Connect to Placid Data from PowerBuilder via ODBC

The CData ODBC Driver for Placid can be used from any platform or development technology that supports ODBC, including PowerBuilder. This article shows how to connect to Placid data and execute queries from the Database Painter and controls such as the DataWindow.

Connect to Placid as an ODBC Data Source

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.

Placid uses API Key authentication to control access to the API. API tokens are project-specific and can be obtained from your project settings on placid.app.

Using API Key Authentication

To obtain your API key, log in to placid.app, navigate to your project, open the project settings, and generate an API token from the API section. Note that each API token is scoped to a specific project.

After setting the following connection properties, you are ready to connect:

• AuthScheme: Set this to APIKey.
• APIKey: Set this to your Placid project API token.

Example connection string:

Profile=C:\profiles\Placid.apip;AuthScheme=APIKey;ProfileSettings='APIKey=your_project_api_token';

Create a Profile for the ODBC Driver for Placid

Follow the steps below to use the Database Painter tool to create a database profile based on an ODBC DSN (data source name) for Placid. In the Database Painter, you can use wizards and the UI to work with Placid data.

1. In PowerBuilder, click Tools -> Database Painter.
2. In the Objects window in the Database Painter, right-click the ODBC node and click New Profile.
3. On the Connection tab, enter a name for the profile and select the Placid DSN in the Data Source menu. 👁 The ODBC DSN, required to create the Database Profile. (Salesforce is shown.)
   
4. To view and modify a table, right-click a table and then click Edit Data -> Grid.

Using Placid Data with PowerBuilder Controls

You can use standard PowerBuilder objects to connect to ODBC data sources and execute queries. The following example shows how to retrieve Placid data into a DataWindow. You can add the following code to the open method:

SQLCA.DBMS = "ODBC"
SQLCA.DBParm = "ConnectString='DSN=CData API Source'"
CONNECT USING SQLCA;
dw_collections.SetTransObject(SQLCA);
dw_collections.Retrieve();