Viewing Halo Service Desk Data in RAD Studio Data Explorer

Embarcadero RAD Studio provides a development environment for Delphi and C++Builder applications. With the CData ODBC Driver for Halo Service Desk, you gain access to live Halo Service Desk data within RAD Studio, abstracting the data into tables, views, and stored procedures that can be used to both retrieve Halo Service Desk data. This article will walk through connecting to Halo Service Desk using the Data Explorer.

Configure a Connection to Halo Service Desk

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

HaloServiceDesk API Profile Settings

HaloServiceDesk uses API key authentication. You can find or create API keys in HaloServiceDesk under Administration > Integrations > Halo API.

Set the following connection properties to connect:

• AuthScheme: Set this to APIKey.
• APIKey: Set this to the API key from your HaloServiceDesk account.
• Domain: Set this to the hostname of your HaloServiceDesk instance (e.g. yourcompany.haloservicedesk.com).

Connecting to Halo Service Desk Data Using Data Explorer

You can create a simple application for displaying Halo Service Desk data by utilizing the CData FireDAC Components for Halo Service Desk and a new VCL Forms Application:

1. Open the Data Explorer in RAD Studio and expand FireDAC.
2. Right-click the ODBC Data Source node in the Data Explorer.
3. Click Add New Connection.
4. Enter a name for the connection.
5. In the FireDAC Connection Editor that appears, set the DataSource property to the name of the ODBC DSN for Halo Service Desk.
6. Back in the Data Explorer, expand the views for the connection.

7. Create a new VCL Forms application and drag a view (for example: Assets) onto the form.

   
8. Select the AssetsView object on the form and set the Active property to true.

9. Right-click on the object, bind visually, and link everything (*) to a new control (TStringGrid).

   

10. Arrange the TStringGrid on the form and run the application to see the Assets data.

    

Related Articles

Below you can find other articles for using the CData ODBC Driver with RAD Studio, Delphi, and C++ Builder.

• DataBind Controls to Halo Service Desk Data in C++Builder
• DataBind Controls to Halo Service Desk Data in Delphi
• Build a Simple VCL Application for Halo Service Desk Data