Import Real-Time Google Tasks Data via ODBC in ColdFusion to Build Applications

Dibyendu Datta
Dibyendu Datta
Lead Technology Evangelist
Use CData ODBC drivers to import and use Google Tasks data in ColdFusion.

Adobe ColdFusion is a web and mobile application development platform. It uses its own scripting language, ColdFusion Markup Language (CFML), to create data-driven websites as well as generate remote services, such as REST. When ColdFusion is paired with the CData API Driver for ODBC, you can link your ColdFusion web and mobile applications to operational Google Tasks data. This allows for your applications to be more robust and complete. This article details how to use the ODBC driver to create a table populated with Google Tasks data from within a ColdFusion markup file.

To follow along with this tutorial, you need to install the CData API Driver for ODBC and Adobe ColdFusion.

Configuring the Connection

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

Google Tasks API Profile Settings

In the Google Cloud Console, enable the Google Tasks API and create OAuth 2.0 credentials to obtain your Client ID and Client Secret.

Adding a Data Source and Creating a Table

After creating a DSN, follow the steps below to add a new data source, test our connection to it, create a ColdFusion markup file, and, finally, import Google Tasks Data and display it in a table in ColdFusion:

  1. From the ColdFusion administrator interface, choose Data & Services.
  2. Here, click "Add New Data Source". The data source name can be any name, provided it conforms to the ColdFusion variable naming conventions. For our ODBC driver, choose "ODBC Socket", then click the "Add" button.
  3. From the ODBC DSN Dropdown menu select CData Google Tasks Sys. Under the Advanced Settings section, leave the Connection String blank. Note that any properties specified in this input field will override the ones specified in the DSN Configuration.
  4. Now, test the connection by pressing the check mark to the left of the CDataGoogle TasksODBC data source you just created. When the data source reports an "OK" status, it is ready for use.
  5. Next, create a new ColdFusion Markup file (.cfm) and place it in the wwwroot directory ("C:\ColdFusion2021\cfusion\wwwroot") for ColdFusion.

    The following code queries the data source: 

                
        <cfquery name="Google TasksQuery" dataSource="CDataGoogle TasksODBC"> 
          SELECT * FROM TaskLists 
        </cfquery>
    And a CFTable can be used to quickly output the table in HTML: 
                
          <cftable  
          query = "Google TasksQuery" 
          border = "1" 
          colHeaders 
          colSpacing = "2" 
          headerLines = "2" 
          HTMLTable 
          maxRows = "500" 
          startRow = "1"> 

          <cfcol header="<b>Id</b>" align="Left" width=2 text="Id"/> 

          <cfcol header="<b>Kind</b>" align="Left" width=15 text="Kind"/> 

          ...

        </cftable>
    Full code, including the HTML portion is available below: 
                
        <html> 
        <head><title>CData Software | Google Tasks TaskLists Table Demo </title></head> 
        <body> 
        <cfoutput>#ucase("Google Tasks TaskLists Table Demo")#</cfoutput> 
        <cfquery name="Google TasksQuery" dataSource="CDataGoogle TasksODBC"> 

          SELECT * FROM TaskLists 

        </cfquery> 
        <cftable  
          query = "Google TasksQuery" 
          border = "1" 
          colHeaders 
          colSpacing = "2" 
          headerLines = "2" 
          HTMLTable 
          maxRows = "500" 
          startRow = "1"> 
          <cfcol header="<b>Id</b>" align="Left" width=2 text="Id"/> 

          <cfcol header="<b>Kind</b>" align="Left" width=15 text="Kind"/> 

          ...

        </cftable> 
        </body> 

        </html>
  6. Finally, run the code in a browser. It produces a table populated with Google Tasks data!

As a note, the CData ODBC Drivers also support parameterized queries using the cfqueryparam element. For example: 

SELECT * FROM Account WHERE name =

Get Started Today

Download a free, 30-day trial of the CData ODBC Driver for Google Tasks and start building Google Tasks-connected applications with Adobe ColdFusion. Reach out to our Support Team if you have any questions.

Ready to get started?

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