Access Live Helpscout Data in TIBCO Data Virtualization

TIBCO Data Virtualization (TDV) is an enterprise data virtualization solution that orchestrates access to multiple and varied data sources. When paired with the CData API Driver for Tibco DV, you get federated access to live Helpscout data directly within TIBCO Data Virtualization. This article explains how to deploy an adapter and create a new data source based on Helpscout.

With built-in optimized data processing, the CData TIBCO DV Adapter offers unmatched performance for interacting with live Helpscout data. When you issue complex SQL queries to Helpscout, the adapter pushes supported SQL operations, like filters and aggregations, directly to Helpscout. Its built-in dynamic metadata querying allows you to work with and analyze Helpscout data using native data types.

Deploy the Helpscout TIBCO DV Adapter

1. In a console, navigate to the bin folder in the TDV Server installation directory. If there is a current version of the adapter installed, you will need to undeploy it.

   .\server_util.bat -server localhost -user admin -password ******** -undeploy -version 1 -name API
   

2. Extract the CData TIBCO DV Adapter to a local folder and deploy the JAR file (tdv.api.jar) to the server from the extract location.

   .\server_util.bat -server localhost -user admin -password ******** -deploy -package /PATH/TO/tdv.api.jar
   

You may need to restart the server to ensure the new JAR file is loaded properly, which can be accomplished by running the composite.bat script located at: C:\Program Files\TIBCO\TDV Server <version>\bin. Note that reauthenticating to the TDV Studio is required after restarting the server.

Sample Restart Call

.\composite.bat monitor restart

Once you deploy the adapter, you can create a new data source in TDV Studio for Helpscout.

Create a Helpscout Data Source in TDV Studio

With the CData API Driver for Tibco DV, you can easily create a data source for Helpscout and introspect the data source to add resources to TDV.

Create the Data Source

1. Right-click on the folder you wish to add the data source to and select New -> New Data Source
2. Scroll until you find the adapter (e.g. Helpscout) and click Next
3. Name the data source (e.g. CData Helpscout Source)
4. Fill in the required connection properties

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.


5. Click Create & Close.

Introspect the Data Source

Once the data source is created, you can introspect the data source by right-clicking and selecting Open. In the dashboard, click Add/Remove Resources and select the Tables, Views, and Stored Procedures to include as part of the data source. Click Next and Finish to add the selected Helpscout tables, views, and stored procedures as resources.

After creating and introspecting the data source, you are ready to work with Helpscout data in TIBCO Data Virtualization just like you would any other relational data source. You can create views, query using SQL, publish the data source, and more.