Build a Simple VCL Application for Mocean Data

Embarcadero RAD Studio provides a development environment for Delphi and C++Builder applications. With the CData ODBC Driver for Mocean, you gain access to live Mocean data within RAD Studio, abstracting the data into tables, views, and stored procedures that can be used to retrieve Mocean data. This article will walk through connecting to Mocean and creating a simple VCL application with the Form Designer.

Create a Connection to Mocean Data

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.

Using API Key Authentication

Mocean uses API key authentication to control access to the API. To obtain an API Key:

1. Log in to your Mocean account at https://dashboard.moceanapi.com
2. Navigate to your account settings or API credentials section
3. Copy your API Key

After obtaining your API Key, set the following connection properties:

• AuthScheme: Set this to APIKey.

Set the following in the ProfileSettings connection property:

• APIKey: Set this to your Mocean API Key. This is transmitted as a Bearer token in the Authorization header.

Example Connection String

Profile=C:\profiles\Mocean.apip;AuthScheme=APIKey;ProfileSettings='APIKey=your_api_key';

Connecting to Mocean

Once the authentication is configured, you can connect to Mocean and query data from any of the available tables such as AccountBalance, AccountPricing, MessageStatus, and NumberLookup.

You can then follow the steps below to use the Data Explorer to create a FireDAC connection to Mocean data.

1. In a new VCL Forms application, expand the FireDAC node in the Data Explorer.
2. Right-click the ODBC Data Source node in the Data Explorer.
3. Click Add New Connection.
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 Mocean.

👁 A FireDAC connection to the ODBC data source. (Salesforce is shown.)

Create VCL Applications with Connectivity to Mocean Data

Follow the procedure below to start executing queries to Mocean data from a simple VCL application that displays the results of a query in a grid.

1. Drop a TFDConnection component onto the form and set the following properties:

   • ConnectionDefName: Select the FireDAC connection to Mocean data.
   • Connected: Select True from the menu and, in the dialog that appears, enter your credentials.

2. Drop a TFDQuery component onto the form and set the properties below:

   • Connection: Set this property to the TFDConnection component, if this component is not already specified.

   • SQL: Click the button in the SQL property and enter a query. For example:

     SELECT , FROM AccountBalance WHERE = ''
     

   • Active: Set this property to true.

3. Drop a TDataSource component onto the form and set the following property:

   • DataSet: In the menu for this property, select the name of the TFDQuery component.

4. Drop a TDBGrid control onto the form and set the following property:

   • DataSource: Select the name of the TDataSource.
5. Drop a TFDGUIxWaitCursor onto the form — this is required to avoid a run-time error.

👁 Components in FireDAC used to databind an editable grid to the data source. (Salesforce is shown.)

You now have an executable application that displays the results of the SQL Query set in the TFDQuery object.

👁 The Data Displayed in 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 Mocean Data in C++Builder
• DataBind Controls to Mocean Data in Delphi
• Viewing Mocean Data in RAD Studio Data Explorer