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Connections

Connections

The Connections page enables you to create and manage connections to your data sources.

The Connections page contains the following information about each connection:

  • Connection Name—the user-defined name of the connection.

  • Data Source—the data source type of the connection, along with whether the data source supports custom reports.

  • Status—The status of the connection, which can be one of the following:

    • Authenticated—the connection to the data source is successful.
    • Not Authenticated—the connection was created in CData Connect Cloud, but is not successfully connected to the data source.
    • Conditional—the connection is conditional based on the global settings and tables added to the connector. This occurs with the API connector.

  • Last Modified—the date and time a user last modified the connection.

Adding a Connection

To add a new connection, complete the following steps:

  1. On the Connections page, click Add Connection. This action displays the Add Connection dialog.

  2. Select a data source from the list in the dialog.

After you select a data source, the connection configuration page appears.

  1. Configure the connection according to the instructions for the data source. You can access these instructions without leaving the connection page by clicking View Documentation in the upper right.

  2. Click Save and Test.

If the connection succeeds, you are redirected to the Connections page and the new connection appears in the list. You can modify or delete a connection at any time by clicking the edit or delete icons in the list.

If the connection fails, the user interface displays error messages under the fields with missing data. Some data sources require that you sign in directly to the data source’s website. If you did not sign in, the user interface displays an error message under the Sign in button.

In some situations, refreshing your metadata cache for a connection can help fix loading or performance issues with your CData Connect Cloud application. To refresh your metadata cache, click Refresh Metadata at the top of the Edit Connection page. A success banner is displayed to indicate that the metadata cache has been refreshed. Note: If you attempt to modify or delete a connection and CData Connect Cloud finds a cached job from the current connection, you are prompted with a warning. You can choose to cancel or continue with the changes. If you save the changes, CData Connect Cloud clears the cached data from the current connection.

Assigning Permissions

When you create or edit a connection, the Permissions tab displays a list of available users and allows you to assign permissions to each one. Permissions are described in the list below:

  • Select: Enables you to select rows from tables in a connection.
  • Insert: Enables you to insert rows into tables of a connection.
  • Update: Enables you to update rows in tables of a connection.
  • Delete: Enables you to delete rows from tables in a connection.

  • Execute: Enables users to execute stored procedures in a connection.

You can toggle the permissions in four ways:

  • Click an individual box in the table to toggle that permission for a single user.
  • Click the double check mark at the top of a table column to toggle that permission for every user.
  • Click the double check mark at the right side of the table to toggle all permissions for a single user.
  • Click the double check mark that is labeled All in the top-right corner of the table to toggle all permissions for all users.

Configuring Custom Reports

Some data sources support custom reports, which allow you to configure pre-defined reports that you can query as views within your connections. Each report has a unique set of required inputs, and you provide these inputs when you configure the report in your CData Connect Cloud account.

Custom reports are generally useful in two types of scenarios:

  • For ad or analytics data sources, they can be used to show aggregated reports on performance data by allowing you to pre-define a set of metrics and dimensions.

  • Other types of data sources let you pre-define parameters to create data reports. For example, an accounting API might allow you to create a general ledger report in QuickBooks.

Creating a Custom Report

If a data source supports custom reports, a Custom Reports tab appears on the connection settings page. Clicking this tab opens the custom reports interface, as shown below:

To add a custom report, follow these steps:

  1. Click Add above the report table. A dialog appears with a list of the custom reports available for your chosen data source.

  2. Select the report you want to use and click Confirm. A list of required and optional fields appear for the custom report.

  3. Enter the requested information, and then click Save to save the custom report to your account.

After you save a custom report, it appears in the list of tables for your connection. You can delete custom reports and add new ones as needed.

Note: Custom reports are not shared across multiple connections to the same data source. For example, if you have two separate connections to Adobe Analytics, both connections will have their own lists of custom reports.

Using a Custom Report

You can query saved custom reports by passing the name of the custom report in the table field for your query. For example, if you have a custom report called Customer Accounts List on your QuickBooks Online connection, you could select all of its results with this query:

SELECT * FROM [QuickBooksOnline1].[QuickBooksOnline].[Customer Accounts List]

Editing a Custom Report

To edit an existing custom report, follow these steps:

  1. In the report table, find the report you want to edit.

  2. Click the report name or type, or click the edit button.

  3. In Edit Custom Report, add or change report parameters.

  4. Click Save Changes.

Duplicating a Custom Report from an Existing Report

To duplicate an existing custom report, follow these steps:

  1. In the report table, find the report you want to duplicate.

  2. Click the duplicate button. CData Connect Cloud creates a duplicate custom report for the data source with a new name.

  3. Edit the Report Name, if desired, and click Save.

Deleting a Custom Report

To delete an existing custom report, follow these steps:

  1. In the report table, find the report you want to delete.

  2. Click the delete button to the right of the report. Alternatively, you can click Delete on the Edit Custom Report page.

  3. Click Delete again in the dialog to confirm.