Analyze Salesforce Data in Infragistics Reveal

Reveal, an offering from Infragistics, serves as a data visualization tool that seamlessly integrates with CData Connect Cloud. Together, they empower users to deliver dynamic dashboards using real-time data from a diverse range of data sources, including Salesforce data. In this article, we will guide you through the process of connecting to Salesforce via Connect Cloud and subsequently linking Connect Cloud with Infragistics Reveal to construct a straightforward dashboard.

Connect to Salesforce from Infragistics Reveal

To work with live Salesforce data in Infragistics Reveal, we need to connect to Salesforce from Connect Cloud, provide user access to the connection, and create OData endpoints for the Salesforce data.

(Optional) Add a New Connect Cloud User

As needed, create Users to connect to Salesforce through Connect Cloud.

1. Navigate to the Users page and click Invite Users
2. Enter the new user's email address and click Send to invite the user
3. 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.

1. Click on your username at the top right of the Connect Cloud app and click User Profile.
2. Oa the User Profile page, scroll down to the Personal Access Tokens section and click Create PAT.
3. Give your PAT a name and click Create.
4. The personal access token is only visible at creation, so be sure to copy it and store it securely for future use.

Connect to Salesforce from Connect Cloud

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

1. Log into Connect Cloud, click Connections and click Add Connection
2. Select "Salesforce" from the Add Connection panel
3. Enter the necessary authentication properties to connect to Salesforce.

   There are several authentication methods available for connecting to Salesforce: Login, OAuth, and SSO. The Login method requires you to have the username, password, and security token of the user.

   If you do not have access to the username and password or do not wish to require them, you can use OAuth authentication.

   SSO (single sign-on) can be used by setting the SSOProperties, SSOLoginUrl, and TokenUrl connection properties, which allow you to authenticate to an identity provider. See the "Getting Started" chapter in the help documentation for more information.

4. Click Create & Test
5. Navigate to the Permissions tab in the Add Salesforce Connection page and update the User-based permissions.

Add Salesforce OData Endpoints in Connect Cloud

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

1. Navigate to the OData page and click Add to create new OData endpoints
2. Select the Salesforce connection (e.g. Salesforce1) and click Next
3. 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 Salesforce data from Infragistics Reveal.

Create a Dashboard in Reveal

With Connect Cloud configured, we can visualize Salesforce data in Reveal.

1. Log into Reveal and click Dashboards -> New
2. Click Data Sources -> OData Feed
3. Specify the Connect Cloud OData API endpoint URL (found on the OData page): https://cloud.cdata.com/api/odata/service
4. Select Generic Credentials and
   • Set Username to a Connect Cloud username (e.g. user@mydomain.com)
   • Set Password to the PAT for the user
5. Select the entity you wish to visualize
6. Select fields and choose a chart type

More Information & Free Trial

At this point, you have created a simple dashboard from live Salesforce data. For more information on creating OData feeds from Salesforce (and more than 100 other sources), visit the Connect Cloud page. Sign up for a free trial and start working live Salesforce data in tools that consume OData APIs.