Integrate Live Printful Data into Custom Business Apps Built in Power Apps



Use CData Connect Server to create a virtual SQL Server Database for Printful data and integrate live Printful data into apps built in Microsoft Power Apps.

Power Apps is a service for building and using custom business apps that connect to your data and work across the web and mobile — without the time and expense of custom software development. When paired with CData Connect Server, you get instant access to Printful data from the apps you build using Power Apps. This article shows how to connect to Connect Server from Power Apps and build an app based on live Printful data.

CData Connect Server provides a pure SQL interface for Printful, allowing you to easily integrate with live Printful data in Power Apps — without replicating the data. CData Connect Server looks exactly like a SQL Server database to Power Apps and uses optimized data processing out of the box to push all supported SQL operations (filters, JOINs, etc) directly to Printful, leveraging server-side processing to quickly return Printful data.

Create a Virtual SQL Database for Printful Data

CData Connect Server uses a straightforward, point-and-click interface to connect to data sources and generate APIs.

  1. Login to Connect Server and click Connections.
  2. Select "Printful" from Available Data Sources.
  3. Enter the necessary authentication properties to connect to Printful.

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

    Printful API Profile Settings

    In order to authenticate to Printful, you'll need to provide your API Key. To get your API Key, first go to 'Settings' then 'Stores'. Select the Store you would like to connect to, then click the 'Add API Access' button to generate an API Key. Set the API Key in the ProfileSettings property to connect.

  4. Click Save Changes
  5. Click Privileges -> Add and add the new user (or an existing user) with the appropriate permissions.

Connecting to CData Connect Server

To use Connect Server to integrate Printful data into your Power Apps, you need a new SQL Server connection:

  1. Log in to Power Apps
  2. Click Data -> Connections -> New connection
  3. Select SQL Server
  4. In the connection wizard:

    • Choose to connect directly
    • Set SQL server name to the address of your Connect Server instance (CONNECT_SERVER_URL)
    • Set SQL database name to the name of the virtual Printful database you created earlier (like printfuldb)
    • Set the Username and Password and click Create

Building a Data-Centric App for Printful Data

With the connection to Connect Server configured, you are ready to integrate live Printful data into the apps you build in Power Apps.

  1. Log in to Power Apps
  2. Click Create, hover over "Start from data" and click Make this app
  3. Select the SQL Server connection you created
  4. Search for or choose a table to work with
  5. Click Connect
  6. Customize the newly created app just like you would any other, including changing the layout and setting the fields exposed in BrowseScreen, DetailScreen, and EditScreen

At this point, you have an app with read access to live Printful data that you can save and publish for use within your organization.

SQL Access to Printful Data from Applications

Now you have a direct connection to live Printful data from Microsoft Power Apps. You can create more connections and apps to drive business — all without replicating Printful data.

To get SQL data access to 200+ SaaS, Big Data, and NoSQL sources directly from your applications, see the CData Connect Server.

Ready to get started?

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CData Connect Server