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Import Real-Time Smartsheet Data in ColdFusion to Build Applications


Use CData ODBC drivers to import and use Smartsheet data in ColdFusion.

Adobe ColdFusion is a web and mobile application development platform. It uses its own scripting language, ColdFusion Markup Language (CFML), to create data-driven websites as well as generate remote services, such as REST. When ColdFusion is paired with the CData ODBC Driver for Smartsheet, you can link your ColdFusion web and mobile applications to operational Smartsheet data. This allows for your applications to be more robust and complete. This article details how to use the ODBC driver to create a table populated with Smartsheet data from within a ColdFusion markup file.

About Smartsheet Data Integration

CData provides the easiest way to access and integrate live data from Smartsheet. Customers use CData connectivity to:

  • Read and write attachments, columns, comments and discussions.
  • View the data in individuals cells, report on cell history, and more.
  • Perform Smartsheet-specific actions like deleting or downloading attachments, creating, copying, deleting, or moving sheets, and moving or copying rows to another sheet.

Users frequently integrate Smartsheet with analytics tools such as Tableau, Crystal Reports, and Excel. Others leverage our tools to replicate Smartsheet data to databases or data warehouses.


Getting Started


To follow along with this tutorial, you need to install the CData ODBC Driver for Smartsheet and Adobe ColdFusion.

Configuring the Connection

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 process. You can use the Microsoft ODBC Data Source Administrator to create and configure ODBC DSNs.

Smartsheet uses the OAuth authentication standard. To authenticate using OAuth, you will need to register an app to obtain the OAuthClientId, OAuthClientSecret, and CallbackURL connection properties.

However, for testing purposes you can instead use the Personal Access Token you get when you create an application; set this to the OAuthAccessToken connection property.

Adding a Data Source and Creating a Table

After creating a DSN, follow the steps below to add a new data source, test our connection to it, create a ColdFusion markup file, and, finally, import Smartsheet Smartsheet data and display it in a table in ColdFusion:

  1. From the ColdFusion administrator interface, choose Data & Services.
  2. Here, click "Add New Data Source". The data source name can be any name, provided it conforms to the ColdFusion variable naming conventions. For our ODBC driver, choose "ODBC Socket", then click the "Add" button.
  3. From the ODBC DSN Dropdown menu select CData Smartsheet Sys. Under the Advanced Settings section, leave the Connection String blank. Note that any properties specified in this input field will override the ones specified in the DSN Configuration.
  4. Now, test the connection by pressing the check mark to the left of the CDataSmartsheetODBC data source you just created. When the data source reports an "OK" status, it is ready for use.
  5. Next, create a new ColdFusion Markup file (.cfm) and place it in the wwwroot directory ("C:\ColdFusion2021\cfusion\wwwroot") for ColdFusion.

    The following code queries the data source: 

                
        <cfquery name="SmartsheetQuery" dataSource="CDataSmartsheetODBC"> 
          SELECT * FROM Sheet_Event_Plan_Budget 
        </cfquery>
    And a CFTable can be used to quickly output the table in HTML: 
                
          <cftable  
          query = "SmartsheetQuery" 
          border = "1" 
          colHeaders 
          colSpacing = "2" 
          headerLines = "2" 
          HTMLTable 
          maxRows = "500" 
          startRow = "1"> 

          <cfcol header="<b>TaskName</b>" align="Left" width=2 text="TaskName"/> 

          <cfcol header="<b>Progress</b>" align="Left" width=15 text="Progress"/> 

          ...

        </cftable>
    Full code, including the HTML portion is available below: 
                
        <html> 
        <head><title>CData Software | Smartsheet Sheet_Event_Plan_Budget Table Demo </title></head> 
        <body> 
        <cfoutput>#ucase("Smartsheet Sheet_Event_Plan_Budget Table Demo")#</cfoutput> 
        <cfquery name="SmartsheetQuery" dataSource="CDataSmartsheetODBC"> 

          SELECT * FROM Sheet_Event_Plan_Budget 

        </cfquery> 
        <cftable  
          query = "SmartsheetQuery" 
          border = "1" 
          colHeaders 
          colSpacing = "2" 
          headerLines = "2" 
          HTMLTable 
          maxRows = "500" 
          startRow = "1"> 
          <cfcol header="<b>TaskName</b>" align="Left" width=2 text="TaskName"/> 

          <cfcol header="<b>Progress</b>" align="Left" width=15 text="Progress"/> 

          ...

        </cftable> 
        </body> 

        </html>
  6. Finally, run the code in a browser. It produces a table populated with Smartsheet data!

As a note, the CData ODBC Drivers also support parameterized queries using the cfqueryparam element. For example: SELECT * FROM Account WHERE name =

Get Started Today

Download a free, 30-day trial of the CData ODBC Driver for Smartsheet and start building Smartsheet-connected applications with Adobe ColdFusion. Reach out to our Support Team if you have any questions.

Ready to get started?

Download a free trial of the Smartsheet ODBC Driver to get started:

 Download Now

Learn more:

Smartsheet Icon Smartsheet ODBC Driver

The Smartsheet ODBC Driver is a powerful tool that allows you to connect with live data from Smartsheet, directly from any applications that support ODBC connectivity.

Access Smartsheet Sheets, Contacts, Folders, Groups, Users, etc. through a standard ODBC Driver interface.

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