Import Real-Time UKG Pro WFM Data via ODBC in ColdFusion to Build Applications

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 API Driver for ODBC, you can link your ColdFusion web and mobile applications to operational UKG Pro WFM 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 UKG Pro WFM data from within a ColdFusion markup file.

To follow along with this tutorial, you need to install the CData API Driver for ODBC 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.

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

UKGProWFM API Profile Settings

UKG Pro Workforce Management uses OAuth 2.0 with the Resource Owner Password Credentials grant (grant_type=password) to authorize access to the API. Unlike most OAuth-based profiles, this does not use a browser redirect/authorization-code step: the driver exchanges your UKG Pro WFM username, password, client ID, and client secret directly for an access token.

Set the following connection properties to authenticate:

• AuthScheme: Set this to OAuthPassword.
• Host: Set this to the hostname of your UKG Pro Workforce Management datacenter/tenant (for example, yourcompany.mykronos.com). Do not include the protocol (https://) or a trailing slash.
• OAuthClientId: Set this to the client ID issued for your UKG Pro Workforce Management OAuth application.
• OAuthClientSecret: Set this to the client secret issued for your UKG Pro Workforce Management OAuth application.
• User: Set this to your UKG Pro Workforce Management username.
• Password: Set this to your UKG Pro Workforce Management password.

Access tokens are obtained from https://{Host}/api/authentication/access_token. Refresh tokens issued by UKG Pro Workforce Management expire after 7 days; if a refresh attempt fails because the refresh token itself has expired, the driver must re-authenticate with your User/Password credentials to obtain a new access token.

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 UKG Pro WFM 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 UKG Pro WFM 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 CDataUKG Pro WFMODBC 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="UKG Pro WFMQuery" dataSource="CDataUKG Pro WFMODBC"> 
             SELECT * FROM Employees 
           </cfquery> 
       

   And a CFTable can be used to quickly output the table in HTML:

               
             <cftable  
             query = "UKG Pro WFMQuery" 
             border = "1" 
             colHeaders 
             colSpacing = "2" 
             headerLines = "2" 
             HTMLTable 
             maxRows = "500" 
             startRow = "1"> 
   
             <cfcol header="<b>PersonNumber</b>" align="Left" width=2 text="PersonNumber"/> 
   
             <cfcol header="<b>UserName</b>" align="Left" width=15 text="UserName"/> 
   
             ...
   
           </cftable> 
       

   Full code, including the HTML portion is available below:

               
           <html> 
           <head><title>CData Software | UKG Pro WFM Employees Table Demo </title></head> 
           <body> 
           <cfoutput>#ucase("UKG Pro WFM Employees Table Demo")#</cfoutput> 
           <cfquery name="UKG Pro WFMQuery" dataSource="CDataUKG Pro WFMODBC"> 
   
             SELECT * FROM Employees 
   
           </cfquery> 
           <cftable  
             query = "UKG Pro WFMQuery" 
             border = "1" 
             colHeaders 
             colSpacing = "2" 
             headerLines = "2" 
             HTMLTable 
             maxRows = "500" 
             startRow = "1"> 
             <cfcol header="<b>PersonNumber</b>" align="Left" width=2 text="PersonNumber"/> 
   
             <cfcol header="<b>UserName</b>" align="Left" width=15 text="UserName"/> 
   
             ...
   
           </cftable> 
           </body> 
   
           </html>  
       

6. Finally, run the code in a browser. It produces a table populated with UKG Pro WFM 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 UKG Pro WFM and start building UKG Pro WFM-connected applications with Adobe ColdFusion. Reach out to our Support Team if you have any questions.