Integrate Real-Time Access to TaxJar in SAPUI5 MVC Apps



Use the built-in ODataModel class in SAPUI5 to create Web apps that reflect changes to TaxJar data in real time.

In this article we show how to use the CData Connect Server and with the ADO.NET Provider for TaxJar (or any of 200+ other ADO.NET Providers) to write SAPUI5 apps that leverage the capabilities of the TaxJar API, without writing to a back-end database. The Connect Server is a lightweight Web application that runs on your server and produces OData feeds of TaxJar data. OData is the standard for real-time data access over the Web and has built-in support in SAPUI5 and OpenUI5.

Configuring Connect Server

To work with live TaxJar data in our SAPUI5 app, we need to connect to TaxJar from Connect Server, provide user access to the new virtual database, and create OData endpoints for the TaxJar data.

Add a Connect Server User

Create a User to connect to TaxJar from SAPUI5 through Connect Server.

  1. Click Users -> Add
  2. Configure a User
  3. Click Save Changes and make note of the Authtoken for the new user

Connect to TaxJar from Connect Server

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

  1. Open Connect Server and click Connections
  2. Select "TaxJar" from Available Data Sources
  3. Enter the necessary authentication properties to connect to TaxJar.

    To authenticate to the TaxJar API, you will need to first obtain the API Key from the TaxJar UI.

    NOTE: the API is available only for Professional and Premium TaxJar plans.

    If you already have a Professional or Premium plan you can find the API Key by logging in the TaxJar UI and navigating to Account -> TaxJar API. After obtaining the API Key, you can set it in the APIKey connection property.

    Additional Notes

    • By default, the CData connector will retrieve data of the last 3 months in cases where the entity support date range filtering. You can set StartDate to specify the minimum creation date of the data retrieved.
    • If the API Key has been created for a sandbox API account please set UseSandbox to true, but not all endpoints will work as expected. For more information, refer to the TaxJar developer documentation.
  4. Click Save Changes
  5. Click Privileges -> Add and add the new user (or an existing user) with the appropriate permissions (SELECT is all that is required for Reveal).

Add TaxJar OData Endpoints in Connect Server

After connecting to TaxJar, create OData Endpoints for the desired table(s).

  1. Click OData -> Tables -> Add Tables
  2. Select the TaxJar database
  3. Select the table(s) you wish to work with and click Next
  4. (Optional) Edit the resource to select specific fields and more
  5. Save the settings

(Optional) Configure Cross-Origin Resource Sharing (CORS)

When accessing and connecting to multiple domains from an application such as Ajax, there is a possibility of violating the limitations of cross-site scripting. In that case, configure the CORS settings in OData -> Settings.

  • Enable cross-origin resource sharing (CORS): ON
  • Allow all domains without '*': ON
  • Access-Control-Allow-Methods: GET, PUT, POST, OPTIONS
  • Access-Control-Allow-Headers: Authorization

Save the changes to the settings.

Create the View

In this article the user views and interacts with TaxJar data through an SAPUI5 table control. Table columns will be automatically detected from the metadata retrieved from the Connect Server's API endpoint. We define the following table in a separate View.view.xml file:


<mvc:View
  controllerName="sap.ui.table.sample.OData2.Controller"
  xmlns="sap.ui.table"
  xmlns:mvc="sap.ui.core.mvc"
  xmlns:u="sap.ui.unified"
  xmlns:c="sap.ui.core"
  xmlns:m="sap.m">
  <m:Page
    showHeader="false"
    enableScrolling="true"
    class="sapUiContentPadding">
    <m:content>
      <Table
        id="table"
        selectionMode="MultiToggle"
        visibleRowCount="10"
        enableSelectAll="false"
        rows="{/Orders}"
        threshold="15"
        enableBusyIndicator="true"
        columns="{
          path: 'meta>/dataServices/schema/[${namespace}===\'CData\']/entityType/[${name}===\'Orders\']/property',
          factory: '.columnFactory'
        }">
        <toolbar>
          <m:Toolbar>
            <m:Title text="TaxJar Orders"></m:Title>
          </m:Toolbar>
        </toolbar>
        <noData>
          <m:BusyIndicator class="sapUiMediumMargin"/>
        </noData>
      </Table>
    </m:content>
  </m:Page>
</mvc:View>

Create the Model and Controller

In SAPUI5, you do not need to write any OData queries; an ODataModel instance handles the application's data access commands. The Connect Server then translates the queries into TaxJar API calls.

The controller processes user input and represents information to the user through a view. Define the controller in a new file, Controller.controller.js. Instantiate the model in the onInit function -- you will need to replace the placeholder values for the serviceUrl to the Connect Server as well as the Authorization header.

