Configuring a Connection

After Installing the Connector you can connect and create a Data Source for data in SuiteCRM.

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 SuiteCRM 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 SuiteCRM 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 SuiteCRM

Requirements for connecting to SuiteCRM differ, depending on which version of the API your site is running.

SuiteCRM V4.1 API

To connect to SuiteCRM data via the V4.1 API, set these connection properties:

Schema: suitecrmv4.
Url: The URL associated with the SuiteCRM application. For example, http://suite.crm.com.
User: The user associated with the SuiteCRM account.
Password: The password associated with the user of the SuiteCRM account.

Note that retrieving SuiteCRM metadata can be expensive. We recommend that you store the metadata locally, as described in Caching Metadata.

SuiteCRM V8 API

SuiteCRM V8 uses the OAuth2 authentication standard. Before you connect to SuiteCRM V8 API, you must ensure that is it properly configured to provide the OAuth2 private and public keys. For further information, see the SuiteCRM Developer Guide API V8 setup instructions.

Authenticating to SuiteCRM V8 API

The SuiteCRM V8 API uses OAuth2.0 as its authentication mechanism, based on either of two grant types: PASSWORD and CLIENT.

Authentication via OAuth requires the Schema to be set to suitecrmv8, and the creation of a custom OAuth application, as described in Creating a Custom OAuth Application.

Client Credentials Grant

To connect to SuiteCRM V8 API, set these properties:

Schema: suitecrmv8.
AuthScheme: OAuthClient.
OAuthClientId: The client key returned during custom OAuth application creation. (See Creating a Custom OAuth Application.)
OAuthClientSecret: The client secret returned during custom OAuth application creation (See Creating a Custom OAuth Application.)
InitiateOAuth: GETANDREFRESH. You can use InitiateOAuth to avoid repeating the OAuth exchange and manually setting the OAuthAccessToken connection property.
URL: The base URL of your SuiteCRM system. For example, https://suitecrmhost/.

Password Grant