Using the CData ODBC Driver for Postmark in PyCharm

The CData ODBC Drivers can be used in any environment that supports loading an ODBC Driver. In this tutorial we will explore using the CData ODBC Driver for Postmark from within PyCharm. Included are steps for adding the CData ODBC Driver as a data source, as well as basic PyCharm code to query the data source and display results.

To begin, this tutorial will assume that you have already installed the CData ODBC Driver for Postmark as well as PyCharm.

Add Pyodbc to the Project

Follow the steps below to add the pyodbc module to your project.

1. Click File -> Settings to open the project settings window.
2. Click Project Interpreter from the Project: YourProjectName menu.
3. To add pyodbc, click the + button and enter pyodbc.
4. Click Install Package to install pyodbc.

Connect to Postmark

You can now connect with an ODBC connection string or a DSN. See the Getting Started section in the CData driver documentation for a guide to creating a DSN on your OS.

Using API Key Authentication

Postmark uses server API tokens to authenticate requests. Each Postmark server has its own API token, which controls access to messages, bounces, templates, and statistics associated with that server.

To obtain your Server API Token, log in to your Postmark account and navigate to the server you want to connect to. Go to API Tokens under the server settings and copy the token labeled Server API token.

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

• AuthScheme: Set this to APIKey.
• APIKey: Set this to your Postmark Server API Token. This value is sent as the X-Postmark-Server-Token header on every request.

Example connection string:

Profile=C:\profiles\Postmark.apip;AuthScheme=APIKey;ProfileSettings="APIKey=your-server-api-token"

Connecting to Postmark

Once the authentication is configured, you can connect to Postmark and query data from any of the available tables such as OutboundMessages, Bounces, and Templates.

Below is the syntax for a DSN:

[CData API Source]
Driver = CData ODBC Driver for Postmark
Description = My Description
Profile = C:\profiles\Postmark.apip
AuthScheme = APIKey
ProfileSettings = "APIKey = your-server-api-token"

Execute SQL to Postmark

Instantiate a Cursor and use the execute method of the Cursor class to execute any SQL statement.

import pyodbc

cnxn = pyodbc.connect('DRIVER={CData ODBC Driver for API};Profile = C:\profiles\Postmark.apip;AuthScheme = APIKey;ProfileSettings = "APIKey = your-server-api-token"')
cursor = cnxn.cursor()
cursor.execute("SELECT , FROM Bounces WHERE = ''")
rows = cursor.fetchall()
for row in rows:
 print(row., row.)

After connecting to Postmark in PyCharm using the CData ODBC Driver, you will be able to build Python apps with access to Postmark data as if it were a standard database. If you have any questions, comments, or feedback regarding this tutorial, please contact us at [email protected].