Extend Google Sheets with Sage 300 Data

Interact with Sage 300 data from Google Sheets through macros, custom functions, and add-ons. The CData API Server enables connectivity to Sage 300 data from cloud-based and mobile applications like Google Sheets. The API Server is a lightweight Web application that produces OData services for Sage 300.

Google Apps Script can consume these OData services in the JSON format. This article shows how to create a simple add-on that populates a Google Spreadsheet with OEInvoices data.

Set Up the API Server

If you have not already done so, download the CData API Server. Once you have installed the API Server, follow the steps below to begin producing secure Sage 300 OData services:

Connect to Sage 300

To work with Sage 300 data from Google Sheets, we start by creating and configuring a Sage 300 connection. Follow the steps below to configure the API Server to connect to Sage 300 data:

1. First, navigate to the Connections page.
2. Click Add Connection and then search for and select the Sage 300 connection. 👁 Selecting a data source (SQLite is shown)
   
3. Enter the necessary authentication properties to connect to Sage 300.

   Sage 300 requires some initial setup in order to communicate over the Sage 300 Web API.

   • Set up the security groups for the Sage 300 user. Give the Sage 300 user access to the option under Security Groups (per each module required).
   • Edit both web.config files in the /Online/Web and /Online/WebApi folders; change the key AllowWebApiAccessForAdmin to true. Restart the webAPI app-pool for the settings to take.
   • Once the user access is configured, click https://server/Sage300WebApi/ to ensure access to the web API.

   Authenticate to Sage 300 using Basic authentication.

   Connect Using Basic Authentication

   You must provide values for the following properties to successfully authenticate to Sage 300. Note that the provider reuses the session opened by Sage 300 using cookies. This means that your credentials are used only on the first request to open the session. After that, cookies returned from Sage 300 are used for authentication.

   • Url: Set this to the url of the server hosting Sage 300. Construct a URL for the Sage 300 Web API as follows: {protocol}://{host-application-path}/v{version}/{tenant}/ For example, http://localhost/Sage300WebApi/v1.0/-/.
   • User: Set this to the username of your account.
   • Password: Set this to the password of your account.
   👁 Connecting to a datasource (SQLite is shown)
   
4. After configuring the connection, click Save & Test to confirm a successful connection.

Configure API Server Users

Next, create a user to access your Sage 300 data through the API Server. You can add and configure users on the Users page. Follow the steps below to configure and create a user:

1. On the Users page, click Add User to open the Add User dialog.
2. Next, set the Role, Username, and Privileges properties and then click Add User. 👁 Configure a new user
   
3. An Authtoken is then generated for the user. You can find the Authtoken and other information for each user on the Users page: 👁 API Server user settings
   

Creating API Endpoints for Sage 300

Having created a user, you are ready to create API endpoints for the Sage 300 tables:

1. First, navigate to the API page and then click Add Table . 👁 Add tables
   
2. Select the connection you wish to access and click Next. 👁 Select the connection (SQLite is shown)
   
3. With the connection selected, create endpoints by selecting each table and then clicking Confirm. 👁 Adding tables from the connection (SQLite is shown)
   

Gather the OData Url

Having configured a connection to Sage 300 data, created a user, and added resources to the API Server, you now have an easily accessible REST API based on the OData protocol for those resources. From the API page in API Server, you can view and copy the API Endpoints for the API:

Retrieve Sage 300 Data

Open the Script Editor from your spreadsheet by clicking Tools -> Script Editor. In the Script Editor, add the following function to populate a spreadsheet with the results of an OData query:

function retrieve(){
 var url = "https://MyUrl/api.rsc/OEInvoices?select=Id,InvoiceUniquifier,ApprovedLimit,AllowPartialShipments";
 var response = UrlFetchApp.fetch(url,{
 headers: {"Authorization": "Basic " + Utilities.base64Encode("MyUser:MyAuthtoken")}
 }); 
 var json = response.getContentText();
 var sheet = SpreadsheetApp.getActiveSheet();
 var a1 = sheet.getRange('a1');
 var index=1;
 var oeinvoices = JSON.parse(json).value;

 var cols = [["Id","InvoiceUniquifier","ApprovedLimit","AllowPartialShipments"]]; 
 sheet.getRange(1,1,1,4).setValues(cols);

 row=2;
 for(var i in oeinvoices){
 for (var j in oeinvoices[i]) {
 switch (j) {
 case "Id":
 a1.offset(row,0).setValue(account[i][j]);
 break;
 case "InvoiceUniquifier":
 a1.offset(row,1).setValue(account[i][j]);
 break;
 case "ApprovedLimit":
 a1.offset(row,2).setValue(account[i][j]);
 break;
 case "AllowPartialShipments":
 a1.offset(row,3).setValue(account[i][j]);
 break;
 } 
 }
 row++;
 }
}

Follow the steps below to add an installable trigger to populate the spreadsheet when opened:

1. Click Resources -> Current Project's Triggers -> Add a New Trigger.
2. Select retrieve in the Run menu.
3. Select From Spreadsheet.
4. Select On open.

After closing the dialog, you are prompted to allow access to the application.

You can test the script by clicking Publish -> Test as Add-On. Select the version, installation type, and spreadsheet to create a test configuration. You can then select and run the test configuration.