Analyze Adobe Commerce Data in Slingshot with CData API Server

Slingshot (formerly known as Reveal BI) is a data-driven work management suite that brings together analytics, team and project coordination, content sharing, and communication in a single platform. With CData API Server, you can generate OData APIs for live Adobe Commerce data that are seamlessly consumable within Slingshot.

In this guide, we'll walk you through a step-by-step process to generate OData endpoints for Adobe Commerce using CData API Server, and bring those endpoints into Slingshot to create real-time dashboards and streamline data analysis.

Let's begin!

Prerequisites

1. CData API Server: Download a free trial from here.
2. Slingshot Account and App: Log in or sign up and download from here.
3. An active Adobe Commerce account containing your data.

Overview

Here's an overview of the steps:

1. Install the CData API Server, configure a connection to the Adobe Commerce, and generate OData API endpoints for Adobe Commerce data within the API Server for use in Slingshot.
2. Connect these endpoints in Slingshot to build interactive dashboards and perform real-time analysis.

Step 1: Install, Configure, and Connect CData API Server to Adobe Commerce

1.1 Install the API Server

If you haven't already, download and install the CData API Server. Follow the installation wizard to complete the setup for your machine.

Once installed, you can start the server in the following ways:

• Windows: CData API Server runs as a service by default. Ensure the service is running, then open http://localhost:8080/ in your browser to access the API Server admin console.
• Linux/Mac: You can run the server manually or as a service. To start it manually, navigate to the installation directory and run java -jar apiserver.jar
• Alternatively, run service.sh with root privileges to set up API Server as a Linux system service.

1.2 Enable CORS

If the Slingshot app and API Server are hosted on different domains, CORS (Cross-Origin Resource Sharing) must be enabled to allow cross-domain communication. To enable CORS in the API Server:

1. Go to Settings and click the icon to edit CORS settings.
2. Enable Cross-Origin Resource Sharing (CORS).
3. Enable Allow all domains without '*' to accept any origin.
4. In Access-Control-Allow-Origin, enter your Adobe Commerce origin domain or use * to allow all domains. This is suitable for public APIs.
5. Enable Access-Control-Allow-Credentials to allow cookies and auth headers.
6. In Access-Control-Allow-Methods, enter GET, PUT, POST, OPTIONS.
7. In Access-Control-Allow-Headers, enter Authorization, Content-Type.
8. Set Access-Control-Max-Age (default: 3600 seconds) to cache preflight requests.
9. Click Save.

👁 Enable CORS Settings in the CData API Server

1.3 Configure the Adobe Commerce Connection in API Server

1. Go to Settings and click Add Connection in the top-right.
2. Select Adobe Commerce. If it's not visible, toggle off Only Installed to view all connectors.
3. Click Install Connector to auto-install. For manual setup, choose Manual Install and upload the ZIP file.
4. Once installed, click Adobe Commerce again to open its connection settings and configure using the details below.

Adobe Commerce uses the OAuth 1 authentication standard. To connect to the Adobe Commerce REST API, obtain values for the OAuthClientId, OAuthClientSecret, and CallbackURL connection properties by registering an app with your Adobe Commerce system. See the "Getting Started" section in the help documentation for a guide to obtaining the OAuth values and connecting.

You will also need to provide the URL to your Adobe Commerce system. The URL depends on whether you are using the Adobe Commerce REST API as a customer or administrator.

• Customer: To use Adobe Commerce as a customer, make sure you have created a customer account in the Adobe Commerce homepage. To do so, click Account -> Register. You can then set the URL connection property to the endpoint of your Adobe Commerce system.

• Administrator: To access Adobe Commerce as an administrator, set CustomAdminPath instead. This value can be obtained in the Advanced settings in the Admin menu, which can be accessed by selecting System -> Configuration -> Advanced -> Admin -> Admin Base URL.

  If the Use Custom Admin Path setting on this page is set to YES, the value is inside the Custom Admin Path text box; otherwise, set the CustomAdminPath connection property to the default value, which is "admin".

5. Click Save & Test to validate and complete the connection setup.

👁 Adding a Connection in the CData API Server (Salesforce is Shown)

1.4. Add and Configure Users

To allow secure access to the OData endpoints, you need to create and configure users in the CData API Server. Each user will have authentication credentials and role-based access control, ensuring that only authorized users can query the connected data.

