Analyze Salesforce Data Cloud Data in Infragistics Reveal

Reveal is a data visualization solution provided by Infragistics and can be paired with the CData Connect Server and Salesforce Data Cloud Connector to build dynamic dashboards from live Salesforce Data Cloud data. The CData Connect Server creates a virtual database for Salesforce Data Cloud and can be used to generate an OData API (natively consumable in Reveal) for Salesforce Data Cloud. In this article, we walk through connecting to Salesforce Data Cloud 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 Salesforce Data Cloud from Reveal through Connect Server.

1. Click Users -> Add
2. Configure a User
3. Click Save Changes and make note of the Authtoken for the new user

Connect to Salesforce Data Cloud from Connect Server

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

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

   Salesforce Data Cloud supports authentication via the OAuth standard.

   OAuth

   Set AuthScheme to OAuth.

   Desktop Applications

   CData provides an embedded OAuth application that simplifies authentication at the desktop.

   You can also authenticate from the desktop via a custom OAuth application, which you configure and register at the Salesforce Data Cloud console. For further information, see Creating a Custom OAuth App in the Help documentation.

   Before you connect, set these properties:

   • InitiateOAuth: GETANDREFRESH. You can use InitiateOAuth to avoid repeating the OAuth exchange and manually setting the OAuthAccessToken.
   • OAuthClientId (custom applications only): The Client ID assigned when you registered your custom OAuth application.
   • OAuthClientSecret (custom applications only): The Client Secret assigned when you registered your custom OAuth application.

   When you connect, the driver opens Salesforce Data Cloud's OAuth endpoint in your default browser. Log in and grant permissions to the application.

   The driver then completes the OAuth process as follows:

   • Extracts the access token from the callback URL.
   • Obtains a new access token when the old one expires.
   • Saves OAuth values in OAuthSettingsLocation so that they persist across connections.

   For other OAuth methods, including Web Applications and Headless Machines, refer to the Help documentation.

   
   • 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 Salesforce Data Cloud OData Endpoints in Connect Server

After connecting to Salesforce Data Cloud, create OData Endpoint for the desired table(s).

1. Click OData -> Tables -> Add Tables
2. Select the Salesforce Data Cloud database
3. Select the table(s) you wish to work with and click Next
4. (Optional) Edit the resource to select specific fields and more
5. 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 Salesforce Data Cloud data in Reveal.

1. Log into Reveal and click Dashboards -> New
2. Click Data Source -> OData Feed
3. Specify the Connect Server API endpoint URL (found in API -> Discovery -> Base URL), for example: CONNECT_SERVER_URL/api.rsc
4. Select Generic Credentials and specify the Connect Server username and authentication token
5. Select the entity you wish to visualize
6. Select fields and choose a chart type

More Information & Free Trial

At this point, you have created a simple dashboard from live Salesforce Data Cloud data. For more information on creating OData feeds from Salesforce Data Cloud (and more than 150 other sources), visit the Connect Server page. Download a free, 30-day trial and start working live Salesforce Data Cloud data in tools that consume OData APIs.