Query Slack Data as a MySQL Database in Node.js

You can use CData Connect Server to query Slack data through a MySQL interface. Follow the procedure below to create a virtual database for Slack in Connect Server and start querying using Node.js.

CData Connect Server provides a pure MySQL, cloud-to-cloud interface for Slack, allowing you to easily query live Slack data in Node.js — without replicating the data to a natively supported database. As you query data in Node.js, CData Connect Server pushes all supported SQL operations (filters, JOINs, etc) directly to Slack, leveraging server-side processing to quickly return 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. Login to 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 any MySQL client.

Query Slack from Node.js

The following example shows how to define a connection and execute queries to Slack with the MySQL module. You will need the following information:

• Host name, or address, and port: The address of your instance of the Connect Server (myinstance.cdatacloud.net) and the port (3306)
• Username and password: The username and password of a user you authorized on Connect Server
• Database name: The database you configured for Slack (slackdb)

Connect to Slack data and start executing queries with the code below:

var mysql      = require('mysql');
var fs         = require('fs');
var connection = mysql.createConnection({
  host     : 'myinstance.cdatacloud.net',
  database : 'slackdb',
  port	   : '3306',
  user     : 'admin',
  password : 'password',
  ssl      : {
    ca : fs.readFileSync('C:/certs/myCA.pem')
  }
});
connection.connect();
connection.query('SELECT * FROM Channels', function(err, rows, fields) {
  if (err) throw err;
  console.log(rows);
});

connection.end();