Viewing SerpApi Data in RAD Studio Data Explorer

Embarcadero RAD Studio provides a development environment for Delphi and C++Builder applications. With the CData ODBC Driver for SerpApi, you gain access to live SerpApi data within RAD Studio, abstracting the data into tables, views, and stored procedures that can be used to both retrieve SerpApi data. This article will walk through connecting to SerpApi using the Data Explorer.

Configure a Connection to SerpApi

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.

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

SerpAPI API Profile Settings

SerpAPI uses API key authentication. To obtain an API key:

1. Sign in to your SerpAPI account at https://serpapi.com
2. Navigate to the API Key page at https://serpapi.com/manage-api-key
3. Copy your private API key

After obtaining your API key, set the following connection properties:

• AuthScheme: Set this to APIKey.

Set the following in the ProfileSettings connection property:

• APIKey: Set this to your SerpAPI private API key.

Connecting to SerpApi Data Using Data Explorer

You can create a simple application for displaying SerpApi data by utilizing the CData FireDAC Components for SerpApi and a new VCL Forms Application:

1. Open the Data Explorer in RAD Studio and expand FireDAC.
2. Right-click the ODBC Data Source node in the Data Explorer.
3. Click Add New Connection.
4. Enter a name for the connection.
5. In the FireDAC Connection Editor that appears, set the DataSource property to the name of the ODBC DSN for SerpApi.
6. Back in the Data Explorer, expand the views for the connection.

7. Create a new VCL Forms application and drag a view (for example: AmazonSearch) onto the form.

   
8. Select the AmazonSearchView object on the form and set the Active property to true.

9. Right-click on the object, bind visually, and link everything (*) to a new control (TStringGrid).

   

10. Arrange the TStringGrid on the form and run the application to see the AmazonSearch data.

    

Related Articles

Below you can find other articles for using the CData ODBC Driver with RAD Studio, Delphi, and C++ Builder.

• DataBind Controls to SerpApi Data in C++Builder
• DataBind Controls to SerpApi Data in Delphi
• Build a Simple VCL Application for SerpApi Data