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CData Connect Server

DataBind Wijmo Grid to Avalara AvaTax Data



Provide real-time Avalara AvaTax data to interactive controls.

The Connect Server enables you to use Web services to connect to and query Avalara AvaTax data. This article details how to import an OData feed of Avalara AvaTax data into Wijmo Grid.

Configuring Connect Server

To work with live Avalara AvaTax data in Wijmo Grid, we need to connect to Avalara AvaTax from Connect Server, provide user access to the new virtual database, and create OData endpoints for the Avalara AvaTax data.

Add a Connect Server User

Create a User to connect to Avalara AvaTax from Wijmo Grid through Connect Server.

  1. Click Users -> Add
  2. Configure a User
  3. Click Save Changes and make note of the Authtoken for the new user

Connect to Avalara AvaTax from Connect Server

CData Connect Server uses a straightforward, point-and-click interface to connect to data sources and generate APIs.

  1. Open Connect Server and click Connections
  2. Select "Avalara AvaTax" from Available Data Sources
  3. Enter the necessary authentication properties to connect to Avalara AvaTax.

    The primary method for performing basic authentication is to provide your login credentials, as follows:

    • User: Set this to your username.
    • Password: Set this to your password.

    Optionally, if you are making use of a sandbox environment, set the following:

    • UseSandbox: Set this to true if you are authenticating with a sandbox account.

    Authenticating Using Account Number and License Key

    Alternatively, you can authenticate using your account number and license key. Connect to data using the following:

    • AccountId: Set this to your Account Id. The Account Id is listed in the upper right hand corner of the admin console.
    • LicenseKey: Set this to your Avalara Avatax license key. You can generate a license key by logging into Avalara Avatax as an account administrator and navigating to Settings -> Reset License Key.
  4. Click Save Changes
  5. Click Privileges -> Add and add the new user (or an existing user) with the appropriate permissions (SELECT is all that is required for Reveal).

Add Avalara AvaTax OData Endpoints in Connect Server

After connecting to Avalara AvaTax, create OData Endpoints for the desired table(s).

  1. Click OData -> Tables -> Add Tables
  2. Select the Avalara AvaTax database
  3. Select the table(s) you wish to work with and click Next
  4. (Optional) Edit the resource to select specific fields and more
  5. Save the settings

(Optional) Configure Cross-Origin Resource Sharing (CORS)

When accessing and connecting to multiple domains from an application such as Ajax, there is a possibility of violating the limitations of cross-site scripting. In that case, configure the CORS settings in OData -> Settings.

  • Enable cross-origin resource sharing (CORS): ON
  • Allow all domains without '*': ON
  • Access-Control-Allow-Methods: GET, PUT, POST, OPTIONS
  • Access-Control-Allow-Headers: Authorization

Save the changes to the settings.

Connect to Avalara AvaTax Data using Wijmo Grid

Create a Real-Time Grid

Follow the steps below to consume Avalara AvaTax data from the Wijmo JavaScript controls:

  1. Load the required Wijmo, jQuery, and Knockout libraries:
    			
    			<script src="http://code.jquery.com/jquery-1.11.1.min.js"></script>
    			<script src="http://code.jquery.com/ui/1.11.0/jquery-ui.min.js"></script>
    
    			<!--Theme-->
    			<link href="http://cdn.wijmo.com/themes/aristo/jquery-wijmo.css" rel="stylesheet" type="text/css">
    
    				<!--Wijmo Widgets CSS-->
    				<link href="http://cdn.wijmo.com/jquery.wijmo-pro.all.3.20161.90.min.css" rel="stylesheet" type="text/css">
    
    					<!--Wijmo Widgets JavaScript-->
    					<script src="http://cdn.wijmo.com/jquery.wijmo-open.all.3.20161.90.min.js"></script>
    					<script src="http://cdn.wijmo.com/jquery.wijmo-pro.all.3.20161.90.min.js"></script>
    					<script src="http://cdn.wijmo.com/interop/wijmo.data.ajax.3.20161.90.js"></script>
    
    					<!--Knockout JS Library-->
    					<!-- Both of the links below can work -->
    					<script src="http://cdn.wijmo.com/wijmo/external/knockout-2.2.0.js"></script>
    					<!--<script src="http://cdn.wijmo.com/amd-js/3.20161.90/knockout-3.1.0.js"></script>-->
    
    					<!--Wijmo Knockout Integration Library-->
    					<script src="http://cdn.wijmo.com/interop/knockout.wijmo.3.20161.90.js"></script>
    		
  2. Create a ViewModel and connect to it using the ODataView. You will need to replace the placeholder values for the URL of the API Server, an API Server user, and the authtoken for that user.
    			
    			<script id="scriptInit">
    			$.support.cors = true;
    			var viewModel;
    
    			function ViewModel() {
    			var transactionsView = new wijmo.data.ODataView("http://MyServer:MyPort/api.rsc/Transactions", {
    			ajax: {
    			dataType: "jsonp",
    			username: "MyUser",
    			password: "MyAuthtoken",
    			data: { "$inlinecount": null }
    			},
    			pageSize: 10
    			});
    			transactionsView.refresh();
    			transactionsView.nextPage();
    			this.transactions = transactionsView;
    			this.prevPage = function () {transactionsView.prevPage();};
    			this.nextPage = function () {transactionsView.nextPage();};
    			}
    
    			$(document).ready(function () {
    			viewModel = new ViewModel();
    			ko.applyBindings(viewModel, $(".container").get(0));
    			});
    			</script>
    		
  3. DataBind: Below is a simple table with some paging buttons, which you can paste into the body section of your markup.
    			
    			<h2>Connect to Live Avalara AvaTax Data in Real Time</h2>
    
    			<h3>Transactions</h3>
    			<div>
    				<button title="previous page" class="pagebuttons" data-bind="click: prevPage, button: {}">
    					<span class="ui-icon ui-icon-seek-prev" />
    				</button>
    				<button title="next page" class="pagebuttons" data-bind="click: nextPage, button: {}">
    					<span class="ui-icon ui-icon-seek-next" />
    				</button>
    			</div>
    			<table id="demo-grid" data-bind="wijgrid: { 
          data: transactions, 
          showFilter: true, 
          allowPaging: true,
          pagerSettings: { position: 'none'},
          columnsAutogenerationMode: 'append',
        }" >
    			</table>
    		

At this point, you may be prompted to re-enter the username and authtoken. After doing so, a resulting table or grid should appear, as seen below. You can filter and sort through pages of Avalara AvaTax data.

Free Trial & More Information

If you are interested in connecting to your Avalara AvaTax data (or data from any of our other supported data sources) from Wijmo Grid, sign up for a free trial of CData Connect Server today! For more information on Connect Server and to see what other data sources we support, refer to our CData Connect page.