Consume Zuora OData Feeds in PowerBuilder



This article demonstrates how to consume Zuora data as OData feeds from PowerBuilder using the API Server.

The CData API Server produces secure feeds of Zuora data that you can consume in PowerBuilder DataWindows. The API Server supports the major Web services, including OData, Atom, JSON, HTML, CSV, TSV, and RSS. It also supports the major authentication schemes and SSL.

This article shows how to create a DataWindow that uses the CData API Server to retrieve data.

Set Up the API Server

Follow the steps below to begin producing secure Zuora OData services:

Deploy

The API Server runs on your own server. On Windows, you can deploy using the stand-alone server or IIS. On a Java servlet container, drop in the API Server WAR file. See the help documentation for more information and how-tos.

The API Server is also easy to deploy on Microsoft Azure, Amazon EC2, and Heroku.

Connect to Zuora

After you deploy the API Server, provide authentication values and other connection properties needed to connect to Zuora by clicking Settings -> Connections and adding a new connection in the API Server administration console.

Zuora uses the OAuth standard to authenticate users. See the online Help documentation for a full OAuth authentication guide.

Configuring Tenant property

In order to create a valid connection with the provider you need to choose one of the Tenant values (USProduction by default) which matches your account configuration. The following is a list with the available options:

  • USProduction: Requests sent to https://rest.zuora.com.
  • USAPISandbox: Requests sent to https://rest.apisandbox.zuora.com"
  • USPerformanceTest: Requests sent to https://rest.pt1.zuora.com"
  • EUProduction: Requests sent to https://rest.eu.zuora.com"
  • EUSandbox: Requests sent to https://rest.sandbox.eu.zuora.com"

Selecting a Zuora Service

Two Zuora services are available: Data Query and AQuA API. By default ZuoraService is set to AQuADataExport.

DataQuery

The Data Query feature enables you to export data from your Zuora tenant by performing asynchronous, read-only SQL queries. We recommend to use this service for quick lightweight SQL queries.

Limitations
  • The maximum number of input records per table after filters have been applied: 1,000,000
  • The maximum number of output records: 100,000
  • The maximum number of simultaneous queries submitted for execution per tenant: 5
  • The maximum number of queued queries submitted for execution after reaching the limitation of simultaneous queries per tenant: 10
  • The maximum processing time for each query in hours: 1
  • The maximum size of memory allocated to each query in GB: 2
  • The maximum number of indices when using Index Join, in other words, the maximum number of records being returned by the left table based on the unique value used in the WHERE clause when using Index Join: 20,000

AQuADataExport

AQuA API export is designed to export all the records for all the objects ( tables ). AQuA query jobs have the following limitations:

Limitations
  • If a query in an AQuA job is executed longer than 8 hours, this job will be killed automatically.
  • The killed AQuA job can be retried three times before returned as failed.

You can then choose the Zuora entities you want to allow the API Server access to by clicking Settings -> Resources.

Additionally, click Settings -> Server and change the following settings for compatibility with PowerBuilder:

  • Default Format: Select XML (Atom) in the menu.
  • Default Version: Select 2.0 in the menu.

Authorize API Server Users

After determining the OData services you want to produce, authorize users by clicking Settings -> Users. The API Server uses authtoken-based authentication and supports the major authentication schemes. Access can also be restricted based on IP address; by default, only connections to the local machine are allowed. You can authenticate as well as encrypt connections with SSL.

Create a Profile for Zuora

Follow the steps below to use the Database Painter tool to create a database profile for the OData API of the API Server. In the Database Painter, you can graphically manipulate data as well as execute SQL queries.

  1. Click Tools -> Database Painter.
  2. Right-click the OData node and click New Profile.
  3. In the Database Profile Setup dialog, enter the following:
    • Profile Name: Enter a user-friendly name for the profile.
    • URI: Enter the URL to the OData endpoint of the API Server. This URL will resemble the one below: http://MyServer:8032/api.rsc
    • Supply User Id and Password: Click this option to use HTTP Basic authentication. Note that the API Server also supports Windows authentication.
    • User Id: Enter the name of an user in the API Server.
    • Password: Enter the authtoken of an user in the API Server.
  4. To view and modify a table, right-click a table and then click Edit Data -> Grid.

Using Zuora Data with PowerBuilder Controls

You can use standard PowerBuilder objects to connect to OData feeds and execute queries. The following example shows how to retrieve Zuora data into a DataWindow.

You can add the following code to the open method:

SQLCA.DBMS = "ODT" SQLCA.DBParm = "ConnectString='URI=http://MyServer:8032/api.rsc;UID=MyAPIUser;PWD=MyAuthtoken'"; CONNECT USING SQLCA; dw_invoices.SetTransObject(SQLCA); dw_invoices.Retrieve();

Ready to get started?

Learn more or sign up for a free trial:

CData API Server