Rapidly Develop Short.io-Driven Apps with Active Query Builder

Jerod Johnson
Jerod Johnson
Director, Technology Evangelism
Leverage the Active Query Builder SQL interface and .NET data access to create data-driven WinForms and ASP.NET apps backed by Short.io.

Write standard .NET to expose Short.io data through an SQL interface: Active Query Builder helps developers write SQL interfaces; the CData ODBC Driver for Short.io enables standards-based access to Short.io. This integration uses the Microsoft ADO.NET Provider for ODBC as a bridge between the ODBC Driver and the Active Query Builder objects to build a visual SQL composer.

Connect to Short.io as an ODBC Data Source

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.

Using API Key Authentication

Short.io uses API Key authentication. To obtain your API key:

  1. Log in to your Short.io account
  2. Navigate to Settings > Integrations & API > API
  3. Click Create API Key and copy your API key

After obtaining the API key, you are ready to connect:

  • AuthScheme: Set this to APIKey.
  • APIKey: Set this to your Short.io API key obtained from Settings > Integrations & API > API.

Example connection string:

Profile=C:\profiles\ShortIo.apip;AuthScheme=APIKey;ProfileSettings='APIKey=your_api_key';

Available Tables

The Short.io profile provides access to the following tables:

  • Domains - Short.io domains associated with the authenticated account
  • Links - Short links for a domain
  • LinkExpand - Expand a short link by domain and path
  • LinksByOriginalUrl - Retrieve multiple short links matching a given original destination URL
  • Folders - Link folders within a specific domain
  • LinkPermissions - Permission records for a specific link within a domain
  • CountryTargeting - Country-based redirect targeting rules for a specific short link
  • RegionTargeting - Region-based redirect targeting rules for a specific short link
  • Regions - List of available regions/states for a given country code
  • DomainStatistics - Aggregated click and traffic statistics for a Short.io domain
  • LinkStatistics - Aggregated click and traffic statistics for a specific Short.io link

Use SQL to Interact with Short.io

Follow the steps below to create a WinForms visual query builder.

  1. Open Active Query Builder for .NET WinForms.
  2. In the new Windows Forms project go to the "File" menu and click "Connect..."
  3. Under Database Connections, click "Add..."
  4. Set your desired Connection Name (e.g. CData Short.io), set Connection Type to "ODBC" and locate your previously configured DSN in the "User/System" DSN dropdown.
  5. Click "OK" to save the new connection.
  6. Back in the Database Connection wizard, select the newly created connection and click "OK."
  7. Click "File" > "New Query" to create a QueryBuilder

You can now build queries visually: Double-click a table in the Columns Pane Area and an entity/relationship diagram is displayed in the Query Building Area. Columns that you select in the diagram are added to the query.

Ready to get started?

Connect to live data from Short.io with the API Driver

Connect to Short.io