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Get the Report →Access Workday Data in PHP through Connect Server
Connect to Workday through the standard SQL Server libraries in PHP.
You can use CData Connect Server to access Workday data from SQL Server clients, without needing to perform an ETL or cache data. Follow the steps below to create a virtual SQL Server database for Workday and connect to Workday data in real time through PHP's standard SQL Server interface, i.e. sqlsrv_connect.
CData Connect Server provides a pure SQL Server interface for Workday, allowing you to easily build reports from live Workday data in PHP — without replicating the data to a natively supported database. As you build visualizations, PHP generates SQL queries to gather data. Using optimized data processing out of the box, CData Connect Server pushes all supported SQL operations (filters, JOINs, etc) directly to Workday, leveraging server-side processing to quickly return the requested 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
Create a Virtual SQL Server Database for Workday Data
CData Connect Server uses a straightforward, point-and-click interface to connect to data sources and generate APIs.
- Login to Connect Server and click Connections.
- Select "Workday" from Available Data Sources.
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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 Save Changes
- Click Privileges -> Add and add the new user (or an existing user) with the appropriate permissions.
With the virtual database created, you are ready to connect to Workday data from PHP.
Connect in PHP
The following examples show how to use object-oriented interfaces to connect and execute queries. Initialize the connection object with the following parameters to connect to the virtual SQL Server database:
- Server name/Host: Specify the remote host location where the service is running.
- Username: Specify the username for a user you authorized in Connect Server.
- Password: Specify the password for the authorized user account.
- Database Name: Specify the name of the virtual database you created for Workday.
- Port: Specify the port the service is running on, port 1433 in this example.
sqlsrv_connect
<?php $serverName = "connect_server_url, 1433"; //Connect Server Address, portNumber (default is 1433) $connectionInfo = array( "Database"=>"Workday1", "UID"=>"userName", "PWD"=>"password"); $conn = sqlsrv_connect( $serverName, $connectionInfo); if( $conn ) { echo "Connection established.<br>"; }else{ echo "Connection could not be established.<br>"; die( print_r( sqlsrv_errors(), true)); } ?>
PDO
<?php <?php $user = my_connect_user $pass = my_connect_pass $pdo = new PDO("sqlsrv:Server=connect_server_url,1433;Database=Workday1", $user , $pass); ?>
Query in PHP
With the connection established, you can then access tables. The following steps walk through the example:
- Query the table; for example, Workers. The results will be stored as an associative array in the $result object.
- Iterate over each row and column, printing the values to display in the PHP page.
- Close the connection.
sqlsrv_connect
$result = $sqlsrv_connect->query("SELECT Worker_Reference_WID, Legal_Name_Last_Name FROM Workers WHERE Legal_Name_Last_Name = 'Morgan'"); while($row = $result->fetch_assoc()) { foreach ($row as $k=>$v) { echo "$k : $v"; echo "<br>"; } } $sqlsrv_connect->close();
PDO
$result = $pdo->query("SELECT Worker_Reference_WID, Legal_Name_Last_Name FROM Workers WHERE Legal_Name_Last_Name = 'Morgan'"); while($row = $result->fetch(PDO::FETCH_ASSOC)) { foreach ($row as $k=>$v) { echo "$k : $v"; echo "<br>"; } } $result = null; $pdo = null;
SQL Server Access to Workday Data using PHP
You have retrieved live Workday Data using PHP. Now, you can easily access data sources and more — all without replicating Workday data.
To get SQL data access to 200+ SaaS, Big Data, and NoSQL sources directly from your applications, try CData Connect Server.