Replicate Multiple Helpscout Accounts via the CData Sync CLI

CData Sync for Helpscout is a stand-alone application that provides solutions for a variety of replication scenarios such as replicating sandbox and production instances into your database. Both Sync for Windows and Sync for Java include a command-line interface (CLI) that makes it easy to manage multiple Helpscout connections. In this article we show how to use the CLI to replicate multiple Helpscout accounts.

Configure Helpscout Connections

You can save connection and email notification settings in an XML configuration file. To replicate multiple Helpscout accounts, use multiple configuration files. Below is an example configuration to replicate Helpscout to SQLite:

Windows

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8" ?>
<CDataSync>
  <DatabaseType>SQLite</DatabaseType>
  <DatabaseProvider>System.Data.SQLite</DatabaseProvider>
  <ConnectionString>Profile=C:\profiles\Helpscout.apip;ProfileSettings='APIKey=your_api_key';</ConnectionString>
  <ReplicateAll>False</ReplicateAll>
  <NotificationUserName></NotificationUserName>
  <DatabaseConnectionString>Data Source=C:\my.db</DatabaseConnectionString>
  <TaskSchedulerStartTime>09:51</TaskSchedulerStartTime>
  <TaskSchedulerInterval>Never</TaskSchedulerInterval>
</CDataSync>

Java

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8" ?>
<CDataSync>
<DatabaseType>SQLite</DatabaseType>
  <DatabaseProvider>org.sqlite.JDBC</DatabaseProvider>
  <ConnectionString>Profile=C:\profiles\Helpscout.apip;ProfileSettings='APIKey=your_api_key';</ConnectionString>
  <ReplicateAll>False</ReplicateAll>
  <NotificationUserName></NotificationUserName>
  <DatabaseConnectionString>Data Source=C:\my.db</DatabaseConnectionString>
</CDataSync>

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.

Configure Queries for Each Helpscout Instance

Sync enables you to control replication with standard SQL. The REPLICATE statement is a high-level command that caches and maintains a table in your database. You can define any SELECT query supported by the Helpscout API. The statement below caches and incrementally updates a table of Helpscout data:

REPLICATE Categories;

You can specify a file containing the replication queries you want to use to update a particular database. Separate replication statements with semicolons. The following options are useful if you are replicating multiple Helpscout accounts into the same database:

You can use a different table prefix in the REPLICATE SELECT statement:

REPLICATE PROD_Categories SELECT * FROM Categories 

Alternatively, you can use a different schema:

REPLICATE PROD.Categories SELECT * FROM Categories

Run Sync

After you have configured the connection strings and replication queries, you can run Sync with the following command-line options:

Windows

APISync.exe -g MyProductionAPIConfig.xml -f MyProductionAPISync.sql

Java

java -Xbootclasspath/p:c:\sqlitejdbc.jar -jar APISync.jar -g MyProductionAPIConfig.xml -f MyProductionAPISync.sql