta
    • Crowd
    • LDAP
    • Basic (User and Password)
    • Anonymous

OAuth 2.0

You can leverage Jira's three-legged OAuth 2.0 support (3LO) to connect to data without providing your login credentials.

The following procedures assume that AuthScheme has been set to OAuth in all OAuth flows.

Desktop Applications

CData provides an embedded OAuth application that simplifies OAuth desktop authentication. Alternatively, you can create a custom OAuth application. See Creating a Custom OAuth Application for information about creating custom applications and reasons for doing so.

After setting the following, you are ready to connect:

  • InitiateOAuth: Set this to GETANDREFRESH. You can use InitiateOAuth to avoid repeating the OAuth exchange and manually setting the OAuthAccessToken.
  • OAuthClientId (custom applications only): Set to the Client ID in your application settings.
  • OAuthClientSecret (custom applications only): Set to the Client Secret in your application settings.
  • CallbackURL (custom applications only): Set to the callback URL configured in your application.
  • URL: Set this to the URL to your Jira endpoint, for example, https://yoursitename.atlassian.net.
When you connect, the add-in opens Jira's OAuth endpoint in your default browser. Log in and grant permissions to the application. The add-in refreshes the access token automatically when it expires.

API Token

This authentication method is only available in Jira Cloud.

You can authenticate to Jira Cloud instances using API tokens. To generate an API token, log in to your Atlassian account, click the user icon in the top-right corner of the page, and navigate to Account settings > Security > API tokens > Create and manage API tokens, then click Create API token. Store this token for later use. Note that the token is shown only once. If you leave the page without copying the token, you will have to create another token and copy its value. Set the following to connect:

  • AuthScheme: APIToken
  • User: The username of your Jira account.
  • APIToken: The API token you created using the above process.

Personal Access Token (PAT)

This authentication method is only available in Jira Data Center.

PATs are a secure way to authenticate to Jira, acting as a safe alternative to authenticating with a username and password. The advantage of authentication via PAT is that if the system is ever compromised, the administrator can revoke existing tokens immediately. This avoids the need to change the access password in all scripts and integrations.

PATs are created by each individual user. When created, they automatically have the same permissions level as the user. Users can create a PAT either via their Atlassian Settings menu, or using the REST API.

From the Atlassian application:

  1. Select the profile picture at the top right of the screen. Jira displays a drop-down list.
  2. Choose Profile.
  3. At the left panel, select Personal Access Tokens.
  4. Click Create token.
  5. Give the new token a name.
  6. If desired, set the token to automatically expire after a certain number of days. (Atlassian displays a reminder message five days before the token actually expires, which gives the user time to create a new token.)
  7. Click Create.

The personal token displays. It cannot be viewed or retrieved after creation, so be sure to copy the token now and store it in a safe place.

Now set the following Jira add-in properties:

  • AuthScheme: PAT
  • PAT: The token you generated using the above procedure.

NOTE: PATs can also be created using the REST API. For further information, see Creating Personal Access Tokens.

Okta

To connect to Okta, set these properties:

  • AuthScheme: Okta.
  • User: The authenticating Okta user.
  • Password: The password of the authenticating Okta user.
  • SSOLoginURL: The SSO provider's login URL.
  • SSOExchangeURL: The URL used to exchange the SAML token for Jira cookies. This URL may have the following formats:
    • https://<authority of Jira instance>/plugins/servlet/samlconsumer
    • https://<authority of Jira instance>/plugins/servlet/samlsso

If you are either using a trusted application or proxy that overrides the Okta client request OR configuring MFA, you must use combinations of SSOProperties to authenticate using Okta. Set any of the following, as applicable:

  • APIToken: When authenticating a user via a trusted application or proxy that overrides the Okta client request context, set this to the API Token the customer created from the Okta organization.
  • MFAType: If you have configured the MFA flow, set this to one of the following supported types: OktaVerify, Email, or SMS.
  • MFAPassCode: If you have configured the MFA flow, set this to a valid passcode.
    If you set this to empty or an invalid value, the add-in issues a one-time password challenge to your device or email. After the passcode is received, reopen the connection where the retrieved one-time password value is set to the MFAPassCode connection property.
  • MFARememberDevice: True by default. Okta supports remembering devices when MFA is required. If remembering devices is allowed according to the configured authentication policies, the add-in sends a device token to extend MFA authentication lifetime. If you do not want MFA to be remembered, set this variable to False.

Example connection string: 

AuthScheme=Okta;Url=https://yoursitename.atlassian.net;SSOLoginURL='https://example.okta.com/home/appType/0bg4ivz6cJRZgCz5d6/46';User=oktaUserName;Password=oktaPassword;SSOExchangeUrl=https://<authority of Jira instance>/plugins/servlet/samlconsumer;

Crowd

To authenticate via Crowd SSO:

  • AuthScheme: Crowd
  • User: The Crowd user account.
  • Password: The password associated with the Crowd account.<
  • SSOLoginURL: The login URL associated with the Crowd account. You can find the IDP URL by navigating to your application > SSO > SSO information > Identity provider single sign-on URL.
  • SSOAppName: The name of the application in which SSO is enabled.
  • SSOAppPassword: The password of the application in which SSO is enabled.
  • SSOExchangeURL: The URL used to exchange the SAML token for Jira cookies. This URL may have the following formats:
    • https://<authority of Jira instance>/plugins/servlet/samlconsumer
    • https://<authority of Jira instance>/plugins/servlet/samlsso

Example connection string: 

AuthScheme=Crowd;Url=https://yoursitename.atlassian.net;SSOLoginURL='https://<authority>/crowd/console/secure/saml/sso.action';User=crowdUserName;Password=crowdPassword;SSOExchangeUrl=https://<authority of Jira instance>/plugins/servlet/samlconsumer;SSOAppName=CrowdAppName;SSOAppPassword=CrowdAppPassword;

LDAP

This authentication method is only available in Jira Data Center.

To establish a connection to any Jira Server instance, set the following:

  • AuthScheme: LDAP
  • User: The username of one of your LDAP server's users.
  • Password The password associated with the specified LDAP user.

Basic

This authentication method is only available in Jira Data Center.

You can authenticate to Jira Data Center using a username and password. To do this, set the following:

  • AuthScheme Basic
  • User: Your Jira Data Center username.
  • Password: The password associated with the specified username.

Anonymous

This authentication method is only available in Jira Data Center.

You can connect to public endpoints in Jira that do not require authentication. This allows the add-in to access data without sending user credentials. To connect, set the following:

  • AuthScheme: Anonymous
  • Timezone: The timezone associated with your Jira Data Center instance.

IMPORTANT: This scheme should only be used when connecting to publicly accessible endpoints that are configured to allow anonymous access. If the Jira instance does not support anonymous access for the requested resource, the connection fails or returns an empty result set.

Connection Properties

The Connection properties describe the various options that can be used to establish a connection.

Managing Connections

After successfully authenticating to Jira you will be able to customize the data you are importing. To learn more about this, see Managing Connections.

See Also

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Build 26.0.9770