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Import Real-Time Blackbaud FE NXT Data in ColdFusion to Build Applications


Use CData ODBC drivers to import and use Blackbaud FE NXT data in ColdFusion.

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 ODBC Driver for Blackbaud FE NXT, you can link your ColdFusion web and mobile applications to operational Blackbaud FE NXT data. This allows for your applications to be more robust and complete. This article details how to use the ODBC driver to create a table populated with Blackbaud FE NXT data from within a ColdFusion markup file.

To follow along with this tutorial, you need to install the CData ODBC Driver for Blackbaud FE NXT and Adobe ColdFusion.

Configuring the Connection

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 process. You can use the Microsoft ODBC Data Source Administrator to create and configure ODBC DSNs.

Blackbaud Financial Edge NXT uses the OAuth authentication standard. To authenticate using OAuth, you will need to create an app to obtain the OAuthClientId, OAuthClientSecret, and CallbackURL connection properties.

See the Getting Started guide in the CData driver documentation for more information.

Adding a Data Source and Creating a Table

After creating a DSN, follow the steps below to add a new data source, test our connection to it, create a ColdFusion markup file, and, finally, import Blackbaud FE NXT Blackbaud FE NXT data and display it in a table in ColdFusion:

  1. From the ColdFusion administrator interface, choose Data & Services.
  2. Here, click "Add New Data Source". The data source name can be any name, provided it conforms to the ColdFusion variable naming conventions. For our ODBC driver, choose "ODBC Socket", then click the "Add" button.
  3. From the ODBC DSN Dropdown menu select CData Blackbaud FE NXT Sys. Under the Advanced Settings section, leave the Connection String blank. Note that any properties specified in this input field will override the ones specified in the DSN Configuration.
  4. Now, test the connection by pressing the check mark to the left of the CDataBlackbaud FE NXTODBC data source you just created. When the data source reports an "OK" status, it is ready for use.
  5. 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="Blackbaud FE NXTQuery" dataSource="CDataBlackbaud FE NXTODBC"> 
          SELECT * FROM Accounts 
        </cfquery>
    And a CFTable can be used to quickly output the table in HTML: 
                
          <cftable  
          query = "Blackbaud FE NXTQuery" 
          border = "1" 
          colHeaders 
          colSpacing = "2" 
          headerLines = "2" 
          HTMLTable 
          maxRows = "500" 
          startRow = "1"> 

          <cfcol header="<b>AccountId</b>" align="Left" width=2 text="AccountId"/> 

          <cfcol header="<b>AccountNumber</b>" align="Left" width=15 text="AccountNumber"/> 

          ...

        </cftable>
    Full code, including the HTML portion is available below: 
                
        <html> 
        <head><title>CData Software | Blackbaud FE NXT Accounts Table Demo </title></head> 
        <body> 
        <cfoutput>#ucase("Blackbaud FE NXT Accounts Table Demo")#</cfoutput> 
        <cfquery name="Blackbaud FE NXTQuery" dataSource="CDataBlackbaud FE NXTODBC"> 

          SELECT * FROM Accounts 

        </cfquery> 
        <cftable  
          query = "Blackbaud FE NXTQuery" 
          border = "1" 
          colHeaders 
          colSpacing = "2" 
          headerLines = "2" 
          HTMLTable 
          maxRows = "500" 
          startRow = "1"> 
          <cfcol header="<b>AccountId</b>" align="Left" width=2 text="AccountId"/> 

          <cfcol header="<b>AccountNumber</b>" align="Left" width=15 text="AccountNumber"/> 

          ...

        </cftable> 
        </body> 

        </html>
  6. Finally, run the code in a browser. It produces a table populated with Blackbaud FE NXT data!

As a note, the CData ODBC 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 ODBC Driver for Blackbaud FE NXT and start building Blackbaud FE NXT-connected applications with Adobe ColdFusion. Reach out to our Support Team if you have any questions.

Ready to get started?

Download a free trial of the Blackbaud FE NXT ODBC Driver to get started:

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Learn more:

Blackbaud Financial Edge NXT Icon Blackbaud FE NXT ODBC Driver

The Blackbaud FE NXT ODBC Driver is a powerful tool that allows you to connect with live Blackbaud Financial Edge NXT account data, directly from any applications that support ODBC connectivity.

Access Blackbaud FE NXT data like you would a database and access data from Accounts, Budgets, Projects, etc. through a standard ODBC Driver interface.

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