Deploy the ADO.NET Provider for Outlook on an SSRS Report Server

Jerod Johnson
Jerod Johnson
Director, Technology Evangelism
Connect to Outlook data from multiple reports and pick up updates immediately: Create a shared data source on a native mode report server or a report server on a SharePoint farm.

In this article, we will guide you through the deployment process of the CData ADO.NET Provider for Outlook on an SQL Server Reporting Services (SSRS) report server. Additionally, you will learn how to establish a shared data source, which facilitates connectivity to real-time Outlook data from various reports. You can then access these shared data sources from the Report Designer within Visual Studio. For detailed instructions on creating datasets in Report Designer using ADO.NET, please refer to the "Using ADO.NET" section in the help documentation.

Deploy the ADO.NET Provider

The provider installation automatically deploys the provider on report servers in native mode. On report servers in SharePoint mode, you can use the install-sprs.ps1 PowerShell script to deploy. Simply run the script from the lib subfolder in the installation directory, or pass in the "path" parameter.

Create a Shared Data Source for Outlook

You can create shared data sources directly from a report server or SharePoint site. Alternatively, you can use Report Designer to create shared data sources.

Report Designer

You can use Report Designer to create shared data sources on native mode report servers and report servers on a SharePoint server farm.

  1. In a Report Server Project in Visual Studio, right-click Shared Data Sources in Solution Explorer and click Add New Data Source.
  2. Enter a name for the data source and in the Type menu select CData API Report.
  3. In the Connection String box, enter the connection string to connect to Outlook. A typical connection string is below: 
    Profile=C:\profiles\Outlook.apip;AuthScheme=OAuth;InitiateOAuth=GETANDREFRESH;OAuthClientId=your_client_id;OAuthClientSecret=your_client_secret;TenantId=your_tenant_id;CallbackUrl=http://localhost:33333;

    Using OAuth Authentication

    Microsoft Graph API uses OAuth 2.0 for authentication. You must register an application in the Microsoft Azure Portal to obtain OAuth credentials (Client ID and Client Secret).

    Obtaining OAuth Credentials

    1. Log in to the Azure Portal.
    2. Navigate to Azure Active Directory > App registrations.
    3. Click New registration to create a new application.
    4. Enter an application name and select the appropriate account types.
    5. Set the Redirect URI to your application's callback URL (e.g., http://localhost:33333 for desktop apps).
    6. Click Register to create the application.
    7. On the application overview page, copy the Application (client) ID - this is your OAuthClientId.
    8. Navigate to Certificates & secrets and create a new client secret.
    9. Copy the client secret value - this is your OAuthClientSecret.
    10. Navigate to API permissions and add the required Microsoft Graph API permissions:
      • Mail.Read - For accessing email messages
      • Contacts.Read - For accessing contacts
      • Calendars.Read - For accessing calendar events
      • Tasks.Read - For accessing To Do tasks
      • offline_access - For obtaining refresh tokens
    11. Click Grant admin consent to grant these permissions.

    Connecting with OAuth

    After setting the following connection properties, you are ready to connect:

    • AuthScheme: Set this to OAuth.
    • InitiateOAuth: Set this to GETANDREFRESH. The CData API Profile for Outlook will automatically walk through the OAuth process in order to obtain the access token.
    • OAuthClientId: Set this to the Application (client) ID from Azure Portal.
    • OAuthClientSecret: Set this to the client secret value from Azure Portal.
    • TenantId: Set this to your Azure AD tenant identifier (GUID or domain name like 'contoso.onmicrosoft.com').
    • CallbackURL: Set this to the Redirect URI you specified in your app registration (e.g., http://localhost:33333 for desktop apps).

    Example connection string

    Profile=C:\profiles\Outlook.apip;AuthScheme=OAuth;InitiateOAuth=GETANDREFRESH;OAuthClientId=your_client_id;OAuthClientSecret=your_client_secret;TenantId=your_tenant_id;CallbackUrl=http://localhost:33333;

    When you configure the connection, you may also want to set the Max Rows connection property. This will limit the number of rows returned, which is especially helpful for improving performance when designing reports and visualizations.

  4. Set the folder and server URL in your project properties. If you are publishing to SharePoint, the values for all properties must be fully qualified URLs. For example:
    • Report Server: http://MyServerName/ReportServer
    • SharePoint: http://MyServerName/MySite/MySubsite
  5. Right-click the shared data source and click Deploy.

Report Manager

On native mode installations of report server, you can use Report Manager to create shared data sources. You must have permissions to manage data sources on the report server.

  1. From the Home page in Report Manager, click New Data Source. The New Data Source page is displayed.
  2. Enter a name for the data source and in the Data Source Type menu, select CData API Report.
  3. In the Connection String box, enter the connection string to connect to Outlook. A typical connection string is below: 
     Profile=C:\profiles\Outlook.apip;AuthScheme=OAuth;InitiateOAuth=GETANDREFRESH;OAuthClientId=your_client_id;OAuthClientSecret=your_client_secret;TenantId=your_tenant_id;CallbackUrl=http://localhost:33333;

    Using OAuth Authentication

    Microsoft Graph API uses OAuth 2.0 for authentication. You must register an application in the Microsoft Azure Portal to obtain OAuth credentials (Client ID and Client Secret).

