Connect to Avalara AvaTax Data from HeidiSQL

HeidiSQL is an open-source database administration tool that natively supports MariaDB, MySQL, SQL Server, and PostgreSQL. When paired with CData Connect Cloud, HediSQL reach extends to include access to live Avalara AvaTax data. This article demonstrates how to connect to Avalara AvaTax using Connect Cloud and query Avalara AvaTax data in HeidiSQL.

CData Connect Cloud provides a pure SQL Server interface for Avalara AvaTax, allowing you to query data from Avalara AvaTax without replicating the data to a natively supported database. Using optimized data processing out of the box, CData Connect Cloud pushes all supported SQL operations (filters, JOINs, etc.) directly to Avalara AvaTax, leveraging server-side processing to return the requested Avalara AvaTax data quickly.

Configure Avalara AvaTax Connectivity for HeidiSQL

Connectivity to Avalara AvaTax from HeidiSQL is made possible through CData Connect Cloud. To work with Avalara AvaTax data from HeidiSQL, we start by creating and configuring a Avalara AvaTax connection.

1. Log into Connect Cloud, click Connections and click Add Connection

2. Select "Avalara AvaTax" from the Add Connection panel

3. Enter the necessary authentication properties to connect to 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.
   
4. Click Create & Test
5. Navigate to the Permissions tab in the Add Avalara AvaTax Connection page and update the User-based permissions.

Add a Personal Access Token

If you are connecting from a service, application, platform, or framework that does not support OAuth authentication, you can create a Personal Access Token (PAT) to use for authentication. Best practices would dictate that you create a separate PAT for each service, to maintain granularity of access.

1. Click on your username at the top right of the Connect Cloud app and click User Profile.
2. On the User Profile page, scroll down to the Personal Access Tokens section and click Create PAT.
3. Give your PAT a name and click Create.

4. The personal access token is only visible at creation, so be sure to copy it and store it securely for future use.

Connect to Avalara AvaTax from HeidiSQL using Connect Cloud

To establish a connection from HeidiSQL to the CData Connect Cloud Virtual SQL Server API, follow these steps.

Create a new HeidiSQL Session

1. In the Session Manager, select New in the bottom-left
2. Give the new session a descriptive name, e.g. Connect-Cloud-Avalara AvaTax

Configure a SQL Server Connection to Connect Cloud

1. In the session settings, set the Network type to Microsoft SQL Server (TCP/IP)
2. The Library DLL should automatically update to MSOLEDBSQL
3. Set the Hostname/IP to tds.cdata.com
4. Set the User to your CData Connect Cloud username. This is displayed in the top-right corner of the CData Connect Cloud interface. For example, [email protected]
5. Set the Password to your PAT created in Connect Cloud in the previous section.
6. Set the Port to 14333

Query Avalara AvaTax from HeidiSQL

1. In the database listing on the left, find your connection to Avalara AvaTax configured earlier.
2. Expand this connection to view individual tables or data objects present within Avalara AvaTax.
3. Write custom SQL queries targeting these tables, treating the data source like any SQL Server database, or visually explore each tabular data set by selecting the relevant tables

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