Connecting to Tableau CRM

OAuthJWT

Tableau CRM uses the OAuth 2 authentication standard. You will need to obtain the OAuthClientId and OAuthClientSecret by registering an app with Tableau CRM. For further information, see Creating a Custom OAuth Application.

Set the AuthScheme to OAuthJWT.

Obtaining the OAuthJWT Consumer Key

To obtain the OAuthJWT consumer key:

1. Log in to Salesforce.com.
2. From Setup, enter Apps in the Quick Find box and then click the link to create an app. In the Connected Apps section of the resulting page, click New.
3. Enter a name to be displayed to users when they log in to grant permissions to your app, along with a contact Email address.
4. Click Enable OAuth Settings and enter a value in the Callback URL box. Set this value only to create the Connected App as it is required. It will not actually be needed for this type of authentication. The Callback URL is in the format:
   

   http://localhost:8019/src/oauthCallback.rst

5. Enable Use digital signatures.
6. Upload your certificate.
7. Select the scope of permissions that your app should request from the user.
8. Click your app name to open a page with information about your app. The OAuth consumer key is displayed.

After creating your OAuth Application, set the following connection properties:

• AuthScheme: OAuthJWT.
• InitiateOAuth: GETANDREFRESH.
• OAuthJWTCert: The JWT Certificate store.
• OAuthJWTPassword: The password of the JWT Certificate store.
• OAuthJWTIssuer: The OAuth Client ID.
• OAuthJWTCertType: The type of the certificate store specified by OAuthJWTCert.

Note: This flow never issues a refresh token.

OAuth

Set AuthScheme to OAuth.

The following subsections describe how to authenticate to Tableau CRM from these authentication flows:

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

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 Tableau CRM, see Connection.

Desktop Applications

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

For authentication, the only differences between the two methods is that you must set two additional connection properties when using custom OAuth applications.

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

• InitiateOAuth: GETANDREFRESH. Used to automatically get and refresh the OAuthAccessToken.
• OAuthClientId: (custom applications only) The client Id assigned when you registered your application.
• OAuthClientSecret: (custom applications only) 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 provider opens Tableau CRM's OAuth endpoint in your default browser. Log in and grant permissions to the application.

After you grant permissions to the application, the provider then completes the OAuth process:

1. The provider obtains an access token from Tableau CRM and uses it to request data.
2. The OAuth values are saved in the path specified in OAuthSettingsLocation. These values persist across connections.

When the access token expires, the provider refreshes it automatically.

Note: To configure the session timeout in Salesforce, navigate to Setup > Administration Setup > Security Controls > Session Settings.

Web Applications

Authenticating via the Web requires you to create and register a custom OAuth application with Tableau CRM, as described in Creating a Custom OAuth Application. You can then use the provider to get and manage the OAuth token values.

This section describes how to get the OAuth access token, how to have the driver refresh the OAuth access token automatically, and how to refresh the OAuth access token manually.

Get the OAuth access token:

1. Set the following connection properties to obtain the OAuthAccessToken:
   • OAuthClientId: The client Id in your application settings.
   • OAuthClientSecret: The client secret in your application settings.

2. Call stored procedures to complete the OAuth exchange:
   • Call the GetOAuthAuthorizationURL stored procedure. Set the AuthMode input to WEB and the CallbackURL to the Redirect URI you specified in your application settings. The stored procedure returns the URL to the OAuth endpoint.
   • Navigate to the URL that the stored procedure returned in Step 1. Log in and authorize the web application. You are redirected back to the callback URL.
     If you set the Grant_Type to Code, the callback URL contains the verifier code in the query strong parameter named code.
   • Call the GetOAuthAccessToken stored procedure. Set the AuthMode input to WEB. Set the Verifier input to the code parameter in the query string of the redirect URI.

After you obtain the access and refresh tokens, you can connect to data and refresh the OAuth access token automatically.

Automatic refresh of the OAuth access token:

To have the provider automatically refresh the OAuth access token, do the following:

1. 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 provider to save the OAuth values, which persist across connections.
2. 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.

1. To manually refresh the OAuthAccessToken after the ExpiresIn period (returned by GetOAuthAccessToken) has elapsed, call the RefreshOAuthAccessToken stored procedure.
2. Set the following connection properties:
   • OAuthClientId: The Client Id in your application settings.
   • OAuthClientSecret: The Client Secret in your application settings.

3. Call RefreshOAuthAccessToken with OAuthRefreshToken set to the OAuth refresh token returned by GetOAuthAccessToken.
4. 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.

Headless Machines

If you need to log in to a resource that resides on a headless machine, you must authenticate on another device that has an internet browser. You can do this in either of the following ways:

• Option 1: Obtain the OAuthVerifier value.
• Option 2: Install the provider on a machine with an internet browser and transfer the OAuth authentication values after you authenticate through the usual browser-based flow.

After you execute either Option 1 or Option 2, configure the driver to automatically refresh the access token on the headless machine.

Option 1: Obtaining and Exchanging a Verifier Code

To obtain a verifier code, you must authenticate at the OAuth authorization URL. Do the following:

1. Authenticate from the machine with an internet browser, and obtain the OAuthVerifier connection property.

   Set the following properties:

   • InitiateOAuth: OFF.
   • OAuthClientId: The client Id assigned when you registered your application.
   • OAuthClientSecret: The client secret assigned when you registered your application.

2. Call the GetOAuthAuthorizationURL stored procedure. The stored procedure returns the CallbackURL established when the custom OAuth application was registered. (See Creating a Custom OAuth Application.)

   Copy this URL and paste it into a new browser tab.

3. Log in and grant permissions to the provider. The OAuth application redirects you the redirect URI, with a parameter called code appended. Note the value of this parameter; you will need it later, to configure the OAuthVerifier connection property.

4. Exchange the OAuth verifier code for OAuth refresh and access tokens. On the headless machine, set the following connection properties to obtain the OAuth authentication values:

   • InitiateOAuth: REFRESH.
   • OAuthVerifier: The noted verifier code (the value of the code parameter in the redirect URI).
   • OAuthSettingsLocation: Persist the encrypted OAuth authentication values to the specified file.
   • OAuthClientId: The client Id in your custom OAuth application settings.
   • OAuthClientSecret: The client secret in the custom OAuth application settings.

5. Test the connection to generate the OAuth settings file.

6. After you re-set the following properties, you are ready to connect:

   • InitiateOAuth: REFRESH.
   • OAuthSettingsLocation: The file containing the encrypted OAuth authentication values. To enable the automatic refreshing of the access token, be sure that this file gives read and write permissions to the provider.
   • OAuthClientId: The client Id assigned when you registered your application.
   • OAuthClientSecret: The client secret assigned when you registered your application.

Option 2: Transferring OAuth Settings

Prior to connecting on a headless machine, you must install and create a connection with the driver on a device that supports an internet browser. Set the connection properties as described above in "Desktop Applications".

After completing the instructions in "Desktop Applications", the resulting authentication values are encrypted and written to the path specified by OAuthSettingsLocation. The default filename is OAuthSettings.txt.

Test the connection to generate the OAuth settings file, then copy the OAuth settings file to your headless machine.

To connect to data via the headless machine, set the following connection properties:

• InitiateOAuth: REFRESH
• OAuthSettingsLocation: The path to the OAuth settings file you copied from the machine with the browser. To enable automatic refreshing of the access token, ensure that this file gives read and write permissions to the provider.
• OAuthClientId: The client Id assigned when you registered your custom OAuth application.
• OAuthClientSecret: The client secret assigned when you registered your custom OAuth application.