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How to view Cosmos DB data in RAD Studio Data Explorer using the CData ODBC Driver for Cosmos DB.
Embarcadero RAD Studio provides a development environment for Delphi and C++Builder applications. With the CData ODBC Driver for Cosmos DB, you gain access to live Cosmos DB data within RAD Studio, abstracting the data into tables, views, and stored procedures that can be used to both retrieve and update Cosmos DB data. This article will walk through connecting to Cosmos DB using the Data Explorer.
Configure a Connection to Cosmos DB
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.
To obtain the connection string needed to connect to a Cosmos DB account using the SQL API, log in to the Azure Portal, select Azure Cosmos DB, and select your account. In the Settings section, click Connection String and set the following values:
- AccountEndpoint: The Cosmos DB account URL from the Keys blade of the Cosmos DB account
- AccountKey: In the Azure portal, navigate to the Cosmos DB service and select your Azure Cosmos DB account. From the resource menu, go to the Keys page. Find the PRIMARY KEY value and set AccountKey to this value.
Connecting to Cosmos DB Data Using Data Explorer
You can create a simple application for displaying Cosmos DB data by utilizing the CData FireDAC Components for Cosmos DB and a new VCL Forms Application:
- Open the Data Explorer in RAD Studio and expand FireDAC.
- Right-click the ODBC Data Source node in the Data Explorer.
- Click Add New Connection.
- Enter a name for the connection.
- In the FireDAC Connection Editor that appears, set the DataSource property to the name of the ODBC DSN for Cosmos DB.
- Back in the Data Explorer, expand the tables for the connection.
Create a new VCL Forms application and drag a table (for example: Customers) onto the form.
- Select the CustomersTable object on the form and set the Active property to true.
Right-click on the object, bind visually, and link everything (*) to a new control (TStringGrid).
Arrange the TStringGrid on the form and run the application to see the Customers data.
Related Articles
Below you can find other articles for using the CData ODBC Driver with RAD Studio, Delphi, and C++ Builder.