    Obtaining OAuth Credentials

    1. Log in to the Azure Portal.
    2. Navigate to Azure Active Directory > App registrations.
    3. Click New registration to create a new application.
    4. Enter an application name and select the appropriate account types.
    5. Set the Redirect URI to your application's callback URL (e.g., http://localhost:33333 for desktop apps).
    6. Click Register to create the application.
    7. On the application overview page, copy the Application (client) ID - this is your OAuthClientId.
    8. Navigate to Certificates & secrets and create a new client secret.
    9. Copy the client secret value - this is your OAuthClientSecret.
    10. Navigate to API permissions and add the required Microsoft Graph API permissions:
      • Mail.Read - For accessing email messages
      • Contacts.Read - For accessing contacts
      • Calendars.Read - For accessing calendar events
      • Tasks.Read - For accessing To Do tasks
      • offline_access - For obtaining refresh tokens
    11. Click Grant admin consent to grant these permissions.

    Connecting with OAuth

    After setting the following connection properties, you are ready to connect:

    • AuthScheme: Set this to OAuth.
    • InitiateOAuth: Set this to GETANDREFRESH. The CData API Profile for Outlook will automatically walk through the OAuth process in order to obtain the access token.
    • OAuthClientId: Set this to the Application (client) ID from Azure Portal.
    • OAuthClientSecret: Set this to the client secret value from Azure Portal.
    • TenantId: Set this to your Azure AD tenant identifier (GUID or domain name like 'contoso.onmicrosoft.com').
    • CallbackURL: Set this to the Redirect URI you specified in your app registration (e.g., http://localhost:33333 for desktop apps).

    Example connection string

    Profile=C:\profiles\Outlook.apip;AuthScheme=OAuth;InitiateOAuth=GETANDREFRESH;OAuthClientId=your_client_id;OAuthClientSecret=your_client_secret;TenantId=your_tenant_id;CallbackUrl=http://localhost:33333;

SharePoint

Follow the steps below to create a shared data source on a SharePoint site. Note that this step has the following prerequisites in SharePoint 2013:

  • The Reporting Services add-in for SharePoint
  • The Report Server Integration site collection feature

Follow the steps below to add the report server content types to your library:

  1. Log into SharePoint and open the library where you want to save the .rsds file.
  2. Click Library on the ribbon and then click Library Settings.
  3. In the General Settings section, click Advanced Settings.
  4. In the Content Types section, select Yes to allow the management of content types. The Content Types section is added to the Library Settings page.
  5. On the Library Settings page, click Add from existing site content types.
  6. In the Available Site Content Types list, select Report Data Source and click Add.

You can then create the shared data source. You will create an .rsds file that contains the connection information to Outlook.

  1. Log into SharePoint and open the library where you want to save the .rsds file.
  2. On the ribbon click Documents -> New Document -> Report Data Source.
  3. Enter a name for the data source.
  4. In the Data Source Type menu, select CData API Report.
  5. In the Connection String box, enter the connection string to connect to Outlook. A typical connection string is below: 
    Profile=C:\profiles\Outlook.apip;AuthScheme=OAuth;InitiateOAuth=GETANDREFRESH;OAuthClientId=your_client_id;OAuthClientSecret=your_client_secret;TenantId=your_tenant_id;CallbackUrl=http://localhost:33333;

    Using OAuth Authentication

    Microsoft Graph API uses OAuth 2.0 for authentication. You must register an application in the Microsoft Azure Portal to obtain OAuth credentials (Client ID and Client Secret).

    Obtaining OAuth Credentials

    1. Log in to the Azure Portal.
    2. Navigate to Azure Active Directory > App registrations.
    3. Click New registration to create a new application.
    4. Enter an application name and select the appropriate account types.
    5. Set the Redirect URI to your application's callback URL (e.g., http://localhost:33333 for desktop apps).
    6. Click Register to create the application.
    7. On the application overview page, copy the Application (client) ID - this is your OAuthClientId.
    8. Navigate to Certificates & secrets and create a new client secret.
    9. Copy the client secret value - this is your OAuthClientSecret.
    10. Navigate to API permissions and add the required Microsoft Graph API permissions:
      • Mail.Read - For accessing email messages
      • Contacts.Read - For accessing contacts
      • Calendars.Read - For accessing calendar events
      • Tasks.Read - For accessing To Do tasks
      • offline_access - For obtaining refresh tokens
    11. Click Grant admin consent to grant these permissions.

    Connecting with OAuth

    After setting the following connection properties, you are ready to connect:

    • AuthScheme: Set this to OAuth.
    • InitiateOAuth: Set this to GETANDREFRESH. The CData API Profile for Outlook will automatically walk through the OAuth process in order to obtain the access token.
    • OAuthClientId: Set this to the Application (client) ID from Azure Portal.
    • OAuthClientSecret: Set this to the client secret value from Azure Portal.
    • TenantId: Set this to your Azure AD tenant identifier (GUID or domain name like 'contoso.onmicrosoft.com').
    • CallbackURL: Set this to the Redirect URI you specified in your app registration (e.g., http://localhost:33333 for desktop apps).

    Example connection string

    Profile=C:\profiles\Outlook.apip;AuthScheme=OAuth;InitiateOAuth=GETANDREFRESH;OAuthClientId=your_client_id;OAuthClientSecret=your_client_secret;TenantId=your_tenant_id;CallbackUrl=http://localhost:33333;

Ready to get started?

Connect to live data from Outlook with the API Driver

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