For the Authorization header, you will keep the "Basic" as shown and then use a Base64 encoder (such as this one) to generate a token to fill in the second part. You will use the login information for Connect Server in the following format to generate your encoded token -> User:Authtoken

sap.ui.define([
  "sap/ui/core/mvc/Controller",
  "sap/ui/model/odata/v2/ODataModel",
  "sap/ui/model/json/JSONModel",
  "sap/ui/table/Column",
  "sap/m/Text",
], function(Controller, ODataModel, JSONModel, Column, Text ) {
  "use strict";
  

  return Controller.extend("sap.ui.table.sample.OData2.Controller", {
    
    onInit : function () {
      
      var oView = this.getView();
      var oDataModel = new ODataModel({
        serviceUrl: "http://localhost:8080/odata.rsc/",  
        headers: {
            "Authorization":"Basic your-token-here>"
        }
    });
      
      oDataModel.setUseBatch(false);
      oDataModel.getMetaModel().loaded().then(function(){
        oView.setModel(oDataModel.getMetaModel(), "meta");
      });
      oView.setModel(oDataModel);
      
      var oTable = oView.byId("table");
      var oBinding = oTable.getBinding("rows");
      var oBusyIndicator = oTable.getNoData();
      oBinding.attachDataRequested(function(){
      oTable.setNoData(oBusyIndicator);
      });
      oBinding.attachDataReceived(function(){
        oTable.setNoData(null); //use default again ("no data" in case no data is available)
      });
    },
    
    onExit : function () {
    },
    
    columnFactory : function(sId, oContext) {
      var oModel = this.getView().getModel();
      var sName = oContext.getProperty("name");
      var sType = oContext.getProperty("type");
      var iLen = oContext.getProperty("maxLength");
      iLen = iLen ? parseInt(iLen, 10) : 10;
      
      return new Column(sId, {
        sortProperty: sName, 
        filterProperty: sName,
        width: (iLen > 9 ? (iLen > 50 ? 15 : 10) : 5) + "rem",
        label: new sap.m.Label({text: "{/#Orders/" + sName + "/@name}"}),
        hAlign: sType && sType.indexOf("Decimal") >= 0 ? "End" : "Begin",
        template: new Text({text: {path: sName}})
      });
    }
    
  });

});

Describe Application Logic

Create a component that contains the resources of your application. Define the following in Component.js:


sap.ui.define([
  'sap/ui/core/UIComponent'
], function(UIComponent) {
  "use strict";

  return UIComponent.extend("sap.ui.table.sample.OData2.Component", {
    metadata : {
      rootView : "sap.ui.table.sample.OData2.View",
      dependencies : {
        libs : [
          "sap.ui.table",
          "sap.ui.unified",
          "sap.m"
        ]
      },

      config : {
        sample : {
          stretch : true,
          files : [
            "View.view.xml",
            "Controller.controller.js"
          ]
        }
      }
    }
  });

});

Bootstrap OpenUI5 and Launch

To complete the MVC application, simply add the bootstrap and initialization code. Add these directly to index.html:

<!DOCTYPE HTML>

<html>
<head>
  <meta http-equiv="x-ua-compatible" content="ie=edge">
  <meta charset="utf-8"> 
  <title>TaxJar Orders</title>
  
  <script id="sap-ui-bootstrap"
    src="https://openui5.hana.ondemand.com/resources/sap-ui-core.js"
    data-sap-ui-libs="sap.m"
    data-sap-ui-theme="sap_bluecrystal"
    data-sap-ui-xx-bindingSyntax="complex"
    data-sap-ui-preload="async"
    data-sap-ui-compatVersion="edge" 
    data-sap-ui-resourceroots='{"sap.ui.table.sample.OData2": "./", "sap.ui.demo.mock": "mockdata"}'>
  </script>
  
  <!-- application launch configuration -->
  <script>
  
      sap.ui.getCore().attachInit(function() {
        new sap.m.App ({
          pages: [
                new sap.m.Page({
                    title: "TaxJar Orders", 
                    enableScrolling : false,
                  content: [ new sap.ui.core.ComponentContainer({
                  height : "100%", name : "sap.ui.table.sample.OData2"
                })]
            })
          ]
      }).placeAt("content");
    });

  </script>
</head> 
  <!-- UI Content -->
<body class="sapUiBody" id="content" role="application">
</body> 
</html>

Setting Up A Web Server

To test the project, we can set up a web server. SAPUI5 has its own mock server, and the documentation for setting it up can be found here: https://sapui5.hana.ondemand.com/sdk/#/topic/50897decc9504b2a875fb41d89fd254a

Alternatively, we can use a NodeJS server, like so:

    var fs = require('fs'), http = require('http');

    http.createServer(function (req, res) {
      fs.readFile(__dirname + req.url, function (err,data) {
        if (err) {
          res.writeHead(404);
          res.end(JSON.stringify(err));
          return;
        }
        res.writeHead(200);
        res.end(data);
      });
    }).listen(3000); //we're using port 3000, but you may use a different one
    

The resulting SAPUI5 table control reflects any changes to a table in the remote TaxJar data. You can now browse and search current TaxJar data.

Free Trial & More Information

If you are interested in connecting to your TaxJar data (or data from any of our other supported data sources), sign up for a free trial of CData Connect Server today! For more information on Connect Server and to see what other data sources we support, refer to our CData Connect page.

Ready to get started?

Learn more or sign up for a free trial:

CData Connect Server