Import Real-Time Avalara AvaTax Data in ColdFusion to Build Applications

Adobe ColdFusion is a web and mobile application development platform. It uses its own scripting language, ColdFusion Markup Language (CFML), to create data-driven websites as well as generate remote services, such as REST.

When ColdFusion is paired with the CData JDBC Driver for Avalara, you can link your ColdFusion web and mobile applications to operational Avalara AvaTax data. This allows for your applications to be more robust and complete. This article details how to use the JDBC driver to create a table populated with Avalara AvaTax data from within a ColdFusion markup file.

With built-in optimized data processing, the CData JDBC Driver offers unmatched performance for interacting with live Avalara AvaTax data. When you issue complex SQL queries to Avalara AvaTax, the driver pushes supported SQL operations, like filters and aggregations, directly to Avalara AvaTax and utilizes the embedded SQL engine to process unsupported operations client-side (often SQL functions and JOIN operations). Its built-in dynamic metadata querying allows you to work with and analyze Avalara AvaTax data using native data types.

Configuring the Connection to Avalara AvaTax

You will need a JDBC connection string to establish a connection between Coldfusion and Avalara AvaTax.

The primary method for performing basic authentication is to provide your login credentials, as follows:

• User: Set this to your username.
• Password: Set this to your password.

Optionally, if you are making use of a sandbox environment, set the following:

• UseSandbox: Set this to true if you are authenticating with a sandbox account.

Authenticating Using Account Number and License Key

Alternatively, you can authenticate using your account number and license key. Connect to data using the following:

• AccountId: Set this to your Account Id. The Account Id is listed in the upper right hand corner of the admin console.
• LicenseKey: Set this to your Avalara Avatax license key. You can generate a license key by logging into Avalara Avatax as an account administrator and navigating to Settings -> Reset License Key.

Built-in Connection String Designer

For assistance in constructing the JDBC URL, use the connection string designer built into the Avalara AvaTax JDBC Driver. Either double-click the JAR file or execute the jar file from the command-line.

Adding a Data Source and Creating a Table

After configuring the connection, follow the steps below to add the CData JDBC Driver to ColdFusion's lib directory, add a new data source, test the connection, create a ColdFusion markup file, and, finally, make a real-time connection with Avalara AvaTax data and display it in a table written in the ColdFusion Markup Language, or CFML:

1. Copy the JDBC Driver for Avalara AvaTax and lic file from "C:\Program Files\CData[product_name]\lib" to "C:\ColdFusion2021\cfusion\wwwroot\WEB-INF\lib". cdata.jdbc.avalaraavatax.jar cdata.jdbc.avalaraavatax.lic

   Note: If you do not copy the .lic file with the jar, you will see a licensing error that indicates you do not have a valid license installed. This is true for both the trial and full versions.

2. From the ColdFusion administrator interface, choose Data & Services.
3. Here, we can "Add New Data Source". The data source name can be any name, provided it conforms to the ColdFusion variable naming conventions. For our JDBC driver, choose "other", then click the "Add" button.
4. Next, populate the driver properties.
   • JDBC URL will need to be in the format: jdbc:avalaraavatax:|connectionString|.
   • A typical connection string looks like this:

     jdbc:avalaraavatax:User=MyUser;Password=MyPassword;

   • The Driver Class is: cdata.jdbc.avalaraavatax.AvalaraAvataxDriver
   • The Driver Name is arbitrary and simply used to recognize the data source in the ColdFusion administration console.
5. Now, test the connection by clicking the check mark to the left of the CDataAvalara AvaTaxJDBC data source you just created. When the data source reports an "OK" status, it is ready for use.
6. Next, create a new ColdFusion Markup file (.cfm) and place it in the wwwroot directory ("C:\ColdFusion2021\cfusion\wwwroot") for ColdFusion.

   The following code queries the data source:

               
           <cfquery name="Avalara AvaTaxQuery" dataSource="CDataAvalara AvaTaxJDBC"> 
             SELECT * FROM Transactions 
           </cfquery> 
       

   And a CFTable can be used to quickly output the table in HTML:

               
             <cftable  
             query = "Avalara AvaTaxQuery" 
             border = "1" 
             colHeaders 
             colSpacing = "2" 
             headerLines = "2" 
             HTMLTable 
             maxRows = "500" 
             startRow = "1"> 
   
             <cfcol header="<b>Id</b>" align="Left" width=2 text="Id"/> 
   
             <cfcol header="<b>TotalTax</b>" align="Left" width=15 text="TotalTax"/> 
   
             ...
   
           </cftable> 
       

   Full code, including the HTML portion is available below:

               
           <html> 
           <head><title>CData Software | Avalara AvaTax Transactions Table Demo </title></head> 
           <body> 
           <cfoutput>#ucase("Avalara AvaTax Transactions Table Demo")#</cfoutput> 
           <cfquery name="Avalara AvaTaxQuery" dataSource="CDataAvalara AvaTaxJDBC"> 
   
             SELECT * FROM Transactions 
   
           </cfquery> 
           <cftable  
             query = "Avalara AvaTaxQuery" 
             border = "1" 
             colHeaders 
             colSpacing = "2" 
             headerLines = "2" 
             HTMLTable 
             maxRows = "500" 
             startRow = "1"> 
             <cfcol header="<b>Id</b>" align="Left" width=2 text="Id"/> 
   
             <cfcol header="<b>TotalTax</b>" align="Left" width=15 text="TotalTax"/> 
   
             ...
   
           </cftable> 
           </body> 
   
           </html>  
       

7. Finally, run the code locally in a browser at the default port of 8500. It produces a table populated with Avalara AvaTax data!

As a note, the CData JDBC Drivers also support parameterized queries using the cfqueryparam element. For example: SELECT * FROM Account WHERE name =

Get Started Today

Download a free, 30-day trial of the CData JDBC Driver for Avalara AvaTax and start building Avalara AvaTax-connected applications with Adobe ColdFusion. Reach out to our Support Team if you have any questions.