Viewing Front Data in RAD Studio Data Explorer

Embarcadero RAD Studio provides a development environment for Delphi and C++Builder applications. With the CData ODBC Driver for Front, you gain access to live Front data within RAD Studio, abstracting the data into tables, views, and stored procedures that can be used to both retrieve Front data. This article will walk through connecting to Front using the Data Explorer.

Configure a Connection to Front

If you have not already, first specify connection properties in an ODBC DSN (data source name). This is the last step of the driver installation. You can use the Microsoft ODBC Data Source Administrator to create and configure ODBC DSNs.

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

Front API Profile Settings

Generate an API key in Front by navigating to Settings > Plugins & API > API.

Connecting to Front Data Using Data Explorer

You can create a simple application for displaying Front data by utilizing the CData FireDAC Components for Front and a new VCL Forms Application:

1. Open the Data Explorer in RAD Studio and expand FireDAC.
2. Right-click the ODBC Data Source node in the Data Explorer.
3. Click Add New Connection. 👁 Adding a New Connection. (Salesforce is shown.)
   
4. Enter a name for the connection.
5. In the FireDAC Connection Editor that appears, set the DataSource property to the name of the ODBC DSN for Front. 👁 Setting the Connection Parameters. (Salesforce is shown.)
   
6. Back in the Data Explorer, expand the views for the connection.

7. Create a new VCL Forms application and drag a view (for example: Channels) onto the form.

   👁 Placing the View on the Form. (Salesforce is shown.)
   
8. Select the ChannelsView object on the form and set the Active property to true.

9. Right-click on the object, bind visually, and link everything (*) to a new control (TStringGrid).

   👁 Visually Binding the View. (Salesforce is shown.)
   

10. Arrange the TStringGrid on the form and run the application to see the Channels data.

    👁 The View data on a Form. (Salesforce is shown.)
    

Related Articles

Below you can find other articles for using the CData ODBC Driver with RAD Studio, Delphi, and C++ Builder.

• DataBind Controls to Front Data in C++Builder
• DataBind Controls to Front Data in Delphi
• Build a Simple VCL Application for Front Data