Power BI Connector for Zoho Books

Build 24.0.9060

Creating the Data Source Name

This section describes how to edit the DSN configuration and then authenticate and connect to Zoho Books APIs.

DSN Configuration

You can use the Microsoft ODBC Data Source Administrator to edit the DSN configuration. Note that the installation process creates a both a user DSN and a system DSN, as described in Installing the Connector.

Note: The connector stores connection information in the Windows registry. To ensure that the connector can write to the registry, either run Power BI as an administrator or use a User DSN for your connection instead of a System DSN.

User DSN

Complete the following steps to edit the DSN configuration:

  1. Select Start > Search, and enter ODBC Data Sources in the Search box.
  2. Choose the version of the ODBC Administrator that corresponds to the bitness of your Power BI Desktop installation (32-bit or 64-bit).
  3. Select the system data source and click Configure.
  4. Edit the information on the Connection tab and click OK.

System DSN

Configure the system DSN the same way as the user DSN, except you will need to switch to the System DSN tab before performing Step 3.

If you're using Power BI's On-Premises Data Gateway with Standard mode, you must use the system DSN.

You must also specify a valid location for OAuthSettingsLocation (a path where OAuth credentials are locally stored to avoid repeated OAuth prompts).

This is because the Standard mode runs on service mode and can only access permitted locations, such as C:\Windows\ServiceProfiles\PBIEgwService\AppData\Local\Microsoft\On-premises data gateway.

Connecting to Zoho Books

You can refine the exact Zoho Books data retrieved using the following connection properties:

  • OrganizationId (optional): The Id associated with the specific Zoho Books organization that you wish to connect to.
    • If the value of Organization Id is not specified in the connection string, then the connector automatically retrieves all available organizations and selects the first organization Id as the default.
  • AccountsServer (optional): The full Account Server URL. Most of the time, the value of this property will be https://books.zoho.com, but if your account resides in a different location, then the domain should change accordingly (.eu, .in, .com.au, ...).

Authenticating to Zoho Books

Zoho Books uses the OAuth authentication standard. The connector supports OAuth authentication for instances of the connector running on your local machine, a web service, or on a headless machine.

Desktop Applications

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

Get and Refresh the OAuth Access Token

After setting the following, you are ready to connect:

  • OAuthClientId (custom applications only): Set this to the client Id assigned when you registered your application.
  • OAuthClientSecret (custom applications only): Set this to the client secret assigned when you registered your application.
  • CallbackURL (custom application only): Set this to the redirect URI defined when you registered your application.
When you connect, the connector opens Zoho Books's OAuth endpoint in your default browser. Log in and grant permissions to the application. The connector refreshes the access token automatically when it expires.

Headless Machines

To configure the driver to use OAuth with a user account on a headless machine, you need to authenticate on another device that has an internet browser.

  1. Choose one of two options:
    • Option 1: Obtain the OAuthVerifier value as described in "Obtain and Exchange a Verifier Code" below.
    • Option 2: Install the connector on a machine with an internet browser and transfer the OAuth authentication values after you authenticate through the usual browser-based flow, as described in "Transfer OAuth Settings" below.
  2. Then configure the connector to automatically refresh the access token on the headless machine.

Option 1: Obtain and Exchange a Verifier Code

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

Follow the steps below to authenticate from the machine with an internet browser and obtain the OAuthVerifier connection property.

  1. Choose one of these options:
    • If you are using the Embedded OAuth Application, call the GetOAuthAuthorizationURL stored procedure. Open the URL returned by the stored procedure in a browser.
    • If you are using a custom OAuth application, set the following properties:
      • InitiateOAuth: Set to OFF.
      • OAuthClientId: Set to the client Id assigned when you registered your application.
      • OAuthClientSecret: Set to the client secret assigned when you registered your application.
      Then call the GetOAuthAuthorizationURL stored procedure with the appropriate CallbackURL. Open the URL returned by the stored procedure in a browser.
  2. Log in and grant permissions to the connector. You are then redirected to the redirect URI. There will be a parameter called code appended to the redirect URI. Note the value of this parameter. Later you will set this in the OAuthVerifier connection property.
Next, you need to 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: Set this to REFRESH.
  • OAuthVerifier: Set this to the noted verifier code (the value of the code parameter in the redirect URI).
  • OAuthClientId: (custom applications only) Set this to the client Id in your custom OAuth application settings.
  • OAuthClientSecret: (custom applications only) Set this to the client secret in the custom OAuth application settings.
  • OAuthSettingsLocation: Set this to persist the encrypted OAuth authentication values to the specified file.

Test the connection to generate the OAuth settings file, then re-set the following properties to connect:

  • InitiateOAuth: Set this to REFRESH.
  • OAuthClientId: (custom applications only) Set this to the client Id assigned when you registered your application.
  • OAuthClientSecret: (custom applications only) Set this to the client secret assigned when you registered your application.
  • OAuthSettingsLocation: Set this to the file containing the encrypted OAuth authentication values. Make sure this file gives read and write permissions to the connector to enable the automatic refreshing of the access token.

Option 2: Transfer OAuth Settings

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

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.

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

  • InitiateOAuth: Set this to REFRESH.
  • OAuthClientId: (custom applications only) Set this to the client Id assigned when you registered your application.
  • OAuthClientSecret: (custom applications only) Set this to the client secret assigned when you registered your application.
  • OAuthSettingsLocation: Set this to the path to the OAuth settings file you copied from the machine with the browser. Make sure this file gives read and write permissions to the connector to enable the automatic refreshing of the access token.

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Build 24.0.9060