Build a Simple VCL Application for Mailjet Data

Dibyendu Datta
Dibyendu Datta
Lead Technology Evangelist
How to build a simple VCL Application to view Mailjet data in RAD Studio using the CData ODBC Driver for Mailjet.

Embarcadero RAD Studio provides a development environment for Delphi and C++Builder applications. With the CData ODBC Driver for Mailjet, you gain access to live Mailjet data within RAD Studio, abstracting the data into tables, views, and stored procedures that can be used to retrieve Mailjet data. This article will walk through connecting to Mailjet and creating a simple VCL application with the Form Designer.

Create a Connection to Mailjet Data

If you have not already, first specify connection properties in an ODBC DSN (data source name). This is the last step of the driver installation. You can use the Microsoft ODBC Data Source Administrator to create and configure ODBC DSNs.

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

Mailjet API Profile Settings

In your Mailjet account, navigate to My Account > REST API > API Key Management to obtain your API Key and API Secret.

You can then follow the steps below to use the Data Explorer to create a FireDAC connection to Mailjet data.

  1. In a new VCL Forms application, expand the FireDAC node in the Data Explorer.
  2. Right-click the ODBC Data Source node in the Data Explorer.
  3. Click Add New Connection.
  4. Enter a name for the connection.
  5. In the FireDAC Connection Editor that appears, set the DataSource property to the name of the ODBC DSN for Mailjet.

Create VCL Applications with Connectivity to Mailjet Data

Follow the procedure below to start executing queries to Mailjet data from a simple VCL application that displays the results of a query in a grid.

  1. Drop a TFDConnection component onto the form and set the following properties:

    • ConnectionDefName: Select the FireDAC connection to Mailjet data.
    • Connected: Select True from the menu and, in the dialog that appears, enter your credentials.
  2. Drop a TFDQuery component onto the form and set the properties below:

    • Connection: Set this property to the TFDConnection component, if this component is not already specified.
    • SQL: Click the button in the SQL property and enter a query. For example:

      SELECT ID, Name FROM ApiKey WHERE IsActive = 'true'
      
    • Active: Set this property to true.
  3. Drop a TDataSource component onto the form and set the following property:

    • DataSet: In the menu for this property, select the name of the TFDQuery component.
  4. Drop a TDBGrid control onto the form and set the following property:

    • DataSource: Select the name of the TDataSource.
  5. Drop a TFDGUIxWaitCursor onto the form — this is required to avoid a run-time error.

You now have an executable application that displays the results of the SQL Query set in the TFDQuery object.

Related Articles

Below you can find other articles for using the CData ODBC Driver with RAD Studio, Delphi, and C++ Builder.

Ready to get started?

Connect to live data from Mailjet with the API Driver

Connect to Mailjet