Query, Visualize, and Share live FreshBooks Data in Redash

Redash is a collaboration tool that lets you query, visualize, and share your data. When paired with CData Connect AI, Redash gets access to live FreshBooks data. This article demonstrates how to connect to FreshBooks using Connect AI and work with live FreshBooks data in Redash.

CData Connect AI provides a pure SQL Server interface for FreshBooks, allowing you to query data from FreshBooks without replicating the data to a natively supported database. Using optimized data processing out of the box, CData Connect AI pushes all supported SQL operations (filters, JOINs, etc.) directly to FreshBooks, leveraging server-side processing to return the requested FreshBooks data quickly.

Configure FreshBooks Connectivity for Redash

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

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

2. Select "FreshBooks" from the Add Connection panel

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

   To connect to FreshBooks, register an OAuth application at my.freshbooks.com/#/developer. Set the Redirect URI to https://oauth.cdata.com/oauth/. Copy the Client Id and Client Secret from the App Settings section (admin access required). Then set the following:

   • OAuth Client Id: Set this to the Client Id from your FreshBooks application.
   • OAuth Client Secret: Set this to the Client Secret from your FreshBooks application.

   Click Sign In to complete OAuth authentication.

   
4. Click Save & Test
5. Navigate to the Permissions tab in the Add FreshBooks 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 FreshBooks data from Redash.

Connect to FreshBooks from Redash using Connect AI

To establish a connection from Redash to CData Connect AI using the Virtual SQL Server, follow these steps:

1. Log into Redash.
2. Click the settings widget on the top right.
3. Click New Data Source.
4. Select Microsoft SQL Server as the Data Source Type.
5. On the configuration tab, set the following properties:
   • Database Name: enter the Connection Name of the CData Connect AI data source you want to connect to (for example, Salesforce1).
   • Server: enter the virtual SQL Server host name (tds.cdata.com)
   • User: enter your CData Connect AI username. This is displayed in the top-right corner of the CData Connect AI interface. For example, [email protected].
   • Password: enter the PAT you generated on the Settings page.
   • Port: enter 14333
   
6. Click Create.
7. Click Test Connection to ensure that the connection is configured properly.

You can now work with live FreshBooks data in Redash.

Get CData Connect AI

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