Configuring a Connection
After Installing the Connector you can connect and create a Data Source for data in PayPal.
Setting Up a Data Source
Complete the following steps to connect to the data:
- Under Connect | To a Server, click More....
- Select the data source called PayPal by CData.
- Enter the information required for the connection.
- Click Sign In.
- If necessary, select a Database and Schema to discover what tables and views are available.
Using the Connection Builder
The connector makes the most common connection properties available directly in Tableau. However, it can be difficult to use if you need to use more advanced settings or need to troubleshoot connection issues. The connector includes a separate connection builder that allows you to create and test connections outside of Tableau.
There are two ways to access the connection builder:
- On Windows, use a shortcut called Connection Builder in the Start menu, under the CData Tableau Connector for PayPal folder.
- You can also start the connection builder by going to the driver install directory and running the .jar file in the lib directory.
In the connection builder, you can set values for connection properties and click Test Connection to validate that they work. You can also use the Copy to Clipboard button to save the connection string. This connection string can be given to the Connection String option included in the connector connection window in Tableau.
Connecting to PayPal
The provider surfaces tables from two PayPal APIs. Each API uses a different authentication method.- The SOAP API requires Signature API credentials. To authenticate to the SOAP API, you must set the AuthScheme to Basic, and set the Username, Password, and Signature properties. These API credentials are generated when you enable the SOAP API.
- The REST API uses the OAuth authentication standard. To authenticate to the REST API, you must set the AuthScheme to OAuth, and set the OAuthClientId, and OAuthClientSecret properties.
To specify your preferred API, set the Schema property to either REST or SOAP. If no Schema is set, PayPal uses the SOAP schema.
For testing purposes, set UseSandbox to true and use Sandbox credentials.
SOAP API
You can use the SOAP API to retrieve all transactions for the current account. The SOAP API uses the Signature API-credentials type, which has three credential values:
- API Username
- API Password
- API Signature
To generate the API credentials:
- Log in to your PayPal business account and select Profile > My Selling Tools.
- In the Selling Online section, click Update for the API Access item.
- To generate the API signature, click Request API Credentials on the API Access page.
- Select Request API Signature and click Agree and Submit to generate the API signature.
After setting the following connection properties, you are ready to connect:
- User = the API Username.
- Password = the API Password.
- Signature = the Signature.
- UseSandbox = true if you are using sandbox credentials.
REST API
After setting the following connection properties, you are ready to connect:
- InitiateOAuth = GETANDREFRESH. You can use InitiateOAuth to avoid repeating the OAuth exchange and manually setting the OAuthAccessToken connection property.
- OAuthClientId = the Client Id in your app settings.
- OAuthClientSecret = the Client Secret in your app settings.
- UseSandbox = true if you are using sandbox credentials.
When you connect, the connector completes the OAuth process.
- Exchanges the OAuthClientId and OAuthClientSecret for the OAuthAccessToken.
- Refreshes the access token when it expires.
- Saves OAuth values in OAuthSettingsLocation to be persisted across connections.
The following subsections describe how to authenticate to PayPal from three common authentication flows. For information about how to create a custom OAuth application, see Creating a Custom OAuth Application. For a complete list of connection string properties available in PayPal, see Connection.
Desktop Applications
To authenticate with the credentials for a custom OAuth application, you must get and refresh the OAuth access token. After you do that, you are ready to connect.Get and refresh the OAuth access token:
- InitiateOAuth = GETANDREFRESH. Used to automatically get and refresh the OAuthAccessToken.
- OAuthClientId = the client Id assigned when you registered your application.
- OAuthClientSecret = the client secret that was assigned when you registered your application.
- CallbackURL = the redirect URI that was defined when you registered your application.
When you connect, the connector opens PayPal's OAuth endpoint in your default browser. Log in and grant permissions to the application.
After you grant permissions to the application, the connector then completes the OAuth process:
- The connector obtains an access token from PayPal and uses it to request data.
- The OAuth values are saved in the path specified in OAuthSettingsLocation. These values persist across connections.
When the access token expires, the connector refreshes it automatically.
Automatic refresh of the OAuth access token:
To have the connector automatically refresh the OAuth access token, do the following:
- Before connecting to data for the first time, set the following connection parameters:
- InitiateOAuth = REFRESH.
- OAuthClientId = the client Id in your application settings.
- OAuthClientSecret = the client secret in your application settings.
- OAuthAccessToken = the access token returned by GetOAuthAccessToken.
- OAuthSettingsLocation = the path where you want the connector to save the OAuth values, which persist across connections.
- On subsequent data connections, set the following:
- InitiateOAuth
- OAuthSettingsLocation
Manual refresh of the OAuth access token:
The only value needed to manually refresh the OAuth access token is the OAuth refresh token.
- To manually refresh the OAuthAccessToken after the ExpiresIn period (returned by GetOAuthAccessToken) has elapsed, call the RefreshOAuthAccessToken stored procedure.
- Set the following connection properties:
- OAuthClientId = the Client Id in your application settings.
- OAuthClientSecret = the Client Secret in your application settings.
- Call RefreshOAuthAccessToken with OAuthRefreshToken set to the OAuth refresh token returned by GetOAuthAccessToken.
- After the new tokens have been retrieved, set the OAuthAccessToken property to the value returned by RefreshOAuthAccessToken. This opens a new connection.
Store the OAuth refresh token so that you can use it to manually refresh the OAuth access token after it has expired.
When you are finished, configure the driver to automatically refresh the access token on the headless machine.
Next Step
See Using the Connector to create data visualizations.