Learn more
 

Ready to get started?

Download a free trial of the Act CRM ODBC Driver to get started:

 Download Now

Learn more:

Act CRM Icon Act CRM ODBC Driver

The Act CRM ODBC Driver is a powerful tool that allows you to connect with live Act CRM, directly from any applications that support ODBC connectivity.

Access Act CRM like you would a database - query Companies, Contact, Groups, Opportunities, etc. through a standard ODBC Driver interface.

In this article

Related articles

Viewing Act CRM Data in RAD Studio Data Explorer


How to view Act CRM data in RAD Studio Data Explorer using the CData ODBC Driver for Act CRM.

Embarcadero RAD Studio provides a development environment for Delphi and C++Builder applications. With the CData ODBC Driver for Act CRM, you gain access to live Act CRM data within RAD Studio, abstracting the data into tables, views, and stored procedures that can be used to both retrieve and update Act CRM data. This article will walk through connecting to Act CRM using the Data Explorer.

Configure a Connection to Act CRM

If you have not already, first specify connection properties in an ODBC DSN (data source name). This is the last step of the driver installation. You can use the Microsoft ODBC Data Source Administrator to create and configure ODBC DSNs.

The User and Password properties, under the Authentication section, must be set to valid Act! user credentials. In addition to the authentication values, see the following:

  • Connecting to Act! Premium

    In addition to the authentication values, the URL to Act! is also required; for example https://eup1-iis-04.eu.hosted.act.com/.

    Additionally, you must specify the ActDatabase you will connect to. This is found by going to the About Act! Premium menu of your account, at the top right of the page, in the ? menu. Use the Database Name in the window that appears.

  • Connecting to Act! Premium Cloud

    To connect to your Act! Premium Cloud account, you also need to specify the ActCloudName property. This property is found in the URL address of the Cloud account; for example https://eup1-iis-04.eu.hosted.act.com/ActCloudName/.

Note that retrieving ActCRM metadata can be expensive. It is advised that you set the CacheMetadata property to store the metadata locally.

Connecting to Act CRM Data Using Data Explorer

You can create a simple application for displaying Act CRM data by utilizing the CData FireDAC Components for Act CRM and a new VCL Forms Application:

  1. Open the Data Explorer in RAD Studio and expand FireDAC.
  2. Right-click the ODBC Data Source node in the Data Explorer.
  3. Click Add New Connection.
  4. Enter a name for the connection.
  5. In the FireDAC Connection Editor that appears, set the DataSource property to the name of the ODBC DSN for Act CRM.
  6. Back in the Data Explorer, expand the tables for the connection.

  7. Create a new VCL Forms application and drag a table (for example: Activities) onto the form.

  8. Select the ActivitiesTable object on the form and set the Active property to true.

  9. Right-click on the object, bind visually, and link everything (*) to a new control (TStringGrid).

  10. Arrange the TStringGrid on the form and run the application to see the Activities data.