Bubble is a no-code platform that simplifies the process of developing and launching apps and businesses. When coupled with CData Connect AI, you gain effortless no-code access to Salesforce data for streamlined app development. This article guides you through the integration process from Bubble to Salesforce using CData Connect AI.
CData Connect AI provides a pure cloud-to-cloud OData interface for Salesforce data that allows you to integrate from Bubble to Salesforce data in real time.
About Salesforce Data Integration
Accessing and integrating live data from Salesforce has never been easier with CData. Customers rely on CData connectivity to:
- Access to custom entities and fields means Salesforce users get access to all of Salesforce.
- Create atomic and batch update operations.
- Read, write, update, and delete their Salesforce data.
- Leverage the latest Salesforce features and functionalities with support for SOAP API versions 30.0.
- See improved performance based on SOQL support to push complex queries down to Salesforce servers.
- Use SQL stored procedures to perform actions like creating, retrieving, aborting, and deleting jobs, uploading and downloading attachments and documents, and more.
Users frequently integrate Salesforce data with:
- other ERPs, marketing automation, HCMs, and more.
- preferred data tools like Power BI, Tableau, Looker, and more.
- databases and data warehouses.
For more information on how CData solutions work with Salesforce, check out our Salesforce integration page.
Getting Started
Connect to Salesforce from Bubble
To work with Salesforce data from Bubble, we need to connect to Salesforce from Connect AI, provide user access to
the connection, and create a Workspace for the Salesforce data.
Connect to Salesforce from Connect AI
CData Connect AI uses a straightforward, point-and-click interface to connect to data sources.
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Log into Connect AI, click Sources, and then click Add Connection
👁 Adding a Connection
- Select "Salesforce" from the Add Connection panel
👁 Selecting a data source
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Salesforce uses OAuth to authenticate. Click "Sign in" to authenticate with Salesforce.
👁 Authenticating with OAuth (Salesforce is shown).
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Navigate to the Permissions tab in the Add Salesforce 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.
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Click on the Gear icon () at the top right of the Connect AI app to open the settings page.
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On the Settings page, go to the Access Tokens section and click Create PAT.
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Give the PAT a name and click Create.
👁 Creating a new PAT
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The personal access token is only visible at creation, so be sure to copy it and store it securely for future use.
Configure Salesforce Endpoints for Bubble
After connecting to Salesforce, create a workspace for your desired table(s).
- Navigate to the Workspaces page and click Add to create a new Workspace (or select an existing workspace).
👁 The Workspaces page.
👁 Adding a new Workspace.
- Click Add to add new assets to the Workspace.
- Select the Salesforce connection (e.g. Salesforce1) and click Next.
👁 Selecting an Asset (Salesforce is shown).
- Select the table(s) you wish to work with and click Confirm.
👁 Selecting Tables (Salesforce is shown).
- Make note of the OData Service URL for your workspace, e.g. https://cloud.cdata.com/api/odata/{workspace_name}
With the connection, PAT, and Workspace configured, you are ready to connect to Salesforce data from Bubble.
Build a Salesforce-Connected App
With OData endpoints added to Connect AI, you can build an app in Bubble with live access to Salesforce data.
Configure the Bubble API Connector
To start, Configure the API Connector for accessing CData Connect AI from Bubble.
- In your app, click the Plugins tab and click Add plugins
- Search for "API Connector" and click Install
👁 Installing the API Connector plugin
- After installation, click the "Add another API" button and configure the API:
- Name the API
- Set Authentication to "HTTP Basic Auth"
- Set Username to a Connect AI user (e.g. [email protected])
- Set Password to the PAT for the user
- Expand the API Call, select the "GET" command and set the URL to a Workspace endpoint you previously configured (e.g. https://cloud.cdata.com/api/odata/{workspace_name}/Account)
👁 Configuring the API Call
- Click the "Initialize call" button to adjust data types in the response (as needed)
👁 Initializing the call
- After making any necessary changes, click "Save"
👁 Saving the data types
Configure the App UI
With the API Connector configure, you are ready to retrieve Salesforce data in your Bubble app. In this article, we request the data with a UI component that can display an Excel-like table.
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On the Plugin tab, install the "Excel-like HandsonTable"
👁 Adding the Excel-like HandsonTable plugin
- On the Design tab, add an "Excel Table" to the workspace
👁 Adding an Excel Table to the app
- In the Excel Table, in Data source, select "Get data from an external API"
- Set Type of content to "API Call value"
- Set Data source to "CData Connect AI - API Call's value" (or equivalent)
👁 Binding the Excel Table to the API Call
- Click "Preview" to ensure the data was retrieved from Salesforce.
👁 Previewing the app
At this point, you can develop applications with live access to Salesforce data without needing to know the complexities of the back-end API.
Live Access to Salesforce Data from Cloud Applications
Now you have a direct connection to live Salesforce data from Bubble. You can create more Salesforce-connected apps — all without writing any code or replicating Salesforce data.
To get live data access to hundreds of SaaS, Big Data, and NoSQL sources directly from your cloud applications, see the CData Connect AI.
