Create Slack-Connected Business Apps in AppSheet

AppSheet provides a no-code development platform for application software, which allows users to create mobile, tablet, and web applications. When paired with CData Connect Server, you get instant access to Slack data for business applications. This article shows how to create a virtual database for Slack in Connect Server and build a simple app from Slack data in AppSheet.

CData Connect Server provides a pure MySQL interface for Slack, allowing you to build reports from live Slack data in AppSheet — without replicating the data to a natively supported database. As you create applications to work with data, AppSheet generates SQL queries to gather data. Using optimized data processing out of the box, CData Connect Server pushes all supported SQL operations (filters, JOINs, etc.) directly to Slack, leveraging server-side processing to quickly return the requested Slack data.

Create a Virtual MySQL Database for Slack Data

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

1. Log into Connect Server and click Connections.
2. Select "Slack" from Available Data Sources.
3. Enter the necessary authentication properties to connect to Slack. Slack uses the OAuth authentication standard. To authenticate using OAuth, you will need to create an app to obtain the OAuthClientId, OAuthClientSecret, and CallbackURL connection properties. See the Getting Started section of the help documentation for an authentication guide.
4. Click Save Changes
5. Click Privileges -> Add and add the new user (or an existing user) with the appropriate permissions.

With the virtual database created, you are ready to connect to Slack data from AppSheet.

Connect to Slack in AppSheet

The steps below outline connecting to CData Connect Server from AppSheet to create a new Slack data source.

1. Log into AppSheet
2. Click "My account" in the menu
3. Click the Sources tab and add a new data source
4. Select Cloud Database and set the connection information
   • Type: MySQL
   • Server: the endpoint for your instance, including port, for example, CONNECT_SERVER_URL:3306
   • Database: the virtual database, for example, Slack1
   • Username: a Connect Server user with permissions for the database
   • Password: the password for the above Connect Server user
   • SSL: Require SSL
5. Click "Test Connection"
6. Click "Authorize Access"

Create an App

Once you create the data source for Slack, you can start building apps on Slack data. Start by clicking "My apps" in the menu.

1. Click to create a new app and select "Start with your own data"
2. Name the app and select an appropriate category, based on your data
3. Select the newly created data source (e.g., database-1)
4. Select the table or view with the data you want

At this point, you can configure the design of your app, selecting which columns from the selected table to display, use as labels, and more. Preview the app in the preview panel and then publish or share it when ready.

To get SQL data access to 200+ SaaS, Big Data, and NoSQL sources directly from your applications, try the CData Connect Server.