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Get the Report →Edit and Search External Jira Service Desk Objects in Salesforce Connect
Use CData Connect Cloud to securely provide OData feeds of Jira Service Desk data to smart devices and cloud-based applications. Use the CData Connect and Salesforce Connect to create Jira Service Desk Data objects that you can access from apps and the dashboard.
CData Connect Cloud, enables you to access Jira Service Desk data from cloud-based applications like the Salesforce console and mobile applications like the Salesforce Mobile App. In this article, you will use CData Connect Cloud and Salesforce Connect to access external Jira Service Desk objects alongside standard Salesforce objects.
Connect to Jira Service Desk from Salesforce
To work with live Jira Service Desk data in Salesforce Connect, we need to connect to Jira Service Desk from Connect Cloud, provide user access to the connection, and create OData endpoints for the Jira Service Desk data.
(Optional) Add a New Connect Cloud User
As needed, create Users to connect to Jira Service Desk 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 Jira Service Desk 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 "Jira Service Desk" from the Add Connection panel
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Enter the necessary authentication properties to connect to Jira Service Desk.
You can establish a connection to any Jira Service Desk Cloud account or Server instance.
Connecting with a Cloud Account
To connect to a Cloud account, you'll first need to retrieve an APIToken. To generate one, log in to your Atlassian account and navigate to API tokens > Create API token. The generated token will be displayed.
Supply the following to connect to data:
- User: Set this to the username of the authenticating user.
- APIToken: Set this to the API token found previously.
Connecting with a Service Account
To authenticate with a service account, you will need to supply the following connection properties:
- User: Set this to the username of the authenticating user.
- Password: Set this to the password of the authenticating user.
- URL: Set this to the URL associated with your JIRA Service Desk endpoint. For example, https://yoursitename.atlassian.net.
Note: Password has been deprecated for connecting to a Cloud Account and is now used only to connect to a Server Instance.
Accessing Custom Fields
By default, the connector only surfaces system fields. To access the custom fields for Issues, set IncludeCustomFields.
- Click Create & Test
- Navigate to the Permissions tab in the Add Jira Service Desk Connection page and update the User-based permissions.
Add Jira Service Desk OData Endpoints in Connect Cloud
After connecting to Jira Service Desk, create OData Endpoints for the desired table(s).
- Navigate to the OData page and click Add to create new OData endpoints
- Select the Jira Service Desk connection (e.g. JiraServiceDesk1) and click Next
- Select the table(s) you wish to work with and click Confirm
With the connection and OData endpoints configured, you are ready to connect to Jira Service Desk data from Salesforce Connect.
Connect to Jira Service Desk Data as an External Data Sources
Follow the steps below to connect to the feed produced by Connect Cloud.
- Log into Salesforce and click Setup -> Integrations -> External Data Sources.
- Click Now External Data Sources.
- Enter values for the following properties:
- External Data Sources: Enter a label to be used in list views and reports.
- Name: Enter a unique identifier.
- Type: Select the option "Salesforce Connect: OData 4.0".
- URL: Enter the URL to the OData endpoint of Connect Cloud: https://cloud.cdata.com/api/odata/service
- Select the Writable External Objects option.
- Select JSON in the Format menu.
- In the Authentication section, set the following properties:
- Identity Type: If all members of your organization will use the same credentials to access Connect Cloud, select "Named Principal". If the members of your organization will connect with their own credentials, select "Per User".
- Authentication Protocol: Select Password Authentication to use basic authentication.
- Certificate: Enter or browse to the certificate to be used to encrypt and authenticate communications from Salesforce to your server.
- Username: Enter a CData Connect Cloud username (e.g. user@mydomain.com.
- Password: Enter the user's PAT.
![Configuration settings for the data source (NetSuite is shown)](../articles/cloud-salesforce-connect-3.png)
Synchronize Jira Service Desk Objects
After you have created the external data source, follow the steps below to create Jira Service Desk external objects that reflect any changes in the data source. You will synchronize the definitions for the Jira Service Desk external objects with the definitions for Jira Service Desk tables.
- Click the link for the external data source you created.
- Click Validate and Scan.
- Select the Jira Service Desk tables you want to work with as external objects.
![Select external objects (NetSuite is shown)](../articles/cloud-salesforce-connect-4.png)
Access Jira Service Desk Data as Salesforce Objects
After adding Jira Service Desk data as an external data source and syncing Jira Service Desk tables as external objects, you can use the external Jira Service Desk objects just as you would standard Salesforce objects.
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Create a new tab with a filter list view:
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Create reports of external objects:
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Create, update, and delete Jira Service Desk objects from the Salesforce dashboard:
Simplified Access to Jira Service Desk Data from Cloud Applications
At this point, you have a direct, cloud-to-cloud connection to live Jira Service Desk data from Salesforce. For more information on gaining simplified access to data from more than 100 SaaS, Big Data, and NoSQL sources in cloud applications like Salesforce, refer to our Connect Cloud page.