Connect to iContact Data from HeidiSQL

HeidiSQL is an open-source database administration tool that natively supports MariaDB, MySQL, SQL Server, and PostgreSQL. When paired with CData Connect AI, HediSQL reach extends to include access to live iContact data. This article demonstrates how to connect to iContact using Connect AI and query iContact data in HeidiSQL.

CData Connect AI provides a pure SQL Server interface for iContact, allowing you to query data from iContact without replicating the data to a natively supported database. Using optimized data processing out of the box, CData Connect AI pushes all supported SQL operations (filters, JOINs, etc.) directly to iContact, leveraging server-side processing to return the requested iContact data quickly.

Configure iContact Connectivity for HeidiSQL

Connectivity to iContact from HeidiSQL is made possible through CData Connect AI. To work with iContact data from HeidiSQL, we start by creating and configuring a iContact connection.

1. Log into Connect AI, click Sources, and then click Add Connection

2. Select "iContact" from the Add Connection panel

3. Enter the necessary authentication properties to connect to iContact.

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

   iContact API Profile Settings

   In your iContact account, navigate to Settings & Billing > Integrations and create a Custom API Integration. Your AppId, Username, Password, and AccountId are all available on the Getting Connected page of that integration.

   
4. Click Save & Test
5. Navigate to the Permissions tab in the Add iContact Connection page and update the User-based permissions.

Add a Personal Access Token

When connecting to Connect AI through the REST API, the OData API, or the Virtual SQL Server, a Personal Access Token (PAT) is used to authenticate the connection to Connect AI. It is best practice to create a separate PAT for each service to maintain granularity of access.

1. Click on the Gear icon () at the top right of the Connect AI app to open the settings page.
2. On the Settings page, go to the Access Tokens section and click Create PAT.
3. Give the PAT a name and click Create.
4. The personal access token is only visible at creation, so be sure to copy it and store it securely for future use.

With the connection configured and a PAT generated, you are ready to connect to iContact data from HeidiSQL.

Connect to iContact from HeidiSQL using Connect AI

To establish a connection from HeidiSQL to the CData Connect AI Virtual SQL Server API, follow these steps.

Create a new HeidiSQL Session

1. In the Session Manager, select New in the bottom-left
2. Give the new session a descriptive name, e.g. Connect-Cloud-iContact

Configure a SQL Server Connection to Connect AI

1. In the session settings, set the Network type to Microsoft SQL Server (TCP/IP)
2. The Library DLL should automatically update to MSOLEDBSQL
3. Set the Hostname/IP to tds.cdata.com
4. Set the User to your CData Connect AI username. This is displayed in the top-right corner of the CData Connect AI interface. For example, [email protected]
5. Set the Password to your PAT created in Connect AI in the previous section.
6. Set the Port to 14333

Query iContact from HeidiSQL

1. In the database listing on the left, find your connection to iContact configured earlier.
2. Expand this connection to view individual tables or data objects present within iContact.
3. Write custom SQL queries targeting these tables, treating the data source like any SQL Server database, or visually explore each tabular data set by selecting the relevant tables

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