Establishing a Connection

Configure a Connection Profile

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

Connecting to Exact Online

Exact Online supports OAuth authentication only. For connecting via a Desktop application or a Headless Server, embedded OAuth credentials are provided to make authentication simple. For connecting via the Web, you must create a custom OAuth application, as described in Creating a Custom OAuth Application.

After setting the following connection properties, you are ready to connect:

Region = the region of the Exact Online service you want to connect to.
Division = the division of the Exact Online administration.

When you connect, the add-in opens the Exact Online OAuth endpoint in your default browser. Log in and grant permissions to the add-in. The add-in then completes the OAuth process:

Extracts the access token from the callback URL and authenticates requests.
Obtains a new access token when the old one expires.
Saves OAuth values in OAuthSettingsLocation to be persisted across connections.

The following subsections describe how to authenticate to Exact Online 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 Exact Online, 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 Exact Online console. For further information, see Creating a Custom OAuth Application.

Before you connect, set the following variables:

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 Exact Online'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 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 add-in 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.

Connection Properties

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

Managing Connections

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