Using the CData ODBC Driver for Clio in PyCharm

The CData ODBC Drivers can be used in any environment that supports loading an ODBC Driver. In this tutorial we will explore using the CData ODBC Driver for Clio from within PyCharm. Included are steps for adding the CData ODBC Driver as a data source, as well as basic PyCharm code to query the data source and display results.

To begin, this tutorial will assume that you have already installed the CData ODBC Driver for Clio as well as PyCharm.

Add Pyodbc to the Project

Follow the steps below to add the pyodbc module to your project.

1. Click File -> Settings to open the project settings window.
2. Click Project Interpreter from the Project: YourProjectName menu.
3. To add pyodbc, click the + button and enter pyodbc.
4. Click Install Package to install pyodbc.

Connect to Clio

You can now connect with an ODBC connection string or a DSN. See the Getting Started section in the CData driver documentation for a guide to creating a DSN on your OS.

Start by setting the Profile connection property to the location of the Clio Profile on disk (e.g. C:\profiles\Clio.apip). Next, set the ProfileSettings connection property to the connection string for Clio (see below).

Clio API Profile Settings

Clio uses OAuth-based authentication.

First, register an OAuth application with Clio. You can do so by logging to your Developer Account and clicking the Add button. Enter details and select the scope of your application here - these details will be shown to Clio users when they're asked to authorize your application. Your Oauth application will be assigned a client id (key) and a client secret (secret). Additionally set the Region in ProfileSettings connection property.

After setting the following connection properties, you are ready to connect:

• AuthScheme: Set this to OAuth.
• InitiateOAuth: Set this to GETANDREFRESH. You can use InitiateOAuth to manage the process to obtain the OAuthAccessToken.
• OAuthClientId: Set this to the client_id that is specified in you app settings.
• OAuthClientSecret: Set this to the client_secret that is specified in you app settings.
• CallbackURL: Set this to the Redirect URI that is specified in your app settings.
• Region: Set this in ProfileSettings to your Clio geographic region. Defaults to app.clio.com.

Below is the syntax for a DSN:

[CData API Source]
Driver = CData ODBC Driver for Clio
Description = My Description
Profile = C:\profiles\Clio.apip
ProfileSettings = 'Region = your_region'
Authscheme = OAuth
OAuthClientId = your_client_id
OAuthClientSecret = your_client_secret
CallbackUrl = your_callback_url

Execute SQL to Clio

Instantiate a Cursor and use the execute method of the Cursor class to execute any SQL statement.

import pyodbc

cnxn = pyodbc.connect('DRIVER={CData ODBC Driver for API};Profile = C:\profiles\Clio.apip;ProfileSettings = 'Region = your_region';Authscheme = OAuth;OAuthClientId = your_client_id;OAuthClientSecret = your_client_secret;CallbackUrl = your_callback_url;')
cursor = cnxn.cursor()
cursor.execute("SELECT Id, Total FROM Bills WHERE State = 'awaiting_payment'")
rows = cursor.fetchall()
for row in rows:
 print(row.Id, row.Total)

After connecting to Clio in PyCharm using the CData ODBC Driver, you will be able to build Python apps with access to Clio data as if it were a standard database. If you have any questions, comments, or feedback regarding this tutorial, please contact us at [email protected].