How to Query Outlook Data in MySQL Workbench

You can use the SQL Gateway from the ODBC Driver for Outlook to query Outlook data through a MySQL interface. Follow the procedure below to start the MySQL remoting service of the SQL Gateway and work with live Outlook data in MySQL Workbench.

Connect to Outlook Data

If you have not already done so, provide values for the required connection properties in the data source name (DSN). You can use the built-in Microsoft ODBC Data Source Administrator to configure the DSN. This is also the last step of the driver installation. See the "Getting Started" chapter in the help documentation for a guide to using the Microsoft ODBC Data Source Administrator to create and configure a DSN.

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;

Configure the SQL Gateway

See the SQL Gateway Overview to set up connectivity to Outlook data as a virtual MySQL database. You will configure a MySQL remoting service that listens for MySQL requests from clients. The service can be configured in the SQL Gateway UI.

Query Outlook from MySQL Workbench

The steps below outline connecting to the virtual Outlook database created in the SQL Gateway from MySQL Workbench and issuing basic queries to work with live Outlook data.

Connect to Outlook through the SQL Gateway

1. In MySQL Workbench, click to add a new MySQL connection.
2. Name the connection (CData SQL Gateway for Outlook).
3. Set the Hostname, Port, and Username parameters to connect to the SQL Gateway.
4. Click Store in Vault to set and store the password.
5. Click Test Connection to ensure the connection is configured properly and click OK.

NOTE: When we refer to Username and Password, we mean the credentials for the user(s) created for the SQL Gateway.

Query Outlook Data

1. Open the connection you just created (CData SQL Gateway for Outlook).
2. Click File -> New Query Tab.
3. Write a SQL query to retrieve Outlook data, like SELECT * FROM `CData API Sys`.CalendarGroupCalendars;

With access to live Outlook data from MySQL Workbench, you can easily work with Outlook, just like you would a MySQL database. Get started now with a free, 30-day trial of the CData API Driver for ODBC and the CData SQL Gateway.