Connect to Salesforce Marketing Data from Blazor Apps

Blazor is a framework for developing modern, client-side web UIs using .NET technology. Instead of coding in JavaScript, developers can use the familiar C# language and .NET libraries to build app UIs.

The CData ADO.NET Provider for Salesforce Marketing Cloud can be used with standard ADO.NET interfaces, such as LINQ and Entity Framework, to interact with live Salesforce Marketing data. Since Blazor supports .NET Core, developers can use CData ADO.NET Providers in Blazor apps. In this article, we will guide you to build a simple Blazor app that talks to Salesforce Marketing using standard SQL queries.

Install the CData ADO.NET Provider for Salesforce Marketing Cloud

CData ADO.NET Providers allow users to access Salesforce Marketing just like they would access SQL Server, using simple SQL queries.

Install the Salesforce Marketing ADO.NET Data Provider from the CData website or from NuGet. Search NuGet for "Salesforce Marketing ADO.NET Data Provider."

Create a Salesforce Marketing-Connected Blazor App

Start by creating a Blazor project that references the CData ADO.NET Provider for Salesforce Marketing Cloud

1. Create a Blazor project on Visual Studio.
2. From the Solution Explorer, right click Dependencies, then click Add Project Reference.
3. In the Reference Manager, click the Browse button, and choose the .dll file of the installed ADO.NET Provider (e.g. System.Data.CData.SFMarketingCloud.dll, typically located at C:\Program Files\CData\CData ADO.NET Provider for Salesforce Marketing Cloud\lib etstandard2.0).

SELECT Salesforce Marketing Data from the Blazor App

1. Open the Index.razor file from the Project page.
2. In a SFMarketingCloudConnection object, set the connection string:

   Authenticating to the Salesforce Marketing Cloud APIs

   Set the User and Password to your login credentials, or to the credentials for a sandbox user if you are connecting to a sandbox account.

   Connecting to the Salesforce Marketing Cloud APIs

   By default, the data provider connects to production environments. Set UseSandbox to true to use a Salesforce Marketing Cloud sandbox account.

   The default Instance is s7 of the Web Services API; however, if you use a different instance, you can set Instance.

   For example: User=myUser;Password=myPassword;

3. The code below creates a simple Blazor app for displaying Salesforce Marketing data, using standard SQL to query Salesforce Marketing just like SQL Server.

         @page "/"
         @using System.Data;
         @using System.Data.CData.SFMarketingCloud;
         
         <h1>Hello, world!</h1>
         
         Welcome to your Data app.
         
         <div class="row">
             <div class="col-12">
         
                 @using (SFMarketingCloudConnection connection = new SFMarketingCloudConnection(
                   "User=myUser;Password=myPassword;"))
                 {
                     var sql = "SELECT Id, Status FROM Subscriber";
                     var results = new DataTable();
         
                     SFMarketingCloudDataAdapter dataAdapter = new SFMarketingCloudDataAdapter(sql, connection);
                     dataAdapter.Fill(results);
         
                     <table class="table table-bordered">
                         <thead class="thead-light">
                             <tr>
                                 @foreach (DataColumn item in results.Rows[0].Table.Columns)
                                 {
                                     <th scope="col">@item.ColumnName</th>
                                 }
                             </tr>
                         </thead>
                         <tbody>
                             @foreach (DataRow row in results.Rows)
                             {
                                 <tr>
                                     @foreach (var column in row.ItemArray)
                                     {
                                         <td>@column.ToString()</td>
                                     }
                                 </tr>
                             }
                         </tbody>
                     </table>
                 }
             </div>
         </div>
       

4. Rebuild and run the project. The ADO.NET Provider renders Salesforce Marketing data as an HTML table in the Blazor app.

   At this point, you have a Salesforce Marketing-connected Blazor app, capable of working with live Salesforce Marketing data just like you would work with a SQL Server instance. Download a free, 30-day trial and start working with live Salesforce Marketing data in your Blazor apps today.