Query Exact Online Data as a SQL Server Database in Node.js

You can use CData Connect AI to query Exact Online data through a SQL Server interface. Follow the procedure below to create a virtual database for Exact Online in Connect AI and start querying using Node.js.

CData Connect AI provides a pure MySQL, cloud-to-cloud interface for Exact Online, allowing you to easily query live Exact Online data in Node.js — without replicating the data to a natively supported database. As you query data in Node.js, CData Connect AI pushes all supported SQL operations (filters, JOINs, etc) directly to Exact Online, leveraging server-side processing to quickly return Exact Online data.

Configure Exact Online Connectivity for NodeJS

Connectivity to Exact Online from NodeJS is made possible through CData Connect AI. To work with Exact Online data from NodeJS, we start by creating and configuring a Exact Online connection.

1. Log into Connect AI, click Sources, and then click Add Connection
👁 Adding a Connection

2. Select "Exact Online" from the Add Connection panel
👁 Selecting a data source

3. Exact Online uses OAuth to authenticate. Click "Sign in" to authenticate with Exact Online. 👁 Authenticating with OAuth (Salesforce is shown).
   
4. Navigate to the Permissions tab in the Add Exact Online Connection page and update the User-based permissions. 👁 Updating permissions
   

Add a Personal Access Token

When connecting to Connect AI through the REST API, the OData API, or the Virtual SQL Server, a Personal Access Token (PAT) is used to authenticate the connection to Connect AI. It is best practice to create a separate PAT for each service to maintain granularity of access.

1. Click on the Gear icon () at the top right of the Connect AI app to open the settings page.
2. On the Settings page, go to the Access Tokens section and click Create PAT.
3. Give the PAT a name and click Create. 👁 Creating a new PAT
   
4. The personal access token is only visible at creation, so be sure to copy it and store it securely for future use.

With the connection configured and a PAT generated, you are ready to connect to Exact Online data from Node.js.

Query Exact Online from Node.js

The following example shows how to define a connection and execute queries to Exact Online with the SQL Server module. You will need the following information:

• server: tds.cdata.com
• port: 14333
• user: a Connect AI user (e.g. [email protected])
• password: the PAT for the above user
• database: The connection you configured for Exact Online (ExactOnline1)

Connect to Exact Online data and start executing queries with the code below:

var sql = require('mssql')
var config = {
	server: 'tds.cdata.com',
	port: 14333, 
	user: '[email protected]', //update me
	password: 'CONNECT_USER_PAT', //update me	
	options: {
		encrypt: true,
		database: 'ExactOnline1'
	}
}

sql.connect(config, err => { 
 if(err){
 throw err ;
 }
 new sql.Request().query('SELECT * FROM Accounts', (err, result) => {
 console.dir(result)
 })
 
});

sql.on('error', err => {
 console.log("SQL Error: " ,err);
})