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Complete read-write access to Xero accounting enables developers to search (Customers, Transactions, Invoices, Sales Receipts, etc.), update items, edit customers, and more, from any .NET application.

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Working with Xero Data in LINQPad


Execute LINQ queries to Xero data in LINQPad.

The CData ADO.NET Provider for Xero enables you to use standard ADO.NET interfaces like LINQ and the Entity Framework to work with Xero data. This article will demonstrate the process of establishing a connection from LINQPad and executing LINQ queries.

Create the Data Model

After downloading and installing both the provider and LINQPad, create a new class library project within Visual Studio.

See the help documentation for a guide to setting up an EF 6 project to use the provider.

  1. Right-click your project and click Add -> New Item -> ADO.NET Entity Data Model. In the resulting dialog, select Code First from database. Click New Connection and specify the connection string options in the resulting wizard.

    To connect, set the Schema connection property in addition to any authentication values. Xero offers authentication for private applications, public applications, and partner applications. You will need to set the XeroAppAuthentication property to PUBLIC, PRIVATE, or PARTNER, depending on the type of application configured. To connect from a private application, you will additionally need to set the OAuthAccessToken, OAuthClientId, OAuthClientSecret, CertificateStoreType, CertificateStore, and CertificateStorePassword.

    To connect from a public or partner application, you can use the embedded OAuthClientId, OAuthClientSecret, and CallbackURL, or you can register an app to obtain your own OAuth values.

    See the "Getting Started" chapter of the help documentation for a guide to authenticating to Xero.

  2. Select the desired tables and views and click Finish to create the data model.

  3. Build the project. The generated files can be used to create the Xero connection in LINQPad.

Connect to Xero Data in LINQPad

After you have obtained the required connection properties and created the data model assembly, follow the steps below to start using the data model in LINQPad.

  1. Open LINQPad and click Add Connection.

  2. Select the "Use a typed data context from your own assembly" option.

  3. Select Entity Framework DbContext.

  4. Click Browse next to the Path to Custom Assembly box and browse to your project folder. Browse to the .dll or .exe under the bin folder.

  5. Select the name of the DbContext.
  6. If you saved your connection string in App.Config, specify the path to the App.config.

You can now query Xero data through LINQPad. For examples of the supported LINQ queries, see the "LINQ and Entity Framework" chapter in the help documentation.