Query Talkdesk Data through ODBC in Node.js

Node.js is a JavaScript runtime environment that allows you to run JavaScript code outside of a browser. With the CData ODBC Driver for Talkdesk, you can access live Talkdesk data from Node.js apps and scripts. In this article, we walk through installing node-odbc and the required tools to create a simple Node.js app with access to live Talkdesk data.

With built-in optimized data processing, the CData ODBC Driver offers unmatched performance for interacting with live Talkdesk data in Node.js. When you issue complex SQL queries from Node.js to Talkdesk, the driver pushes supported SQL operations, like filters and aggregations, directly to Talkdesk and utilizes the embedded SQL engine to process unsupported operations client-side (often SQL functions and JOIN operations).

Connecting to Talkdesk Data

If you have not already done so, provide values for the required connection properties in the data source name (DSN). You can use the built-in Microsoft ODBC Data Source Administrator to configure the DSN. This is also the last step of the driver installation. See the "Getting Started" chapter in the help documentation for a guide to using the Microsoft ODBC Data Source Administrator to create and configure a DSN.

Talkdesk uses the OAuth 2.0 Client Credentials grant. There is no browser-based authorization step and no callback URL.

Set the following connection properties:

• AccountName: The name of your Talkdesk account.
• Region: The region where your Talkdesk instance is deployed. Supported values are US (default), EU, CA, AU, UK, and FedRamp.
• OAuthClientId: The Client Id assigned when you registered your custom OAuth application.
• OAuthClientSecret: The Client Secret assigned to your custom OAuth application.

Creating a Custom OAuth Application

1. Log in to your Talkdesk account and select OAuth Clients from the navigation menu.
2. Click Create OAuth Client and give the client a descriptive name.
3. Set Grant Type to Client Credentials.
4. Click Add scopes and select the scopes for the data you want to access.
5. Click Create and copy the Client Id and Client Secret.

When you connect, the driver automatically requests an access token from Talkdesk, caches it, and refreshes it when it expires. Make sure the scopes selected for the application match the views you plan to query, or the token request can fail.

Building node-odbc

In order to connect to Talkdesk through the CData ODBC Driver, you need to build node-odbc manually (after installing the required tools).

Installing the Required Tools

The following commands install the tools required to build node-odbc (note the -g parameter, which installs the tools globally).

npm i -g windows-build-tools
npm i -g node-gyp

Building node-odbc

After installing the required tools, create a directory for the Node.js app and install odbc (which builds the binary for us to use in our Node.js script).

mkdir nodeodbc
cd nodeodbc
npm i -g node

Querying Talkdesk from Node.js

With the ODBC Driver installed, a DSN Configured, and node-odbc built, we are ready to query live Talkdesk data from a Node.js app. The sample code below connects to a specific DSN and queries the Users table.

myscript.js

const odbc = require('odbc');

async function queryTalkdesk() {
    const connection = await odbc.connect(`DSN=CData Talkdesk Source`);
    const data = await connection.query('SELECT Id, Name FROM Users');
    console.log(data);
}

queryTalkdesk();

Once you write the app, use node to execute the script:

node myscript.js

Download a free, 30-day trial of the CData ODBC Driver for Talkdesk and start working with your live Talkdesk data in Node.js. Reach out to our Support Team if you have any questions.