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Get the Report →Analyze Raisers Edge NXT Data in Infragistics Reveal
Use the CData Connect Server to create an OData API on top of Raisers Edge NXT data and visualize live Raisers Edge NXT data in Ingragistics Reveal.
Reveal is a data visualization solution provided by Infragistics and can be paired with the CData Connect Server and Raisers Edge NXT Connector to build dynamic dashboards from live Raisers Edge NXT data. The CData Connect Server creates a virtual database for Raisers Edge NXT and can be used to generate an OData API (natively consumable in Reveal) for Raisers Edge NXT. In this article, we walk through connecting to Raisers Edge NXT in Connect Server and connecting to Connect Server from Infragistics Reveal to create a simple dashboard.
Add a Connect Server User
Create a User to connect to Raisers Edge NXT from Reveal through Connect Server.
- Click Users -> Add
- Configure a User
- Click Save Changes and make note of the Authtoken for the new user
Connect to Raisers Edge NXT from Connect Server
CData Connect Server uses a straightforward, point-and-click interface to connect to data sources and generate APIs.
- Open Connect Server and click Connections
- Select "Raisers Edge NXT" from Available Data Sources
- Enter the necessary authentication properties to connect to Raisers Edge NXT.
Before establishing a connection, supply the SubscriptionKey, found in the Blackbaud Raiser's Edge NXT Profile.
Authenticating to Raiser's Edge NXT
Blackbaud Raiser's Edge NXT uses the OAuth authentication standard. You can connect to without setting any connection properties using the embedded OAuth credentials.
Alternatively, you can authenticate by creating a custom app to obtain the OAuthClientId, OAuthClientSecret, and CallbackURL connection properties.
See the Help documentation for an authentication guide.
- Click Save Changes
- Click Privileges -> Add and add the new user (or an existing user) with the appropriate permissions (SELECT is all that is required for Reveal).
Add Raisers Edge NXT OData Endpoints in Connect Server
After connecting to Raisers Edge NXT, create OData Endpoint for the desired table(s).
- Click OData -> Tables -> Add Tables
- Select the Raisers Edge NXT database
- Select the table(s) you wish to work with and click Next
- (Optional) Edit the resource to select specific fields and more
- Save the settings
(Optional) Configure Cross-Origin Resource Sharing (CORS)
When accessing and connecting to multiple different domains from an application such as Ajax, there is a possibility of violating the limitations of cross-site scripting. In that case, configure the CORS settings in OData -> Settings.
- Enable cross-origin resource sharing (CORS): ON
- Allow all domains without '*': ON
- Access-Control-Allow-Methods: GET, PUT, POST, OPTIONS
- Access-Control-Allow-Headers: Authorization
Save the changes to the settings.
Create a Dashboard in Reveal
With Connect Server configured, we can visualize Raisers Edge NXT data in Reveal.
- Log into Reveal and click Dashboards -> New
- Click Data Source -> OData Feed
- Specify the Connect Server API endpoint URL (found in API -> Discovery -> Base URL), for example: CONNECT_SERVER_URL/api.rsc
- Select Generic Credentials and specify the Connect Server username and authentication token
- Select the entity you wish to visualize
- Select fields and choose a chart type
More Information & Free Trial
At this point, you have created a simple dashboard from live Raisers Edge NXT data. For more information on creating OData feeds from Raisers Edge NXT (and more than 150 other sources), visit the Connect Server page. Download a free, 30-day trial and start working live Raisers Edge NXT data in tools that consume OData APIs.