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Get the Report →Build Workday-Connected Web Apps with Axios and CData Connect Cloud
Use CData Connect Cloud to connect to live Workday data and build Workday-connected web apps with Axios.
Axios is a JavaScript library that allows developers to make HTTP requests to servers from a web browser or Node.js. When paired with CData Connect Cloud, you get access to live Workday data for your web apps. This article shows how to connect to Workday and build web apps in Axios with access to live Workday data.
About Workday Data Integration
CData provides the easiest way to access and integrate live data from Workday. Customers use CData connectivity to:
- Access the tables and datasets you create in Prism Analytics Data Catalog, working with the native Workday data hub without compromising the fidelity of your Workday system.
- Access Workday Reports-as-a-Service to surface data from departmental datasets not available from Prism and datasets larger than Prism allows.
- Access base data objects with WQL, REST, or SOAP, getting more granular, detailed access but with the potential need for Workday admins or IT to help craft queries.
Users frequently integrate Workday with analytics tools such as Tableau, Power BI, and Excel, and leverage our tools to replicate Workday data to databases or data warehouses. Access is secured at the user level, based on the authenticated user's identity and role.
For more information on configuring Workday to work with CData, refer to our Knowledge Base articles: Comprehensive Workday Connectivity through Workday WQL and Reports-as-a-Service & Workday + CData: Connection & Integration Best Practices.
Getting Started
Connect to Workday from Axios
To work with Workday in Axios, we need to connect to Workday from Connect Cloud, provide user access to the connection, and create OData endpoints for the Workday data.
(Optional) Add a New Connect Cloud User
As needed, create Users to connect to Workday through Connect Cloud.
- Navigate to the Users page and click Invite Users
- Enter the new user's email address and click Send to invite the user
- You can review and edit users from the Users page
Add a Personal Access Token
If you are connecting from a service, application, platform, or framework that does not support OAuth authentication, you can create a Personal Access Token (PAT) to use for authentication. Best practices would dictate that you create a separate PAT for each service, to maintain granularity of access.
- Click on your username at the top right of the Connect Cloud app and click User Profile.
- On the User Profile page, scroll down to the Personal Access Tokens section and click Create PAT.
- Give your PAT a name and click Create.
- The personal access token is only visible at creation, so be sure to copy it and store it securely for future use.
Connect to Workday from Connect Cloud
CData Connect Cloud uses a straightforward, point-and-click interface to connect to data sources.
- Log into Connect Cloud, click Connections and click Add Connection
- Select "Workday" from the Add Connection panel
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Enter the necessary authentication properties to connect to Workday.
To connect to Workday, users need to find the Tenant and BaseURL and then select their API type.
Obtaining the BaseURL and Tenant
To obtain the BaseURL and Tenant properties, log into Workday and search for "View API Clients." On this screen, you'll find the Workday REST API Endpoint, a URL that includes both the BaseURL and Tenant.
The format of the REST API Endpoint is: https://domain.com/subdirectories/mycompany, where:
- https://domain.com/subdirectories/ is the BaseURL.
- mycompany (the portion of the url after the very last slash) is the Tenant.
Using ConnectionType to Select the API
The value you use for the ConnectionType property determines which Workday API you use. See our Community Article for more information on Workday connectivity options and best practices.
API ConnectionType Value WQL WQL Reports as a Service Reports REST REST SOAP SOAP
Authentication
Your method of authentication depends on which API you are using.
- WQL, Reports as a Service, REST: Use OAuth authentication.
- SOAP: Use Basic or OAuth authentication.
See the Help documentation for more information on configuring OAuth with Workday.
- Click Create & Test
- Navigate to the Permissions tab in the Add Workday Connection page and update the User-based permissions.
Note the CData Connect Cloud SQL API Endpoint(s)
CData Connect Cloud contains API endpoints that allow you to submit SQL queries to Workday through common web requests. To work with Workday data in Axios web apps, you will use the query endpoint.
Query Endpoint
https://cloud.cdata.com/api/query
With the connection and Workspace configured, you are ready to connect to Workday data from Axios.
Connect to Workday Data in Axios Workflows
To establish a connection from Axios to CData Connect Cloud using the OData protocol, follow these steps.
- Create a project directory for your web app. For example: ~/connect_cloud/
- Open a terminal, navigate the the project directory and initialize a node project using the command:
npm init -y
- Install the Axios dependency in the project using the following command:
npm install axios
In your project directory, create a file called server.js that contains the following code. Provide your CData Connect Cloud username (e.g. [email protected]) and PAT (the PAT you created in the prerequisites). You must also provide a query for your data, such as SELECT * FROM Workday1.SCHEMA.Workers.
server.js code
const axios = require('axios') const user = '[email protected]' const pat = '***********************************'; //Your API endpoint const url = 'https://cloud.cdata.com/api/query'; //Your data to be sent in the POST request const data = { "query":"SELECT * FROM Workday1.SCHEMA.Workers" }; axios.post(url, data, { auth: { username: user, password: pat } }) .then(response => { const rows = response.data.results[0].rows; const schema = response.data.results[0].schema; //Create an array of column names const columnNames = schema.map(col => col.columnName); //Loop through each row and log the column name with its value rows.forEach(row => { const rowObject = {}; row.forEach((value, index) => { const columnName = columnNames[index]; rowObject[columnName] = value; }); console.log(rowObject); }) }) .catch(error => { console.error('Error:', error); });
- In the terminal, execute the following command to run the server:
node server.js
The query results will appear:{ ID: 1, VALUE: -2 } { ID: 2, VALUE: 1 } { ID: 11, VALUE: null } { ID: 3, VALUE: 2 } { ID: 4, VALUE: 5 } ...
Simplified Access to Workday Data from Cloud Applications
At this point, you have a direct connection to live Workday data from Axios. For more information on gaining simplified access to data from more than 100 SaaS, Big Data, and NoSQL sources in cloud applications like Axios, refer to our Connect Cloud page.