Integrate Live Salesforce Data Cloud Data into Blue Prism for Intelligent Robotic Process Automation (RPA)



Connect live Salesforce Data Cloud data to Blue Prism using the CData ODBC Driver for Salesforce Data Cloud to create automated workflows for repetitive business tasks.

Blue Prism is a robotic process automation (RPA) tool that helps businesses automate repetitive tasks, allowing employees to focus on more complex, value-added activities. Blue Prism's platform enables users to automate workflows using configurable "processes" and "objects." Its reusable Visual Business Objects (VBOs) offer templates and presets that simplify connections to applications, files, and services.

Some VBOs can connect to databases via ODBC, and when combined with the CData ODBC driver, they allow seamless integration with various data sources supported by CData. This article demonstrates how easily you can integrate Salesforce Data Cloud with Blue Prism using the VBO for ODBC and the CData ODBC Driver for Salesforce Data Cloud to create automated business workflows as needed.

Create an ODBC Data Source for Salesforce Data Cloud

If you have not already, first specify connection properties in an ODBC DSN (data source name). This is the last step of the driver installation. You can use the Microsoft ODBC Data Source Administrator to create and configure ODBC DSNs.

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.

    When you configure the DSN, 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.

    Connect with Salesforce Data Cloud data and create an automation flow in Blue Prism

    In this section, we'll go through the steps to connect live Salesforce Data Cloud data and create an automation flow in Blue Prism to load the Salesforce Data Cloud data into an Excel sheet.

    Add VBOs for ODBC

    To get started, download, and add the VBO for ODBC to Blue Prism by following these steps:

    1. Download the Connector for ODBC Utility Blue Prism file from the provided URL.
    2. A file named "Data - ODBC vx.x.x" with a ".bprelease" extension will be downloaded. Rename the file as "Data - ODBC". Make the necessary modifications and save the file with a ".bpobject" extension.
    3. Open Blue Prism and navigate to File > Import > Process/Object. Click Browse, select the modified file as an object, and then click Next.
    4. Click on Next in the Process Logging Overview screen. The import is now successful. Click on Next again to complete the process.
    5. Once the import is complete, "Data - ODBC" will be added to the object list as shown below.

    Now, you can easily connect to the CData ODBC Driver for Salesforce Data Cloud from Blue Prism and create the necessary automation workflows.

    Create a new automation process

    After configuring the CData ODBC driver and adding the VBO for ODBC to Blue Prism, we can create a new automation process or flow using the following steps:

    1. Go to File > New. Select Process from the New Process or Business Object window and click Next.
    2. Enter a new process name in the New Process window.
    3. Specify a process description if you want and click Finish.
    4. This will launch a process initialized as follows:

    Add ODBC to the process

    Processing the ODBC connection involves three main stages. While the middle stage handles the actual data operations, preparatory and concluding steps are also necessary to create a complete flow in Blue Prism.

    • Open process: Establishes a new connection.
    • Execute process (ExecuteNonQuery): Executes SQL commands or INSERT statements.
    • Close process: Terminates the connection.

    Add a process to open ODBC

    First, add an open process for ODBC to use the connection already made on CData ODBC Driver for Salesforce Data Cloud.

    1. Place Action decision block on the Blue Prism canvas from the left panel and double-click on it to open the settings screen.
    2. From the list of business objects, select the "Data - ODBC" object you just imported, then choose "Open" from the list of actions. The Open action requires a Connection String as an input parameter in the Inputs tab. Enter the DSN name of the CData ODBC driver you configured, using the format: "DSN=CData SalesforceDataCloud Source".

      Note: Click the Expression Editor button on the right, then click Validate to check if the added expression is correct. Use the same method to check all the expressions used in this article.

    3. Click on the Outputs tab and edit the output message as "ODBC Connection". Click OK to save the process.

    Add a process to retrieve data via ODBC

    Next, let's add a process to retrieve data from Salesforce Data Cloud.

    1. Place another Action block on the canvas below the previous one.
    2. Select "Data - ODBC" from the list of business objects, then choose "Execute" from the list of actions. By selecting "Execute", you can specify SQL commands to retrieve data.
    3. In the Inputs tab, enter a SQL query within double quotes in the Query String section to retrieve data from Salesforce Data Cloud. For example: SELECT * FROM [SalesforceDataCloud].[Account]

      NOTE: The information about the tables and columns used in the SELECT statement can be found in the "Tables" tab of the ODBC DSN.

    4. Additionally, the processing results are stored in variables to effectively manage the outcomes in Blue Prism. To create an output variable, click the Results variable icon in the Output tab and then click OK.

    Add a process to close ODBC

    Finally, add a close routine to terminate the ODBC processing and release the connection.

    1. Place an Action block on the canvas again.
    2. Select "Data - ODBC" from the list of business objects and "Close" from the list of actions. There are no specific parameters to configure for Close.
    3. Finally, connect the "links" from the left panel to create a process like this:

    Add a process to save live Salesforce Data Cloud data to Excel

    The processes demonstrated above do not retrieve the data independently, so let's proceed to write it into an Excel file. We will use the Excel VBO to create the next flow.

    1. Download and add an Excel VBO object in Blue Prism by following a process similar to the one described in the article's Add VBOs for ODBC section.
    2. In this process, place six Action blocks one after the other to complete all the follow-up steps for creating the MS Excel process flow.
    3. In the first Action block, select "MS Excel VBO" from the list of business objects and "Create Instance" from the list of actions. This step is used to create a new instance of Microsoft Excel.

      In the Outputs tab, add a handle name.

    4. In the next block, select "MS Excel VBO" from the list of business objects and "Show" from the list of actions. This action makes the Excel application visible on the screen.

      In the Inputs tab, add "[handle]" as the handle value.

    5. Again, select "MS Excel VBO" from the list of business objects and "Create Workbook" from the list of actions for the consecutive block. This creates a new workbook to store the incoming Salesforce Data Cloud data.

      In the Inputs tab, enter handle value as "[handle]" and in the Outputs tab, set a new Workbook Name.

    6. For the next action, select "MS Excel VBO" from the list of business objects and "Write Collection" from the list of actions. It writes the "Results" obtained via ODBC to the input parameter "Collection". Enter the following parameters in the Input tab:
      • handle: [handle]
      • Workbook Name: [Workbook Name]
      • Collection: [Results]
      • Worksheet Name: "Sheet1"
      • Cell Reference: "A1"
      • Include Column Names: True
    7. Next, select "MS Excel VBO" from the list of business objects and "Save Workbook" from the list of actions to save the workbook. In the Inputs tab, assign the following values:
      • handle: [handle]
      • Workbook Name: [Workbook Name]
    8. In the final action, select "MS Excel VBO" from the list of business objects and "Exit" from the list of actions. This action will finally close the workbook.
    9. Connect the action blocks with the "links" to get the final Excel process flow.

    Run the process to check the operations

    Once the process is complete, click the Run button to see it in action.

    1. Click the Run button at the top left of the screen (as shown).
    2. If the Salesforce Data Cloud data is finally written to an Excel file like the one below, consider the entire process to be working successfully.

    Get Started Today

    Download a free, 30-day trial of the CData ODBC Driver for Salesforce Data Cloud and integrate Salesforce Data Cloud data into Blue Prism to create automated business workflows.

    Reach out to our Support Team if you have any questions.

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Salesforce Data Cloud Icon Salesforce Data Cloud ODBC Driver

The Salesforce Data Cloud ODBC Driver is a powerful tool that allows you to connect with live data from Salesforce Data Cloud, directly from any applications that support ODBC connectivity.

Access Salesforce Data Cloud data like you would a database - read, write, and update Salesforce Data Cloud 0, etc. through a standard ODBC Driver interface.