Viewing TimeCamp Data in RAD Studio Data Explorer

Embarcadero RAD Studio provides a development environment for Delphi and C++Builder applications. With the CData ODBC Driver for TimeCamp, you gain access to live TimeCamp data within RAD Studio, abstracting the data into tables, views, and stored procedures that can be used to both retrieve TimeCamp data. This article will walk through connecting to TimeCamp using the Data Explorer.

Configure a Connection to TimeCamp

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

Start by setting the Profile connection property to the location of the TimeCamp Profile on disk (e.g. C:\profiles\TimeCamp.apip). Next, set the ProfileSettings connection property to the connection string for TimeCamp (see below).

TimeCamp API Profile Settings

TimeCamp uses token-based authentication. To obtain an API Token:

1. Log in to your TimeCamp account at https://app.timecamp.com
2. Click your profile avatar in the top-right corner
3. Select Profile Settings
4. Copy the API token shown at the bottom of the page

After obtaining your API Token, set the following connection properties:

• AuthScheme: Set this to APIKey.

Set the following in the ProfileSettings connection property:

• APIKey: Set this to your TimeCamp API token.

Connecting to TimeCamp Data Using Data Explorer

You can create a simple application for displaying TimeCamp data by utilizing the CData FireDAC Components for TimeCamp and a new VCL Forms Application:

1. Open the Data Explorer in RAD Studio and expand FireDAC.
2. Right-click the ODBC Data Source node in the Data Explorer.
3. Click Add New Connection.
4. Enter a name for the connection.
5. In the FireDAC Connection Editor that appears, set the DataSource property to the name of the ODBC DSN for TimeCamp.
6. Back in the Data Explorer, expand the views for the connection.

7. Create a new VCL Forms application and drag a view (for example: GroupUsers) onto the form.

   
8. Select the GroupUsersView object on the form and set the Active property to true.

9. Right-click on the object, bind visually, and link everything (*) to a new control (TStringGrid).

   

10. Arrange the TStringGrid on the form and run the application to see the GroupUsers data.

    

Related Articles

Below you can find other articles for using the CData ODBC Driver with RAD Studio, Delphi, and C++ Builder.

• DataBind Controls to TimeCamp Data in C++Builder
• DataBind Controls to TimeCamp Data in Delphi
• Build a Simple VCL Application for TimeCamp Data