Build a Simple VCL Application for Aha Data

Embarcadero RAD Studio provides a development environment for Delphi and C++Builder applications. With the CData ODBC Driver for Aha, you gain access to live Aha data within RAD Studio, abstracting the data into tables, views, and stored procedures that can be used to retrieve Aha data. This article will walk through connecting to Aha and creating a simple VCL application with the Form Designer.

Create a Connection to Aha Data

If you have not already, first specify connection properties in an ODBC DSN (data source name). This is the last step of the driver installation. You can use the Microsoft ODBC Data Source Administrator to create and configure ODBC DSNs.

Start by setting the Profile connection property to the location of the Aha! Profile on disk (e.g. C:\profiles\aha.apip). Next, set the ProfileSettings connection property to the connection string for Aha! (see below).

Aha! API Profile Settings

The Aha! API uses OAuth-based authentication.

You will first need to register an OAuth app with Aha!. This can be done from your Aha! account under 'Settings' > 'Personal' > 'Developer' > 'OAuth Applications'. Additionally, you will need to set the Domain, found in the domain name of your Aha account. For example if your Aha account is acmeinc.aha.io, then the Domain should be 'acmeinc'.

After setting the following in the connection string, you are ready to connect:

• AuthScheme: Set this to OAuth.
• InitiateOAuth: Set this to GETANDREFRESH. You can use InitiateOAuth to manage the process to obtain the OAuthAccessToken.
• OAuthClientId: Set this to the client_id that is specified in you app settings.
• OAuthClientSecret: Set this to the client_secret that is specified in you app settings.
• CallbackURL: Set this to the Redirect URI you specified in your app settings.
• Domain: Set this in the ProfileSettings to your Aha domain.

You can then follow the steps below to use the Data Explorer to create a FireDAC connection to Aha data.

1. In a new VCL Forms application, expand the FireDAC node in the Data Explorer.
2. Right-click the ODBC Data Source node in the Data Explorer.
3. Click Add New Connection.
4. Enter a name for the connection.
5. In the FireDAC Connection Editor that appears, set the DataSource property to the name of the ODBC DSN for Aha.

Create VCL Applications with Connectivity to Aha Data

Follow the procedure below to start executing queries to Aha data from a simple VCL application that displays the results of a query in a grid.

1. Drop a TFDConnection component onto the form and set the following properties:

   • ConnectionDefName: Select the FireDAC connection to Aha data.
   • Connected: Select True from the menu and, in the dialog that appears, enter your credentials.

2. Drop a TFDQuery component onto the form and set the properties below:

   • Connection: Set this property to the TFDConnection component, if this component is not already specified.

   • SQL: Click the button in the SQL property and enter a query. For example:

     SELECT Id, Name FROM Ideas WHERE AssignedToUserId = 'my_user_id'
   • Active: Set this property to true.

3. Drop a TDataSource component onto the form and set the following property:

   • DataSet: In the menu for this property, select the name of the TFDQuery component.

4. Drop a TDBGrid control onto the form and set the following property:

   • DataSource: Select the name of the TDataSource.
5. Drop a TFDGUIxWaitCursor onto the form — this is required to avoid a run-time error.

You now have an executable application that displays the results of the SQL Query set in the TFDQuery object.