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URL: https://www.cdata.com/kb/tech/qbonline-cloud-polybase.rst

⇱ Connect to QuickBooks Online Data as an External Data Source using PolyBase

Connect to QuickBooks Online Data as an External Data Source using PolyBase

👁 Dibyendu Datta
Dibyendu Datta
Lead Technology Evangelist
Use CData Connect AI and PolyBase to create an external data source in SQL Swerver with access to live QuickBooks Online data.

PolyBase for SQL Server allows you to query external data by using the same Transact-SQL syntax used to query a database table. When paired with the CData ODBC Driver for QuickBooks Online, you get access to your QuickBooks Online data directly alongside your SQL Server data. This article describes creating an external data source and external tables to grant access to live QuickBooks Online data using T-SQL queries.

NOTE: PolyBase is only available on SQL Server 19 and above.

CData Connect AI provides a pure SQL Server interface for QuickBooks Online, allowing you to query data from QuickBooks Online without replicating the data to a natively supported database. Using optimized data processing out of the box, CData Connect AI pushes all supported SQL operations (filters, JOINs, etc.) directly to QuickBooks Online, leveraging server-side processing to return the requested QuickBooks Online data quickly.

About QuickBooks Online Data Integration

CData provides the easiest way to access and integrate live data from QuickBooks Online. Customers use CData connectivity to:

  • Realize high-performance data reads thanks to push-down query optimization for complex operations like filters and aggregations.
  • Read, write, update, and delete QuickBooks Online data.
  • Run reports, download attachments, and send or void invoices directly from code using SQL stored procedures.
  • Connect securely using OAuth and modern cryptography, including TLS 1.2, SHA-256, and ECC.

Many users access live QuickBooks Online data from preferred analytics tools like Power BI and Excel, directly from databases with federated access, and use CData solutions to easily integrate QuickBooks Online data with automated workflows for business-to-business communications.

For more information on how customers are solving problems with CData's QuickBooks Online solutions, refer to our blog: https://www.cdata.com/blog/360-view-of-your-customers.


Getting Started


Configure QuickBooks Online Connectivity for PolyBase

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

  1. Log into Connect AI, click Sources, and then click Add Connection
    2. 👁 Adding a Connection
  2. Select "QuickBooks Online" from the Add Connection panel
    3. 👁 Selecting a data source
  3. QuickBooks Online uses OAuth to authenticate. Click "Sign in" to authenticate with QuickBooks Online. 👁 Authenticating with OAuth (Salesforce is shown).
  4. Navigate to the Permissions tab in the Add QuickBooks Online 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 QuickBooks Online data from Polybase.

Create an External Data Source for QuickBooks Online Data

After configuring the connection, you need to create a credential database for the external data source.

Creating a Credential Database

Execute the following SQL command to create credentials for the external data source connected to QuickBooks Online data.

NOTE: Set IDENTITY to your Connect AI username and set SECRET to your Personal Access Token.

CREATE DATABASE SCOPED CREDENTIAL ConnectCloudCredentials
WITH IDENTITY = 'yourusername', SECRET = 'yourPAT';

Create an External Data Source for QuickBooks Online

Execute a CREATE EXTERNAL DATA SOURCE SQL command to create an external data source for QuickBooks Online with PolyBase: 

CREATE EXTERNAL DATA SOURCE ConnectCloudInstance
WITH ( 
 LOCATION = 'sqlserver://tds.cdata.com:14333',
 PUSHDOWN = ON,
 CREDENTIAL = ConnectCloudCredentials
);

Create External Tables for QuickBooks Online

After creating the external data source, use CREATE EXTERNAL TABLE statements to link to QuickBooks Online data from your SQL Server instance. The table column definitions must match those exposed by CData Connect AI. You can use the Data Explorer in Connect AI to see the table definition.

👁 Table definition in the Data Explorer (Salesforce is shown)

Sample CREATE TABLE Statement

Execute a CREATE EXTERNAL TABLE SQL command to create the external table(s), using the collation and setting the LOCATION to three-part notation for the connection, catalog, and table. The statement to create an external table based on a QuickBooks Online Customers would look similar to the following.

CREATE EXTERNAL TABLE Customers(
 DisplayName COLLATE [nvarchar](255) NULL,
 Balance COLLATE [nvarchar](255) NULL,
 ...
) WITH ( 
 LOCATION='QuickBooksOnline1.QuickBooksOnline.Customers',
 DATA_SOURCE=ConnectCloudInstance
);

Having created external tables for QuickBooks Online in your SQL Server instance, you are now able to query local and remote data simultaneously. To get live data access to hundreds of SaaS, Big Data, and NoSQL sources directly from your SQL Server database, try CData Connect AI today!