How to Access PingOne Data Using Entity Framework

Microsoft Entity Framework serves as an object-relational mapping framework for working with data represented as objects. Although Visual Studio offers the ADO.NET Entity Data Model wizard to automatically generate the Entity Model, this model-first approach may present challenges when your data source undergoes changes or when you require greater control over entity operations. In this article, we will delve into the code-first approach for accessing PingOne data through the CData ADO.NET Provider, providing you with more flexibility and control.

1. Open Visual Studio and create a new Windows Form Application. This article uses a C# project with .NET 4.5.
2. Run the command 'Install-Package EntityFramework' in the Package Manger Console in Visual Studio to install the latest release of Entity Framework.

3. Modify the App.config file in the project to add a reference to the PingOne Entity Framework 6 assembly and the connection string.

   To connect to PingOne, configure these properties:

   • : The region where the data for your PingOne organization is being hosted.
   • : The type of authentication to use when connecting to PingOne.
   • Either (required when using the default PingOne domain) or , configured as described below.

   Configuring WorkerAppEnvironmentId

   is the ID of the PingOne environment in which your Worker application resides. This parameter is used only when the environment is using the default PingOne domain (auth.pingone). It is configured after you have created the custom OAuth application you will use to authenticate to PingOne, as described in Creating a Custom OAuth Application in the Help documentation.

   First, find the value for this property:

   1. From the home page of your PingOne organization, move to the navigation sidebar and click Environments.
   2. Find the environment in which you have created your custom OAuth/Worker application (usually Administrators), and click Manage Environment. The environment's home page displays.
   3. In the environment's home page navigation sidebar, click Applications.
   4. Find your OAuth or Worker application details in the list.
   5. Copy the value in the Environment ID field. It should look similar to:
      

      WorkerAppEnvironmentId='11e96fc7-aa4d-4a60-8196-9acf91424eca'

   Now set to the value of the Environment ID field.

   Configuring AuthorizationServerURL

   is the base URL of the PingOne authorization server for the environment where your application is located. This property is only used when you have set up a custom domain for the environment, as described in the PingOne platform API documentation. See Custom Domains.

   Authenticating to PingOne with OAuth

   PingOne supports both OAuth and OAuthClient authentication. In addition to performing the configuration steps described above, there are two more steps to complete to support OAuth or OAuthCliet authentication:

   • Create and configure a custom OAuth application, as described in Creating a Custom OAuth Application in the Help documentation.
   • To ensure that the driver can access the entities in Data Model, confirm that you have configured the correct roles for the admin user/worker application you will be using, as described in Administrator Roles in the Help documentation.
   • Set the appropriate properties for the authscheme and authflow of your choice, as described in the following subsections.

   OAuth (Authorization Code grant)

   Set to OAuth.

   Desktop Applications

   Get and Refresh the OAuth Access Token

   After setting the following, you are ready to connect:

   • : GETANDREFRESH. To avoid the need to repeat the OAuth exchange and manually setting the each time you connect, use .
   • : The Client ID you obtained when you created your custom OAuth application.
   • : The Client Secret you obtained when you created your custom OAuth application.
   • : The redirect URI you defined when you registered your custom OAuth application. For example: https://localhost:3333

   When you connect, the driver opens PingOne's OAuth endpoint in your default browser. Log in and grant permissions to the application. The driver then completes the OAuth process:

   1. The driver obtains an access token from PingOne and uses it to request data.
   2. The OAuth values are saved in the location specified in , to be persisted across connections.

   The driver refreshes the access token automatically when it expires.

   For other OAuth methods, including Web Applications, Headless Machines, or Client Credentials Grant, refer to the Help documentation.

   <configuration>
    ... 
    <connectionStrings>
    <add name="PingOneContext" connectionString="Offline=False;AuthScheme=OAuth;WorkerAppEnvironmentId=eebc33a8-xxxx-4f3a-yyyy-d3e5262fd49e;Region=NA;OAuthClientId=client_id;OAuthClientSecret=client_secret;InitiateOAuth=GETANDREFRESH;" providerName="System.Data.CData.PingOne" />
    </connectionStrings>
    <entityFramework>
    <providers>
    ... 
    <provider invariantName="System.Data.CData.PingOne" type="System.Data.CData.PingOne.PingOneProviderServices, System.Data.CData.PingOne.Entities.EF6" />
    </providers>
    <entityFramework>
   </configuration>
   </code> 
   

4. Add a reference to System.Data.CData.PingOne.Entities.EF6.dll, located in the lib -> 4.0 subfolder in the installation directory.
5. Build the project at this point to ensure everything is working correctly. Once that's done, you can start coding using Entity Framework.
6. Add a new .cs file to the project and add a class to it. This will be your database context, and it will extend the DbContext class. In the example, this class is named PingOneContext. The following code example overrides the OnModelCreating method to make the following changes:
   • Remove PluralizingTableNameConvention from the ModelBuilder Conventions.
   • Remove requests to the MigrationHistory table.

   using System.Data.Entity;
   using System.Data.Entity.Infrastructure;
   using System.Data.Entity.ModelConfiguration.Conventions;
   
   class PingOneContext : DbContext {
    public PingOneContext() { }
   
    protected override void OnModelCreating(DbModelBuilder modelBuilder)
    {
    // To remove the requests to the Migration History table
    Database.SetInitializer<PingOneContext>(null); 
    // To remove the plural names 
    modelBuilder.Conventions.Remove<PluralizingTableNameConvention>();
    } 
   }
   

7. Create another .cs file and name it after the PingOne entity you are retrieving, for example, [CData].[Administrators].Users. In this file, define both the Entity and the Entity Configuration, which will resemble the example below:

   using System.Data.Entity.ModelConfiguration;
   using System.ComponentModel.DataAnnotations.Schema;
   
   [System.ComponentModel.DataAnnotations.Schema.Table("[CData].[Administrators].Users")]
   public class [CData].[Administrators].Users {
    [System.ComponentModel.DataAnnotations.Key] 
    public System.String Id { get; set; }
    public System.String Username { get; set; }
   }
    
   

8. Now that you have created an entity, add the entity to your context class:

   public DbSet<[CData].[Administrators].Users> [CData].[Administrators].Users { set; get; }
   

9. With the context and entity finished, you are now ready to query the data in a separate class. For example:

   PingOneContext context = new PingOneContext();
   context.Configuration.UseDatabaseNullSemantics = true;
   var query = from line in context.[CData].[Administrators].Users select line;