Deploy the ADO.NET Provider for Confluence on an SSRS Report Server



Connect to Confluence data from multiple reports and pick up updates immediately: Create a shared data source on a native mode report server or a report server on a SharePoint farm.

In this article, we will guide you through the deployment process of the CData ADO.NET Provider for Confluence on an SQL Server Reporting Services (SSRS) report server. Additionally, you will learn how to establish a shared data source, which facilitates connectivity to real-time Confluence data from various reports. You can then access these shared data sources from the Report Designer within Visual Studio. For detailed instructions on creating datasets in Report Designer using ADO.NET, please refer to the "Using ADO.NET" section in the help documentation.

Deploy the ADO.NET Provider

The provider installation automatically deploys the provider on report servers in native mode. On report servers in SharePoint mode, you can use the install-sprs.ps1 PowerShell script to deploy. Simply run the script from the lib subfolder in the installation directory, or pass in the "path" parameter.

Create a Shared Data Source for Confluence

You can create shared data sources directly from a report server or SharePoint site. Alternatively, you can use Report Designer to create shared data sources.

Report Designer

You can use Report Designer to create shared data sources on native mode report servers and report servers on a SharePoint server farm.

  1. In a Report Server Project in Visual Studio, right-click Shared Data Sources in Solution Explorer and click Add New Data Source.
  2. Enter a name for the data source and in the Type menu select CData Confluence Report.
  3. In the Connection String box, enter the connection string to connect to Confluence. A typical connection string is below: User=admin;APIToken=myApiToken;Url=https://yoursitename.atlassian.net;Timezone=America/New_York;

    Obtaining an API Token

    An API token is necessary for account authentication. To generate one, login to your Atlassian account and navigate to API tokens > Create API token. The generated token will be displayed.

    Connect Using a Confluence Cloud Account

    To connect to a Cloud account, provide the following (Note: Password has been deprecated for connecting to a Cloud Account and is now used only to connect to a Server Instance.):

    • User: The user which will be used to authenticate with the Confluence server.
    • APIToken: The API Token associated with the currently authenticated user.
    • Url: The URL associated with your JIRA endpoint. For example, https://yoursitename.atlassian.net.

    Connect Using a Confluence Server Instance

    To connect to a Server instance, provide the following:

    • User: The user which will be used to authenticate with the Confluence instance.
    • Password: The password which will be used to authenticate with the Confluence server.
    • Url: The URL associated with your JIRA endpoint. For example, https://yoursitename.atlassian.net.

    When you configure the connection, you may also want to set the Max Rows connection property. This will limit the number of rows returned, which is especially helpful for improving performance when designing reports and visualizations.

  4. Set the folder and server URL in your project properties. If you are publishing to SharePoint, the values for all properties must be fully qualified URLs. For example:
    • Report Server: http://MyServerName/ReportServer
    • SharePoint: http://MyServerName/MySite/MySubsite
  5. Right-click the shared data source and click Deploy.

Report Manager

On native mode installations of report server, you can use Report Manager to create shared data sources. You must have permissions to manage data sources on the report server.

  1. From the Home page in Report Manager, click New Data Source. The New Data Source page is displayed.
  2. Enter a name for the data source and in the Data Source Type menu, select CData Confluence Report.
  3. In the Connection String box, enter the connection string to connect to Confluence. A typical connection string is below: User=admin;APIToken=myApiToken;Url=https://yoursitename.atlassian.net;Timezone=America/New_York;

    Obtaining an API Token

    An API token is necessary for account authentication. To generate one, login to your Atlassian account and navigate to API tokens > Create API token. The generated token will be displayed.

    Connect Using a Confluence Cloud Account

    To connect to a Cloud account, provide the following (Note: Password has been deprecated for connecting to a Cloud Account and is now used only to connect to a Server Instance.):

    • User: The user which will be used to authenticate with the Confluence server.
    • APIToken: The API Token associated with the currently authenticated user.
    • Url: The URL associated with your JIRA endpoint. For example, https://yoursitename.atlassian.net.

    Connect Using a Confluence Server Instance

    To connect to a Server instance, provide the following:

    • User: The user which will be used to authenticate with the Confluence instance.
    • Password: The password which will be used to authenticate with the Confluence server.
    • Url: The URL associated with your JIRA endpoint. For example, https://yoursitename.atlassian.net.

SharePoint

Follow the steps below to create a shared data source on a SharePoint site. Note that this step has the following prerequisites in SharePoint 2013:

  • The Reporting Services add-in for SharePoint
  • The Report Server Integration site collection feature

Follow the steps below to add the report server content types to your library:

  1. Log into SharePoint and open the library where you want to save the .rsds file.
  2. Click Library on the ribbon and then click Library Settings.
  3. In the General Settings section, click Advanced Settings.
  4. In the Content Types section, select Yes to allow the management of content types. The Content Types section is added to the Library Settings page.
  5. On the Library Settings page, click Add from existing site content types.
  6. In the Available Site Content Types list, select Report Data Source and click Add.

You can then create the shared data source. You will create an .rsds file that contains the connection information to Confluence.

  1. Log into SharePoint and open the library where you want to save the .rsds file.
  2. On the ribbon click Documents -> New Document -> Report Data Source.
  3. Enter a name for the data source.
  4. In the Data Source Type menu, select CData Confluence Report.
  5. In the Connection String box, enter the connection string to connect to Confluence. A typical connection string is below: User=admin;APIToken=myApiToken;Url=https://yoursitename.atlassian.net;Timezone=America/New_York;

    Obtaining an API Token

    An API token is necessary for account authentication. To generate one, login to your Atlassian account and navigate to API tokens > Create API token. The generated token will be displayed.

    Connect Using a Confluence Cloud Account

    To connect to a Cloud account, provide the following (Note: Password has been deprecated for connecting to a Cloud Account and is now used only to connect to a Server Instance.):

    • User: The user which will be used to authenticate with the Confluence server.
    • APIToken: The API Token associated with the currently authenticated user.
    • Url: The URL associated with your JIRA endpoint. For example, https://yoursitename.atlassian.net.

    Connect Using a Confluence Server Instance

    To connect to a Server instance, provide the following:

    • User: The user which will be used to authenticate with the Confluence instance.
    • Password: The password which will be used to authenticate with the Confluence server.
    • Url: The URL associated with your JIRA endpoint. For example, https://yoursitename.atlassian.net.

Ready to get started?

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