Import Real-Time MessageBird Data via ODBC in ColdFusion to Build Applications

Dibyendu Datta
Lead Technology Evangelist

Use CData ODBC drivers to import and use MessageBird data in ColdFusion.

Adobe ColdFusion is a web and mobile application development platform. It uses its own scripting language, ColdFusion Markup Language (CFML), to create data-driven websites as well as generate remote services, such as REST. When ColdFusion is paired with the CData API Driver for ODBC, you can link your ColdFusion web and mobile applications to operational MessageBird data. This allows for your applications to be more robust and complete. This article details how to use the ODBC driver to create a table populated with MessageBird data from within a ColdFusion markup file.

To follow along with this tutorial, you need to install the CData API Driver for ODBC and Adobe ColdFusion.

Configuring the Connection

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 process. 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 MessageBird Profile on disk (e.g. C:\profiles\MessageBird.apip). Next, set the ProfileSettings connection property to the connection string for MessageBird (see below).

MessageBird API Profile Settings

Retrieve your private API Key from the MessageBird dashboard under Developers > API Access.

Adding a Data Source and Creating a Table

After creating a DSN, follow the steps below to add a new data source, test our connection to it, create a ColdFusion markup file, and, finally, import MessageBird Data and display it in a table in ColdFusion:

From the ColdFusion administrator interface, choose Data & Services. 👁 Selecting Data & Services
Here, click "Add New Data Source". The data source name can be any name, provided it conforms to the ColdFusion variable naming conventions. For our ODBC driver, choose "ODBC Socket", then click the "Add" button. 👁 Adding Data Source Name
From the ODBC DSN Dropdown menu select CData MessageBird Sys. Under the Advanced Settings section, leave the Connection String blank. Note that any properties specified in this input field will override the ones specified in the DSN Configuration. 👁 Populating driver properties
Now, test the connection by pressing the check mark to the left of the CDataMessageBirdODBC data source you just created. When the data source reports an "OK" status, it is ready for use. 👁 Testing the connection

Next, create a new ColdFusion Markup file (.cfm) and place it in the wwwroot directory ("C:\ColdFusion2021\cfusion\wwwroot") for ColdFusion.

The following code queries the data source:

 
 <cfquery name="MessageBirdQuery" dataSource="CDataMessageBirdODBC"> 
 SELECT * FROM Contacts 
 </cfquery>

And a CFTable can be used to quickly output the table in HTML:

 
 <cftable 
 query = "MessageBirdQuery" 
 border = "1" 
 colHeaders 
 colSpacing = "2" 
 headerLines = "2" 
 HTMLTable 
 maxRows = "500" 
 startRow = "1"> 

 <cfcol header="<b>Id</b>" align="Left" width=2 text="Id"/> 

 <cfcol header="<b>FirstName</b>" align="Left" width=15 text="FirstName"/> 

 ...

 </cftable>

Full code, including the HTML portion is available below:

 
 <html> 
 <head><title>CData Software | MessageBird Contacts Table Demo </title></head> 
 <body> 
 <cfoutput>#ucase("MessageBird Contacts Table Demo")#</cfoutput> 
 <cfquery name="MessageBirdQuery" dataSource="CDataMessageBirdODBC"> 

 SELECT * FROM Contacts 

 </cfquery> 
 <cftable 
 query = "MessageBirdQuery" 
 border = "1" 
 colHeaders 
 colSpacing = "2" 
 headerLines = "2" 
 HTMLTable 
 maxRows = "500" 
 startRow = "1"> 
 <cfcol header="<b>Id</b>" align="Left" width=2 text="Id"/> 

 <cfcol header="<b>FirstName</b>" align="Left" width=15 text="FirstName"/> 

 ...

 </cftable> 
 </body> 

 </html>

Finally, run the code in a browser. It produces a table populated with MessageBird data! 👁 Running the code

As a note, the CData ODBC Drivers also support parameterized queries using the cfqueryparam element. For example:

SELECT * FROM Account WHERE name =

Get Started Today

Download a free, 30-day trial of the CData ODBC Driver for MessageBird and start building MessageBird-connected applications with Adobe ColdFusion. Reach out to our Support Team if you have any questions.

Ready to get started?

Connect to live data from MessageBird with the API Driver

Connect to MessageBird

URL: https://www.cdata.com/kb/tech/messagebird-odbc-coldfusion.rst