Build Google Campaign Manager-Connected Apps in Mendix

Mendix is a high-productivity app platform that allows you to build and maintain both mobile and web applications at-scale. When paired with CData Connect Cloud, Mendix provides instant, cloud-to-cloud access to Google Campaign Manager data for applications. This article demonstrates how to connect to a CData Connect Cloud data source from within Mendix.

CData Connect Cloud provides a pure cloud-to-cloud interface for Google Campaign Manager, allowing you to import data from live Google Campaign Manager data in Mendix — without replicating the data to a natively supported database. As you build web and mobile applications from within Mendix, CData Connect Cloud pushes all supported SQL operations (filters, JOINs, etc.) directly to Google Campaign Manager, leveraging server-side processing to return the requested Google Campaign Manager data quickly.

Configure Google Campaign Manager Connectivity for Mendix

Connectivity to Google Campaign Manager from Mendix is made possible through CData Connect Cloud. To work with Google Campaign Manager data from Mendix, we start by creating and configuring a Google Campaign Manager connection.

1. Log into Connect Cloud, click Connections and click Add Connection
2. Select "Google Campaign Manager" from the Add Connection panel
3. Enter the necessary authentication properties to connect to Google Campaign Manager.

   Google Campaign Manager uses the OAuth authentication standard. The data provider facilitates OAuth in various ways as described below. The following OAuth flow requires the authenticating user to interact with DoubleClick Campaign Manager, using the browser. You can also use a service account to authenticate.

   For authentication guides, see the Getting Started section of the data provider help documentation.

4. Click Create & Test
5. Navigate to the Permissions tab in the Add Google Campaign Manager Connection page and update the User-based permissions.

Add Google Campaign Manager OData Endpoints in Connect Cloud

After connecting to Google Campaign Manager, create OData Endpoints for the desired table(s).

1. Navigate to the OData page and click Add to create new OData endpoints
2. Select the Google Campaign Manager connection (e.g. GoogleCM1) and click Next
3. Select the table(s) you wish to work with and click Confirm

With the connection and OData endpoints configured, you are ready to connect to Google Campaign Manager data from Mendix.

Build a Google Campaign Manager-Connected App

With OData endpoints added to Connect Cloud, you can build an app in Mendix with live access to Google Campaign Manager data.

Downloading the OData Metadata File

When creating a connection in Mendix, the connection flow requires a Data Source Contract File. Follow these steps to download the OData metadata file for CData Connect Cloud using curl, a command line tool:

1. Open a command-line window for your operating system. On Windows, open the start menu, type cmd, and press the Enter key to open a command prompt. On macOS and Linux, open a Terminal window.
2. To check if curl is installed on your system, type curl -help and press the enter key. If it is not installed, install it from the curl website.
3. Issue the following curl command, replacing USER with your CData Connect Cloud username and PAT with the PAT you generated above: curl -u USER:PAT https://cloud.cdata.com/api/odata/service/$metadata -o metadata.xml
4. Locate the metadata.xml file that the curl command created and move it to an accessible location.

Connecting to CData Connect Cloud in Mendix

Follow these steps to establish a connection from Mendix to CData Connect Cloud:

1. Login to Mendix and open the Data Hub page.
2. In the Register a Data Source section, select OData.
3. Upload the metadata.xml file from the steps above and click Next.
4. Enter your desired values for Data Source Name and Data Source Version. In the Data Source Relative Path field, enter /api/odata/service and click Next.
5. On the Application information page, click Register a new application.
6. Enter a name in Application Name and select a technical owner (by default, this is the user who is currently logged in).
7. Click Next. In the Environment Name field, enter a desired name (for example, CData Connect Cloud). In the Environment Location field, enter https://cloud.cdata.com and select the appropriate Environment Type (e.g. Production), depending on what is needed.
8. Click Done! to create your connection.

You can now use your connection in Mendix Studio Pro to easily create applications with access to live Google Campaign Manager data.

Get CData Connect Cloud

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