Viewing Canny Data in RAD Studio Data Explorer

Embarcadero RAD Studio provides a development environment for Delphi and C++Builder applications. With the CData ODBC Driver for Canny, you gain access to live Canny data within RAD Studio, abstracting the data into tables, views, and stored procedures that can be used to both retrieve Canny data. This article will walk through connecting to Canny using the Data Explorer.

Configure a Connection to Canny

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

Start by setting the Profile connection property to the location of the Canny Profile on disk (e.g. C:\profiles\Canny.apip). Next, set the ProfileSettings connection property to the connection string for Canny (see below).

Canny API Profile Settings

Canny uses a secret API key to control access to the API. The API key is sent as a JSON body parameter named 'apiKey' in every HTTP POST request to the Canny API endpoints.

To authenticate with the Canny API, you need your company-level secret API key. You can find this key in your Canny account under Settings > API.

After setting the following connection properties, you are ready to connect:

• AuthScheme: Set this to APIKey.
• APIKey: Set this to your Canny company-level secret API key from the Settings > API page in your Canny dashboard.

Connecting to Canny Data Using Data Explorer

You can create a simple application for displaying Canny data by utilizing the CData FireDAC Components for Canny and a new VCL Forms Application:

1. Open the Data Explorer in RAD Studio and expand FireDAC.
2. Right-click the ODBC Data Source node in the Data Explorer.
3. Click Add New Connection.
4. Enter a name for the connection.
5. In the FireDAC Connection Editor that appears, set the DataSource property to the name of the ODBC DSN for Canny.
6. Back in the Data Explorer, expand the views for the connection.

7. Create a new VCL Forms application and drag a view (for example: Boards) onto the form.

   
8. Select the BoardsView object on the form and set the Active property to true.

9. Right-click on the object, bind visually, and link everything (*) to a new control (TStringGrid).

   

10. Arrange the TStringGrid on the form and run the application to see the Boards data.

    

Related Articles

Below you can find other articles for using the CData ODBC Driver with RAD Studio, Delphi, and C++ Builder.

• DataBind Controls to Canny Data in C++Builder
• DataBind Controls to Canny Data in Delphi
• Build a Simple VCL Application for Canny Data