Query Harvest Data in ColdFusion

The CData JDBC Driver for Harvest seamlessly integrates connectivity to Harvest data with the rapid development tools in ColdFusion. This article shows how to connect to Harvest data in ColdFusion and query Harvest tables.

Create a JDBC Data Source for Harvest in ColdFusion

The JDBC data source enables you to execute SQL from standard ColdFusion tags like cfquery and CFScript like executeQuery.

1. Copy the driver JAR and .lic file from the installation directory onto the ColdFusion classpath. For example, copy the files into C:\MyColdFusionDirectory\cfusion\wwwroot\WEB-INF\lib. Or, open the Java and JVM page in the ColdFusion Administrator and enter the path to the files in the ColdFusion Class Path box.

   The JAR and license for the driver are located in the lib subfolder of the installation directory.

   Restart the server after this step.

2. Add the driver as a data source:

   From the ColdFusion administrator interface, expand the Data & Services node and click Data Sources. In the Add New Data Source section, enter a name for the data source and select Other in the Driver menu.

3. Populate the driver properties:

   • JDBC URL: Enter connection properties in the JDBC URL. The JDBC URL begins with jdbc:api: and is followed by the connection properties in a semicolon-separated list of name=value pairs.

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

     Harvest API Profile Settings

     To authenticate to Harvest, you can use either Token authentication or the OAuth standard. Use Basic authentication to connect to your own data. Use OAuth to allow other users to connect to their data.

     Using Token Authentication

     To use Token Authentication, set the APIKey to your Harvest Personal Access Token in the ProfileSettings connection property. In addition to APIKey, set your AccountId in ProfileSettings to connect.

     Using OAuth Authentication

     First, register an OAuth2 application with Harvest. The application can be created from the "Developers" section of Harvest ID.

     After setting the following connection properties, you are ready to connect:

     • ProfileSettings: Set your AccountId in ProfileSettings.
     • AuthScheme: Set this to OAuth.
     • OAuthClientId: Set this to the client ID that you specified in your app settings.
     • OAuthClientSecret: Set this to the client secret that you specified in your app settings.
     • CallbackURL: Set this to the Redirect URI that you specified in your app settings.
     • InitiateOAuth: Set this to GETANDREFRESH. You can use InitiateOAuth to manage how the driver obtains and refreshes the OAuthAccessToken.

     Built-in Connection String Designer

     For assistance in constructing the JDBC URL, use the connection string designer built into the Harvest JDBC Driver. Either double-click the JAR file or execute the jar file from the command-line.

     java -jar cdata.jdbc.api.jar

     Fill in the connection properties and copy the connection string to the clipboard.

     A typical JDBC URL is below:

     jdbc:api:Profile=C:\profiles\Harvest.apip;ProfileSettings='APIKey=my_personal_key;AccountId=_your_account_id';
   • Driver Class: Enter the driver class. The driver class is cdata.jdbc.api.APIDriver.
   • Driver Name: Enter a user-defined name for the driver.
   • Username: Enter the username used to authenticate.
   • Password: Enter the password used to authenticate.

You can now test the connection by enabling the CData Harvest data source in the Actions column. After reporting a status of OK, the Harvest data source is ready for use.

Execute Queries

The cfquery tag can pass SQL statements to Harvest. Use the cfqueryparam tag to create parameterized queries and prevent SQL injection through the query string.

Note: To use the cfquery and cfscript, create a .cfm file. Inside the .cfm file, write the code to execute the query (see below). Place the file directly in the root directory of your web server (e.g., wwwroot in Adobe ColdFusion). Restart the service after placing the file for the changes to take effect.

Below is the equivalent in CFScript:

<cfscript>
result = queryExecute(
  "SELECT * FROM Invoices WHERE State = ?", 
  [
    { value="open", cfsqltype="cf_sql_varchar" }
  ],
  { datasource="CDataAPI" }
);

writeDump( var= result );
</cfscript> 

You can then make requests to your .cfm like the following: