Create Microsoft Project-Connected Applications in Appsmith

Appsmith is an open-source internal tool builder that allows teams to quickly and easily build a UI to help improve their business operations. When combined with CData Connect AI, you gain immediate access to Microsoft Project data for business applications. This article outlines the process of connecting to Microsoft Project using Connect AI and creating a basic application from Microsoft Project data within Appsmith.

CData Connect AI offers a pure SQL Server, cloud-to-cloud interface for Microsoft Project, enabling the creation of business applications directly from live Microsoft Project data within Appsmith, all without the need for data replication to a native database. As you build applications, Appsmith generates SQL queries to gather data. With its inherent optimized data processing capabilities, CData Connect AI efficiently channels all supported SQL operations, including filters and JOINs, directly to Microsoft Project. This leverages server-side processing to swiftly deliver the requested Microsoft Project data.

Configure Microsoft Project Connectivity for Appsmith

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

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

2. Select "Microsoft Project" from the Add Connection panel
👁 Selecting a data source

3. Enter the necessary authentication properties to connect to Microsoft Project.

   The User and Password properties, under the Authentication section, must be set to valid Microsoft Project user credentials. In addition, specify a URL to a valid Microsoft Project server organization root or Microsoft Project services file.

   👁 Configuring a connection (Salesforce is shown)
   
4. Click Save & Test
5. Navigate to the Permissions tab in the Add Microsoft Project 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, we are ready to connect to Microsoft Project data from Appsmith.

Create an Appsmith Application from live Microsoft Project Data

To establish a connection from Appsmith to the CData Connect AI Virtual SQL Server, follow these steps:

Connect to Microsoft Project in Appsmith

1. Log in to your Appsmith instance and create a new application.
2. In the new application, open the Data page and select Bring your data. 👁 Open the Data page
   
3. On this page, you can search for Microsoft SQL Server and select it as your data source. 👁 Select Microsoft SQL Server datasource
   
4. Enter a name for the new data source and then enter the following connection settings:
   • Host address: tds.cdata.com
   • Port: 14333
   • Database name: enter the Connection Name of the CData Connect AI data source you want to connect to (for example, MicrosoftProject1).
   • Username: enter your CData Connect AI username. This is displayed in the top-right corner of the CData Connect AI interface. For example, [email protected].
   • Password: enter the PAT you previously generated.
   👁 Configure the connection to the Connect AI Virtual SQL Server (Salesforce shown)
   
5. Click Test configuration to confirm a successful connection, then click Save to save the datasource.

Create a new query

With a connection configured to a datasource, we can add a SQL query to actually retrieve data from the data source.

1. On the screen with the new data source, click New Query. 👁 Create a New Query
   
2. This opens the Query Editor to enter a SQL query to select data. To assist with specifying a SQL query, use the Explorer of CData Connect AI to preview the SQL queries and the data you want to retrieve. 👁 Preview queries in the Explorer
   
3. After creating the SQL query, return to the Query Editor in Appsmith and enter the SQL query, then click Run. 👁 Run the SQL query
   
4. Once the query successfully runs, all that remains is to set up the Page to display the data retrieved.

Display Microsoft Project data

1. Open the UI tab and click New UI element. 👁 New UI element
   
2. Choose a new UI element to grab, then drag and place the element on the page. 👁 New UI element
   
3. Click Connect data on the new UI element, then select the query previously created. 👁 Connect to data
   
4. With the data connected, it is then displayed in the UI element. 👁 UI element connected
   

Deploy the application

With the Microsoft Project data connected to the UI elements in the application, we can deploy the Application. To do this, click Deploy in the top-right corner of Appsmith, then the application is opened in a separate window displaying the Microsoft Project data.

👁 Application deployed

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