Establishing a Connection

Configure a Connection Profile

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

Connecting to Square

Square supports two primary connection methods:

Use a personal access token to connect to production data or sandbox test data.
Use OAuth to connect to shared Square data through a browser-based flow.

Both of the above methods make use of OAuth functionality that is embedded in the CData Excel Add-In for Square.

Personal Access Token

Use a personal access token to connect directly to your Square data in either a production or sandbox environment.

Production

To connect to personal data, obtain your production access token, then set the OAuthAccessToken connection property to that token:

Navigate to the Square Developer Dashboard.
Create a new application if you do not already have one.
After the app is created, open the Credentials tab.
Choose Production in the toggle at the top of the page to find the production access token.

Square Sandbox

Version 2 of the Connect API permits you to test in a sandbox environment. Transactions created in the sandbox are not sent through to card networks, and cards are never charged.

To connect to the sandbox, obtain the sandbox access token, then set the OAuthAccessToken connection property to that token:

Navigate to the Square Developer Dashboard.
Create a new application if you do not already have one.
After the app is created, open the Credentials tab.
Choose Sandbox in the toggle at the top of the page to find the sandbox access token.

In addition, set UseSandbox to True.

OAuth

The following subsections describe how to authenticate to Square from three common authentication flows:

Desktop: a connection to a server on the user's local machine, frequently used for testing and prototyping. Authenticated via either embedded OAuth or custom OAuth.
Web: access to data via a shared website. Authenticated via custom OAuth only.
Headless Server: a dedicated computer that provides services to other computers and their users, which is configured to operate without a monitor and keyboard. Authenticated via embedded OAuth or custom OAuth.

For information about how to create a custom OAuth application, and why you might want to create one even for auth flows that have embedded OAuth credentials, see Creating a Custom OAuth Application.

For a complete list of connection string properties available in Square, see Connection.

Desktop Applications

CData provides an embedded OAuth application that simplifies authentication at the desktop. You can also authenticate from the desktop via a custom OAuth application, which you configure and register at the Square console. For further information, see Creating a Custom OAuth Application.

Before you connect, set the following properties:

InitiateOAuth: GETANDREFRESH. Used to automatically get and refresh the OAuthAccessToken.
Custom OAuth applications only:
- OAuthClientId: The client Id assigned when you registered your custom OAuth application.
- OAuthClientSecret: The client secret assigned when you registered your custom OAuth application.
- CallbackURL: The redirect URI defined when you registered your custom OAuth application.

When you connect, the add-in opens Square's OAuth endpoint in your default browser. Log in and grant permissions to the application.

When the access token expires, the add-in refreshes it automatically.

Automatic refresh of the OAuth access token:

To have the add-in automatically refresh the OAuth access token, do the following:

The first time you connect to data, set the following connection properties:
- 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.
- OAuthRefreshToken: The refresh token returned by GetOAuthAccessToken.
- OAuthSettingsLocation: The path where you want the add-in to save the OAuth values, which persist across connections.
On subsequent data connections, set the following:
- InitiateOAuth: REFRESH.
- OAuthSettingsLocation: The same location you specified above, where the add-in persisted the OAuth values.

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 GetOAuthAccessToken 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.

Post-Authentication Options

After you authenticate to Square, you can retrieve the Locations table, then set the LocationId to confine your search criteria to a chosen location.

Connection Properties

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

Managing Connections

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

Excel Add-In for Square