1. Go to Users from the navigation pane, then click Add User in the top-right corner.
2. Enter a Username and set a secure Password for the user.
3. Select a Role:
   • Admin: Full access to all features including settings and connections.
   • Query: Limited to data access via API endpoints (suitable for Slingshot use).
4. (Optional) Configure rate limits:
   • Requests Per Hour: Number of allowed API calls per hour (default: 1000).
   • Max Concurrent Requests: Number of parallel API requests allowed (default: 10).
5. Define Privileges for the user:
   • GET: Allows data retrieval.
   • POST: Allows creation of new records.
   • PUT, MERGE, PATCH: Allows updates to existing records.
   • DELETE: Allows deletion of records.
6. Click Add User to save and activate the user account.

👁 Adding a User in the CData API Server

Once a user is created, an Authtoken is automatically generated. This token can be used in API requests as a secure authentication method in place of the password.

You can also refresh the Authtoken, disable it, or set expiration rules (e.g., number of days until expiry) by enabling the Token Expiration option in the user settings.

👁 Authtoken Settings for the Added User in CData API Server

1.5. Add Tables for the Endpoint

To make your data available to Slingshot via OData, you need to expose your desired tables through the API Server:

1. In the CData API Server, go to API from the left navigation, then click Add Table at the top-right.
2. Select the Adobe Commerce connection you configured earlier, then click Next.
3. Browse available entities and schema by expanding the Tables section. Select individual tables or click the TABLE NAME checkbox on top to select all tables. Then, click Confirm.

👁 Adding Tables for API Endpoint in CData API Server

1.6. Access and Use Endpoints in Slingshot

Now that your API is configured, Slingshot can connect to the OData endpoints to visualize live data. Use the following endpoint URL formats to access your API resources:

Endpoint		URL
Entity List	http://address:port/api.rsc/
Table Metadata (e.g., albums)	http://address:port/api.rsc/albums/$metadata?@json
Table Data (e.g., albums)	http://address:port/api.rsc/albums

These OData endpoints can now be consumed directly in Slingshot by creating a new data source using the URL. Slingshot supports OData, so once connected, you can build dashboards and visualizations using live data from Adobe Commerce.

For custom queries and filtered visualizations in Slingshot, append standard OData query parameters like $select, $filter, $orderby, $top, and $skip to your requests.

Step 2: Connect Adobe Commerce Endpoints in Slingshot to Analyze Data

Now that your OData API is ready, it's time to bring it into Slingshot and start analyzing your live Adobe Commerce data.

2.1 Add the OData Endpoint as a Data Source

1. Log in to your Slingshot account using the desktop app or by visiting https://my.slingshotapp.io/.
2. Navigate to My Analytics on the left panel. Click Data Source on top, then click Data Source at the top-right.
👁 Slingshot App Dashboard

3. Search for OData Feed and select it from the results.
👁 Select OData Feed

4. In the URL field, enter the OData endpoint URL from your CData API Server. You can find it by navigating to API > View Endpoints in the top-right corner of the CData API Server dashboard.
5. Click on Credentials, then select the Credential button from the drop-down.
👁 Add Credentials in Slingshot

6. Enter your Username and either the Password or the Auth Token of the user created in the CData API Server. Click Add, then click Add Data Source to finish.
👁 Configure Authentication

7. Click the connected OData Feed, select the desired table, and click Select Data to start analyzing.
👁 Select OData Table

2.2 Analyze Data

Now that your OData feed is connected and available in Slingshot, you can start creating visualizations to explore and analyze your data in real-time.

For our example, let's build a simple Grid visualization.

1. Click on the Column drag-out panel, then select Grid.
👁 Selecting Grid View from Column Panel

2. Drag and drop the desired columns from your table into the Grid. Slingshot will automatically create a live data view using those fields.
👁 Live Grid Visualization with Selected Columns

Similarly, you can create different visualizations like charts, tables, or pivot views by selecting the appropriate components from the panel. Just drag, drop, and configure as needed to explore your data from multiple angles.

You can also play with your data further by applying filters, sorting values, or grouping rows as needed. The possibilities are vast to tailor your dashboard exactly how you want it — powered by live Adobe Commerce data, connected data from your OData feed.

---

Try the CData API Server for 30 Days Free

The CData API Server offers the fastest way to build REST APIs from 270+ live data sources — with a no/low-code, plug-and-play approach that's ready for real-time app integrations!

Start your free trial and connect instantly with tools like Slingshot. Simplify how your team accesses and interacts with data today.