Automate Front Integration Tasks from PowerShell

The CData API Driver for ADO.NET is a standard ADO.NET Provider that make it easy to accomplish data cleansing, normalization, backup, and other integration tasks by enabling real-time access to Front.

ADO.NET Provider

The ADO.NET Provider provides a SQL interface for Front; this tutorial shows how to use the Provider to retrieve Front data.

Once you have acquired the necessary connection properties, accessing Front data in PowerShell can be enabled in three steps.

Start by setting the Profile connection property to the location of the Front Profile on disk (e.g. C:\profiles\Front.apip). Next, set the ProfileSettings connection property to the connection string for Front (see below).

Front API Profile Settings

Generate an API key in Front by navigating to Settings > Plugins & API > API.

1. Load the provider's assembly:

   [Reflection.Assembly]::LoadFile("C:\Program Files\CData\CData API Driver for ADO.NET\lib\System.Data.CData.API.dll")
       

2. Connect to Front:

    
   $conn= New-Object System.Data.CData.API.APIConnection("Profile=C:\profiles\Front.apip;ProfileSettings='APIKey=your_api_key';")
   $conn.Open()
   

3. Instantiate the APIDataAdapter, execute an SQL query, and output the results:

   $sql="SELECT Id, Name from Channels"
   
   $da= New-Object System.Data.CData.API.APIDataAdapter($sql, $conn)
   $dt= New-Object System.Data.DataTable
   $da.Fill($dt)
   
   $dt.Rows | foreach {
   	Write-Host $_.id $_.name
   }