Integrate with Live Cvent Data in MuleSoft (via CData Connect AI)

The MuleSoft Anypoint Platform enables the building, deployment, and management of APIs and integrations, facilitating seamless connectivity across applications and systems. When combined with CData Connect AI, it provides access to Cvent data for visualizations, dashboards, and more. This article explains how to use CData Connect AI to create a live connection to Cvent and how to connect and access live Cvent data from the MuleSoft Anypoint Platform.

Prerequisites

Before configuring and using MuleSoft with CData Connect AI, you must first connect a data source to your CData Connect AI account. For more information, see the Connections section.

Additionally, you need to generate a Personal Access Token (PAT) on the Settings page. Be sure to copy it down, as it serves as your password during authentication.

Configure Cvent Connectivity for MuleSoft

Connectivity to Cvent from MuleSoft is made possible through CData Connect AI. To work with Cvent data from MuleSoft, we start by creating and configuring a Cvent connection.

1. Log into Connect AI, click Sources, and then click Add Connection

2. Select "Cvent" from the Add Connection panel

3. Enter the necessary authentication properties to connect to Cvent.

   Before you can authenticate to Cvent, you must create a workspace and an OAuth application.

   Creating a Workspace

   To create a workspace:

   1. Sign into Cvent and navigate to App Switcher (the blue button in the upper right corner of the page) >> Admin.
   2. In the Admin menu, navigate to Integrations >> REST API.
   3. A new tab launches for Developer Management. Click on Manage API Access in the new tab.
   4. Create a Workspace and name it. Select the scopes you would like your developers to have access to. Scopes control what data domains the developer can access.
      • Choose All to allow developers to choose any scope, and any future scopes added to the REST API.
      • Choose Custom to limit the scopes developers can choose for their OAuth apps to selected scopes. To access all tables exposed by the driver, you need to set the following scopes:

        event/attendees:read	event/attendees:write	event/contacts:read
        event/contacts:write	event/custom-fields:read	event/custom-fields:write
        event/events:read	event/events:write	event/sessions:delete
        event/sessions:read	event/sessions:write	event/speakers:delete
        event/speakers:read	event/speakers:write	budget/budget-items:read
        budget/budget-items:write	exhibitor/exhibitors:read	exhibitor/exhibitors:write
        survey/surveys:read	survey/surveys:write

   Creating an OAuth Application

   After you have set up a Workspace and invited them, developers can sign up and create a custom OAuth app. See the Creating a Custom OAuth Application section in the Help documentation for more information.

   Connecting to Cvent

   After creating an OAuth application, set the following connection properties to connect to Cvent:

   • InitiateOAuth: GETANDREFRESH. Used to automatically get and refresh the OAuthAccessToken.
   • OAuthClientId: The Client ID associated with the OAuth application. You can find this on the Applications page in the Cvent Developer Portal.
   • OAuthClientSecret: The Client secret associated with the OAuth application. You can find this on the Applications page in the Cvent Developer Portal.
   
4. Click Save & Test
5. Navigate to the Permissions tab in the Add Cvent Connection page and update the User-based permissions.

Add a Personal Access Token

When connecting to Connect AI through the REST API, the OData API, or the Virtual SQL Server, a Personal Access Token (PAT) is used to authenticate the connection to Connect AI. It is best practice to create a separate PAT for each service to maintain granularity of access.

1. Click on the Gear icon () at the top right of the Connect AI app to open the settings page.
2. On the Settings page, go to the Access Tokens section and click Create PAT.
3. Give the PAT a name and click Create.
4. The personal access token is only visible at creation, so be sure to copy it and store it securely for future use.

With the connection configured and a PAT generated, you are ready to connect to Cvent data from Mulesoft.

Connecting to CData Connect AI

Follow these steps to establish a connection from Mulesoft to CData Connect AI through the JDBC driver:

1. Download and install the CData Connect AI JDBC driver.
   • Open the Integrations page of CData Connect AI.
   • Search for and select JDBC.
   • Download and run the setup file.
   • When the installation is complete, the JAR file can be found in the installation directory (inside the lib folder).
2. Log into Mulesoft Anypoint Studio or launch the desktop application.
3. Create a new Mulesoft project. The new project appears in a project folder.
4. In the Mule Palette located on the right, drag an HTTP Listener to the Message Flow area.
5. Click on the HTTP Listener to configure it.
6. Click the + sign on the right of Connector configuration. The HTTP Listener config dialog appears.
7. Configure the HTTP Listener, providing a Port on which to query your data, and click OK.
8. Provide a path on which to perform the actions. The HTTP Listener is now configured.
9. In the Mule Palette on the right, type database in the search bar.
10. Drag the database operation you want to perform to the Message Flow area. For this example, we choose Select.
11. Select Generic Connection from the Connection dropdown in the Database Config dialog.
12. Click the Configure button to configure the JDBC driver. Select Use local file from the drop-down list.
13. Locate the CData Connect AI JAR file from the JDBC driver installation and click OK.
14. Provide the following information:
    • URL: the URL for the connection, for example:

       jdbc:connect:Authscheme=Basic;user=username;password=PAT

      Note: the password is the PAT created in the Prerequisites section.
    • Driver class name: Enter the Driver class name as:

       cdata.jdbc.connect.ConnectDriver

      
15. Click Test Connection.
16. If the connection is successful, provide the SQL Query Text in the editor. You can see the table metadata on the right side in the Output tab.
17. In the Mule Palette, drag Transform Message to the Message Flow area.
18. Click Transform Message to configure it. Change the Output as follows:
19. Save your project and run it. In the console, Mulesoft starts initializing the dependencies.
20. Once you see the message, "Message source 'listener' on flow your_project_name successfully started", you can start querying your data at the endpoint you provided.
21. Query to check out the data using the Postman application (as shown below).

SQL Access to Cvent Data from Cloud Applications

Now you have a direct connection to live Cvent data from MuleSoft Anypoint Platform. You can create more connections to ensure seamless data flow, automate business processes, and manage APIs - all without replicating Cvent data.

To get real-time data access to hundreds of SaaS, Big Data, and NoSQL sources (including Cvent) directly from your cloud applications, explore the CData Connect AI.