Automate Helpscout 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 Helpscout.

ADO.NET Provider

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

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

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

Helpscout API Profile Settings

Generate an API key in Help Scout by going to Your Profile > Authentication > Generate an API Key.

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 Helpscout:

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

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

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