Build MVC Applications with Connectivity to Oracle Eloqua Reporting Data

In this article, we will guide you through the process of utilizing wizards within Visual Studio to seamlessly integrate the CData ADO.NET Provider for Oracle Eloqua Reporting into a basic MVC (Model, View, Controller) project.

Create the Entity Framework Model

Follow the steps below to save connection properties and map tables to entities in the data model.

1. Create a new MVC project in Visual Studio. In this example, the project name is MvcOracleEloquaReportingApp.

2. If you are using Entity Framework 6, you will need to take the preliminary step of registering the Oracle Eloqua Reporting Entity Framework provider for your project. See the "LINQ and Entity Framework" chapter in the help documentation for a guide.

   Note that MVC 3 scaffolding and MVC 4 scaffolding do not support Entity Framework 6. You can use your scaffolding with Entity Framework 6 by upgrading to the latest version of MVC.
3. To add the .edmx file from the designer, right-click your Models folder and click Add New Item. Select ADO.NET Entity Data Model, name the model, and click Add. In this example, the name of the model is OracleEloquaReportingModel.
4. In the Entity Data Model wizard, select the option 'EF Designer from database'. The Entity Data Model wizard is displayed.
5. Click New Connection. Select CData Oracle Eloqua Reporting Data Source in the dialog that is displayed.

6. Specify the required connection string properties.

   Oracle Eloqua Reporting supports the following authentication methods:

   • Basic authentication (User and Password)
   • OAuth 2.0 code grant flow
   • OAuth 2.0 password grant flow

   Basic Authentication (User and Password)

   To perform authentication with a user and password, specify these properties:

   • AuthScheme: Basic.
   • Company: The company name associated with your Oracle Eloqua Reporting account.
   • User: Your login account name.
   • Password: Your login password.

   OAuth Authentication (Code Grant Flow)

   To authenticate with the OAuth code grant flow, you must set AuthScheme to OAuth and create a custom OAuth application. For information about how to create a custom OAuth application, see the Help documentation.

   Then set the following properties:

   • InitiateOAuth: GETANDREFRESH. Used to automatically get and refresh the OAuthAccessToken.
   • OAuthClientId: The client Id assigned when you registered your application.
   • OAuthClientSecret: The client secret that was assigned when you registered your application.
   • CallbackURL: The redirect URI that was defined when you registered your application.

   When you connect, the driver opens Oracle Eloqua Reporting's OAuth endpoint in your default browser. Log in and grant permissions to the application. When the access token expires, the driver refreshes it automatically.

   OAuth Authentication (Password Grant Flow)

   With the OAuth password grant flow, you can use your OAuth application's credentials alongside your user credentials to authenticate without the need to grant permission manually via a browser prompt. You must create an OAuth app (see the Help documentation) to use this authentication method.

   Set the following properties:

   • AuthScheme: OAuthPassword
   • Company: The company's unique identifier.
   • User: Your login account name.
   • Password: Your login password.
   • OAuthClientId: The client Id assigned when you registered your custom OAuth application.
   • OAuthClientSecret: The client secret assigned when you registered your custom OAuth application.

   A typical connection string is below:

   AuthScheme=Basic;User=user;Password=password;Company=MyCompany;

   

7. Name the connection and select whether to include sensitive information, such as connection credentials, in the connection string. For simplicity, this example saves sensitive information in Web.config. The connection settings are saved as OracleEloquaReportingEntities.

   
8. Select the views you need. In this example, is imported. Also, the option to pluralize object names is deselected in this example. Click Finish to create the .edmx file.
9. Build your project to complete this step.

Scaffold the Controller and Views

Once you've established the model and completed the project build, you can employ ASP.NET Scaffolding wizards to generate both the controller and the views.

1. In Solution Explorer, right-click the controllers folder and click Add -> Controller. Select MVC 5 Controller with views, using Entity Framework.
2. In the Add Controller dialog that is then displayed, select the following options:
   • Model class: Select a table you imported; for example, .
   • Data context class: Select your context class.
3. Leave the default values for the other fields.