Establishing a Connection
Configure a Connection Profile
From the CData ribbon, click Get Data and select From Salesloft connection/s to launch the CData Query window. To setup a new connection, you will have to click the New Salesloft Connection button. Here you can set the connection settings, test the connection, and save the connection profile.
Connecting to Salesloft
Salesloft permits users to connect and authenticate via either APIKey or OAuth credentials.
API Key
To authenticate with an APIKey, provision an API key from the Salesloft user interface. (See https://accounts.salesloft.com/oauth/applications/.) Once obtained, the Key is used whenever you issue a request.
OAuth
Salesloft provides embedded OAuth credentials that simplify connection from a Desktop application or a Headless machine. (To connect via the Web, you must create a custom OAuth application, as described in Creating a Custom OAuth Application.)To enable OAuth authentication from either embedded or custom OAuth credentials, you must set AuthScheme to OAuth.
The following subsections describe how to authenticate to Salesloft from:
- 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 for connecting over the Web, 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 Salesloft, 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 Salesloft console. For further information, see Creating a Custom OAuth Application.Before you connect, set these 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 Salesloft'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 these connection parameters:
- InitiateOAuth: REFRESH.
- OAuthClientId: The client Id in your custom OAuth application settings.
- OAuthClientSecret: The client secret in your custom OAuth 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:
- 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 these connection properties:
- OAuthClientId: The Client Id in your custom OAuth application settings.
- OAuthClientSecret: The Client Secret in your custom OAuth 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 Salesloft you will be able to customize the data you are importing. To learn more about this, see Managing Connections.
See Also
- Querying Data: Use the data selection wizard to pull data into a spreadsheet. You can also configure scheduled data refresh here.
- Using the Excel Add-In: Find other ways to interact with Salesloft data, such as using the available CData Excel Functions.