Create TaxJar-Connected Business Apps in AppSheet

AppSheet provides a no-code development platform for application software, which allows users to create mobile, tablet, and web applications. When paired with CData Connect Server, you get instant access to TaxJar data for business applications. This article shows how to create a virtual database for TaxJar in Connect Server and build a simple app from TaxJar data in AppSheet.

CData Connect Server provides a pure SQL Server interface for TaxJar, allowing you to easily build reports from live TaxJar data in AppSheet — without replicating the data to a natively supported database. As you build visualizations, AppSheet generates SQL queries to gather data. Using optimized data processing out of the box, CData Connect Server pushes all supported SQL operations (filters, JOINs, etc) directly to TaxJar, leveraging server-side processing to quickly return the requested TaxJar data.

Create a Virtual SQL Server Database for TaxJar Data

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

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

   To authenticate to the TaxJar API, you will need to first obtain the API Key from the TaxJar UI.

   NOTE: the API is available only for Professional and Premium TaxJar plans.

   If you already have a Professional or Premium plan you can find the API Key by logging in the TaxJar UI and navigating to Account -> TaxJar API. After obtaining the API Key, you can set it in the APIKey connection property.

   Additional Notes

   • By default, the CData connector will retrieve data of the last 3 months in cases where the entity support date range filtering. You can set StartDate to specify the minimum creation date of the data retrieved.
   • If the API Key has been created for a sandbox API account please set UseSandbox to true, but not all endpoints will work as expected. For more information, refer to the TaxJar developer documentation.
4. Click Save Changes
5. Click Privileges -> Add and add the new user (or an existing user) with the appropriate permissions.

With the virtual database created, you are ready to connect to TaxJar data from AppSheet.

Connect to TaxJar in AppSheet

The steps below outline connecting to CData Connect Server from AppSheet to create a new TaxJar data source.

1. Log into AppSheet.
2. Click the letter icon in the top-right corner, then select Account Settings.
3. Click the Sources tab and click + New Data Source. Then, select Cloud Database.
4. Set the connection information to the following:
   • Type: SQLServer
   • Server: the endpoint for your instance, including port, for example, CONNECT_SERVER_URL,3306
   • Database: the virtual database, for example, TaxJar1
   • Username: a Connect Server user with permissions for the database
   • Password: the password for the above Connect Server user
   • SSL: Require SSL
5. Click Test. Then, click Authorize Access.

Create an App

Once you create the data source for TaxJar, you can start building apps on TaxJar data.

1. Start by clicking + Create -> App -> Start with existing data.
2. Name the app and select an appropriate category, based on your data. Then, click Choose your data.
3. Select the newly created data source (e.g., TaxJar1).
4. Select the table or view with the data you want.

At this point, you can configure the design of your app, selecting which columns from the selected table to display, use as labels, and more. Preview the app in the preview panel and then publish or share it when ready.

To get SQL data access to 200+ SaaS, Big Data, and NoSQL sources directly from your applications, try the CData Connect Server.