Establishing a Connection

With the CData Cmdlets users can install a data module, set the connection properties, and start scripting. This section provides examples of using our EpicorERP Cmdlets with native PowerShell cmdlets, like the CSV import and export cmdlets.

Installing and Connecting

If you have PSGet, installing the cmdlets can be accomplished from the PowerShell Gallery with the following command. You can also obtain a setup from the CData site.

Install-Module EpicorERPCmdlets

The following line is then added to your profile, loading the cmdlets on the next session:

Import-Module EpicorERPCmdlets;

You can then use the Connect-EpicorERP cmdlet to create a connection object that can be passed to other cmdlets:

$conn = Connect-EpicorERP -Service 'Erp.BO.CustomerSvc' -ERPInstance 'MyInstance' -URL 'https://myaccount.epicorsaas.com' -User 'username' -Password 'password'

Connecting to Epicor Kinetic

To successfully connect to your ERP instance, you must specify the following connection properties:

Url, set this to the url of the server hosting your ERP instance. For example, https://myserver.EpicorSaaS.com
ERPInstance, set this to the name of your ERP instance.
User, set this to the username of your account.
Password, set this to the password of your account.
Service, set this to the service you want to retrieve data from. For example, BaqSvc.

In addition, you may also set the optional connection properties:

ApiKey, An optional key that may be required for connection to some services depending on your account configuration.
ApiVersion, Defaults to v1. May be set to v2 to use the newer Epicor API.
Company, Required if you set the ApiVersion to v2.

Authenticating to Epicor Kinetic

OpenID with AzureAD

OpenID Connect with Azure AD is a connection type that goes through OAuth. Set the AuthScheme to AzureADOpenID. The following sections assume that you have done so.

Desktop Applications

Follow the steps below to authenticate with the credentials for a custom OAuth app. See Creating an Azure AD Application. Get an OAuth Access Token

You are ready to connect after setting one of the below connection properties groups depending on the authentication type.

Authenticating using a Client Secret
- OAuthClientId: Set this to the Client Id in your app settings.
- OAuthClientSecret: Set this to the Client Secret in your app settings.
- CallbackURL: Set this to the Redirect URL in your app settings. .
Authenticating using a Certificate
- OAuthClientId: Set this to the Client Id in your app settings.
- OAuthJWTCert: Set this to the JWT Certificate store.
- OAuthJWTCertType: Set this to the type of the certificate store specified by OAuthJWTCert.
- CallbackURL: Set this to the Redirect URL in your app settings. .

When you connect the cmdlet opens the OAuth endpoint in your default browser. Log in and grant permissions to the application.

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.

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

Choose one of these options:
- If you are using the Embedded OAuth Application click Epicor Kinetic OAuth endpoint to open the endpoint in your browser.
- If you are using a custom OAuth application, create the Authorization URL by setting 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.
Log in and grant permissions to the cmdlet. You are then redirected to the callback URL, which contains the verifier code.
Save the value of the verifier code. 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. Set the following properties:

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 verifier code.
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 the location of the file where the driver saves the OAuth token values that persist across connections.

After the OAuth settings file is generated, you need to 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 location containing the encrypted OAuth authentication values. Make sure this location grants read and write permissions to the cmdlet to enable the automatic refreshing of the access token.

Option 2: Transfer OAuth Settings

Prior to connecting on a headless machine, you need to create and install 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 location specified by OAuthSettingsLocation. The default filename is OAuthSettings.txt.

Once you have successfully tested the connection, 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 location of your OAuth settings file. Make sure this location gives read and write permissions to the cmdlet to enable the automatic refreshing of the access token.

Retrieving Data

The Select-EpicorERP cmdlet provides a native PowerShell interface for retrieving data:

$results = Select-EpicorERP -Connection $conn -Table "Customers" -Columns @("CustNum, Company") -Where "CompanyName='CompanyName'"

The Invoke-EpicorERP cmdlet provides an SQL interface. This cmdlet can be used to execute an SQL query via the Query parameter.

Piping Cmdlet Output

The cmdlets return row objects to the pipeline one row at a time. The following line exports results to a CSV file:

Select-EpicorERP -Connection $conn -Table Customers -Where "CompanyName <> 'CompanyName'" | Select -Property * -ExcludeProperty Connection,Table,Columns | Export-Csv -Path c:\myCustomersData.csv -NoTypeInformation

You will notice that we piped the results from Select-EpicorERP into a Select-Object cmdlet and excluded some properties before piping them into an Export-CSV cmdlet. We do this because the CData Cmdlets append Connection, Table, and Columns information onto each row object in the result set, and we do not necessarily want that information in our CSV file.

However, this makes it easy to pipe the output of one cmdlet to another. The following is an example of converting a result set to JSON:

 
PS C:\> $conn  = Connect-EpicorERP -Service 'Erp.BO.CustomerSvc' -ERPInstance 'MyInstance' -URL 'https://myaccount.epicorsaas.com' -User 'username' -Password 'password'
PS C:\> $row = Select-EpicorERP -Connection $conn -Table "Customers" -Columns (CustNum, Company) -Where "CompanyName <> 'CompanyName'" | select -first 1
PS C:\> $row | ConvertTo-Json
{
  "Connection":  {

  },
  "Table":  "Customers",
  "Columns":  [

  ],
  "CustNum":  "MyCustNum",
  "Company":  "MyCompany"
}

Deleting Data

The following line deletes any records that match the criteria:

Select-EpicorERP -Connection $conn -Table Customers -Where "CompanyName = 'CompanyName'" | Remove-EpicorERP

Modifying Data

The cmdlets make data transformation easy as well as data cleansing. The following example loads data from a CSV file into Epicor Kinetic, checking first whether a record already exists and needs to be updated instead of inserted.

Import-Csv -Path C:\MyCustomersUpdates.csv | %{
  $record = Select-EpicorERP -Connection $conn -Table Customers -Where ("Id = `'"+$_.Id+"`'")
  if($record){
    Update-EpicorERP -Connection $conn -Table Customers -Columns @("CustNum","Company") -Values @($_.CustNum, $_.Company) -Where "Id  = `'$_.Id`'"
  }else{
    Add-EpicorERP -Connection $conn -Table Customers -Columns @("CustNum","Company") -Values @($_.CustNum, $_.Company)
  }
}

Cmdlets for Epicor Kinetic