Access Live Avalara AvaTax Data in TIBCO Data Virtualization

TIBCO Data Virtualization (TDV) is an enterprise data virtualization solution that orchestrates access to multiple and varied data sources. When paired with the CData TIBCO DV Adapter for Avalara AvaTax, you get federated access to live Avalara AvaTax data directly within TIBCO Data Virtualization. This article walks through deploying an adapter and creating a new data source based on Avalara AvaTax.

With built-in optimized data processing, the CData TIBCO DV Adapter offers unmatched performance for interacting with live Avalara AvaTax data. When you issue complex SQL queries to Avalara AvaTax, the adapter pushes supported SQL operations, like filters and aggregations, directly to Avalara AvaTax. Its built-in dynamic metadata querying allows you to work with and analyze Avalara AvaTax data using native data types.

Deploy the Avalara AvaTax TIBCO DV Adapter

1. In a console, navigate to the bin folder in the TDV Server installation directory. If there is a current version of the adapter installed, you will need to undeploy it.

   .\server_util.bat -server localhost -user admin -password ******** -undeploy -version 1 -name AvalaraAvatax
   

2. Extract the CData TIBCO DV Adapter to a local folder and deploy the JAR file (tdv.avalaraavatax.jar) to the server from the extract location.

   .\server_util.bat -server localhost -user admin -password ******** -deploy -package /PATH/TO/tdv.avalaraavatax.jar
   

You may need to restart the server to ensure the new JAR file is loaded properly, which can be accomplished by running the composite.bat script located at: C:\Program Files\TIBCO\TDV Server <version>\bin. Note that reauthenticating to the TDV Studio is required after restarting the server.

Sample Restart Call

.\composite.bat monitor restart

Create a Avalara AvaTax Data Source in TDV Studio

With the CData TIBCO DV Adapter for Avalara AvaTax, you can easily create a data source for Avalara AvaTax and introspect the data source to add resources to TDV.

Create the Data Source

1. Right-click on the folder you wish to add the data source to and select New -> New Data Source.
2. Scroll until you find the adapter (e.g. Avalara AvaTax) and click Next.
3. Name the data source (e.g. CData Avalara AvaTax Source).

4. Fill in the required connection properties.

   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.
5. Click Create & Close.

Introspect the Data Source

Once the data source is created, you can introspect the data source by right-clicking and selecting Open. In the dashboard, click Add/Remove Resources and select the Tables, Views, and Stored Procedures to include as part of the data source. Click Next and Finish to add the selected Avalara AvaTax tables, views, and stored procedures as resources.

After creating and introspecting the data source, you are ready to work with Avalara AvaTax data in TIBCO Data Virtualization just like you would any other relational data source. You can create views, query using SQL, publish the data source, and more.