Create Office 365-Connected Enterprise Applications in OutSystems

OutSystems is a low-code platform which provides the tools for companies to developer, deploy, and manage omnichannel enterprise applications. When paired with CData Connect AI, you get instant, cloud-to-cloud access to Office 365 data for business applications. This article shows how to create a virtual database for Office 365 in Connect AI and build a simple app from Office 365 data in OutSystems.

The CData Connect AI provides a pure cloud-to-cloud interface for Office 365, allowing you to build reports from live Office 365 data in OutSystems — without replicating the data to a natively supported database. As you create applications to work with data, OutSystems generates SQL queries to gather data. Using optimized data processing out of the box, CData Connect AI pushes all supported SQL operations (filters, JOINs, etc.) directly to Office 365, leveraging server-side processing to quickly return the requested Office 365 data.

Configure Office 365 Connectivity for OutSystems

Connectivity to Office 365 from OutSystems is made possible through CData Connect AI. To work with Office 365 data from OutSystems, we start by creating and configuring a Office 365 connection.

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

2. Select "Office 365" from the Add Connection panel
👁 Selecting a data source

3. Enter the necessary authentication properties to connect to Office 365.

   Office 365 uses the OAuth authentication standard. To authenticate requests, obtain the OAuthClientId, OAuthClientSecret, and OAuthCallbackURL by registering an app with Office 365. See the "Getting Started" chapter of the help documentation for a guide to using OAuth.

   👁 Configuring a connection (Salesforce is shown)
   
4. Click Save & Test
5. Navigate to the Permissions tab in the Add Office 365 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 Office 365 data from OutSystems.

Connect to Office 365 from OutSystems

The steps below outline connecting to CData Connect AI from OutSystems to create a new Office 365 database connection.

1. Open OutSystems Service Studio
2. Click the gear icon to open Environment Management in the Service Center 👁 Opening the Service Center
   
3. Click Administration and select "Database Connections"
4. Click "New Database Connection"
5. Configure the database connection:
   • Name: name the connection (e.g. CData Connect AI Office 365)
   • DBMS: SQL Server / Azure SQL
   • Username: a Connect AI user (e.g. [email protected])
   • Password: the PAT for the Connect AI user
   • Server: tds.cdata.com,14333
   • Schema: the name of your Office 365 connection (e.g. Office3651)
   👁 Connecting to the Connect AI
   
6. Click "Test Connection"
7. Click "Create"

Map Office 365 Tables or Views to Entities in an Extension Module

Once you create the database connection for Office 365, you can create an extension that maps the tables or views to OutSystems entities. If you have not already done so, create an Application in Service Studio.

1. Open the Service Studio and open the existing Application
2. Click "Add Module," set the "Module Name" (e.g. office365_db_extension), set "Module Type" to "Extension," and click "Create Module" 👁 Creating a new extension module
   
3. In Integration Studio, connect to your environment
4. Right-click "Entities" in the extension tree and select "Connect to External Table or View..." 👁 Connecting to external tables or views
   
5. Follow the steps in the wizard, selecting the tables and views you wish to work with
6. In the Integration Studio, click "1-Click Publish"
7. In the "1-Click Publish" wizard, click "Configure" when the process completes
   • In the Service Center, associate the logical database name of the extension to the database connection that the extension will use and click "Apply" 👁 Configuring the external extension
     
8. In your application, click "Manage Dependencies..."
9. Add a dependency to the Extension and select the Entities that you will use in your application 👁 Adding a dependency to the extension
   

At this point, you can access and work with Office 365 data just like you would with the standard OutSystems entities.

Get CData Connect AI

With Connect AI and OutSystems, you can easily build Office 365-connected applications. Request a free trial of Connect AI and start working with Office 365 data in OutSystems today.