Connect to Figshare Data from PowerBuilder via ODBC

Jerod Johnson
Jerod Johnson
Director, Technology Evangelism
This article demonstrates how to use the CData ODBC Driver for Figshare to connect to Figshare data and execute queries in PowerBuilder.

The CData ODBC Driver for Figshare can be used from any platform or development technology that supports ODBC, including PowerBuilder. This article shows how to connect to Figshare data and execute queries from the Database Painter and controls such as the DataWindow.

Connect to Figshare as an ODBC Data Source

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 Figshare Profile on disk (e.g. C:\profiles\Figshare.apip). Next, set the ProfileSettings connection property to the connection string for Figshare (see below).

Figshare API Profile Settings

Personal API tokens can be created and managed from the Applications page in your Figshare account settings.

Create a Profile for the ODBC Driver for Figshare

Follow the steps below to use the Database Painter tool to create a database profile based on an ODBC DSN (data source name) for Figshare. In the Database Painter, you can use wizards and the UI to work with Figshare data.

  1. In PowerBuilder, click Tools -> Database Painter.
  2. In the Objects window in the Database Painter, right-click the ODBC node and click New Profile.
  3. On the Connection tab, enter a name for the profile and select the Figshare DSN in the Data Source menu.
  4. To view and modify a table, right-click a table and then click Edit Data -> Grid.

Using Figshare Data with PowerBuilder Controls

You can use standard PowerBuilder objects to connect to ODBC data sources and execute queries. The following example shows how to retrieve Figshare data into a DataWindow. You can add the following code to the open method:

SQLCA.DBMS = "ODBC"
SQLCA.DBParm = "ConnectString='DSN=CData API Source'"
CONNECT USING SQLCA;
dw_institutionaccountgrouproles.SetTransObject(SQLCA);
dw_institutionaccountgrouproles.Retrieve();

Ready to get started?

Connect to live data from Figshare with the API Driver

Connect to Figshare