Build Sugar CRM-Connected Web Apps with Axios and CData Connect AI

Axios is a JavaScript library that allows developers to make HTTP requests to servers from a web browser or Node.js. When paired with CData Connect AI, you get access to live Sugar CRM data for your web apps. This article shows how to connect to Sugar CRM and build web apps in Axios with access to live Sugar CRM data.

Connect to Sugar CRM from Axios

To work with Sugar CRM in Axios, we need to connect to Sugar CRM from Connect AI, provide user access to the connection, and create a Workspace for the Sugar CRM data.

Connect to Sugar CRM from Connect AI

CData Connect AI uses a straightforward, point-and-click interface to connect to data sources.

1. Log into Connect AI, click Sources, and then click Add Connection
👁 Adding a Connection

2. Select "Sugar CRM" from the Add Connection panel
👁 Selecting a data source

3. Enter the necessary authentication properties to connect to Sugar CRM.

   The User and Password properties, under the Authentication section, must be set to valid SugarCRM user credentials. This will use the default OAuth token created to allow client logins. OAuthClientId and OAuthClientSecret are required if you do not wish to use the default OAuth token.

   You can generate a new OAuth consumer key and consumer secret in Admin -> OAuth Keys. Set the OAuthClientId to the OAuth consumer key. Set the OAuthClientSecret to the consumer secret.

   Additionally, specify the URL to the SugarCRM account.

   Note that retrieving SugarCRM metadata can be expensive. It is advised that you store the metadata locally as described in the "Caching Metadata" chapter of the help documentation.

   👁 Configuring a connection (Salesforce is shown)
   
4. Click Save & Test
5. Navigate to the Permissions tab in the Add Sugar CRM 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.

Configure Sugar CRM Endpoints for Axios

After connecting to Sugar CRM, create a workspace for your desired table(s).

1. 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.
   
2. Click Add to add new assets to the Workspace.
3. Select the Sugar CRM connection (e.g. SugarCRM1) and click Next. 👁 Selecting an Asset (Salesforce is shown).
   
4. Select the table(s) you wish to work with and click Confirm. 👁 Selecting Tables (Salesforce is shown).
   
5. 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 Sugar CRM data from Axios.

Connect to Sugar CRM Data in Axios Workflows

To establish a connection from Axios to CData Connect AI using the OData protocol, follow these steps.

1. Create a project directory for your web app. For example: ~/connect_cloud/
2. Open a terminal, navigate the the project directory and initialize a node project using the command:

   npm init -y

3. Install the Axios dependency in the project using the following command:

   npm install axios

4. In your project directory, create a file called server.js that contains the following code. Provide your CData Connect AI username (e.g. [email protected]) and PAT (the PAT you created in the prerequisites). You must also provide a query for your data, such as SELECT * FROM SugarCRM1.SCHEMA.Accounts.

   server.js code

    const axios = require('axios')
   
    const user = '[email protected]'
    const pat = '***********************************';
   
    //Your API endpoint
    const url = 'https://cloud.cdata.com/api/odata/{workspace_name}';
   
    //Your data to be sent in the POST request
    const data = {
    "query":"SELECT * FROM {workspace_name}.SCHEMA.Accounts"
    };
   
    axios.post(url, data, {
    auth: {
    username: user,
    password: pat
    }
    })
    .then(response => {
    const rows = response.data.results[0].rows;
    const schema = response.data.results[0].schema;
   
    //Create an array of column names
    const columnNames = schema.map(col => col.columnName);
   
    //Loop through each row and log the column name with its value
    rows.forEach(row => {
    const rowObject = {};
    row.forEach((value, index) => {
    const columnName = columnNames[index];
    rowObject[columnName] = value;
    });
    console.log(rowObject);
    })
    })
    .catch(error => {
    console.error('Error:', error);
    });
    

5. In the terminal, execute the following command to run the server:

   node server.js

   The query results will appear:

    { ID: 1, VALUE: -2 }
    { ID: 2, VALUE: 1 }
    { ID: 11, VALUE: null }
    { ID: 3, VALUE: 2 }
    { ID: 4, VALUE: 5 }
    ...

Simplified Access to Sugar CRM Data from Cloud Applications

At this point, you have a direct connection to live Sugar CRM data from Axios. For more information on gaining simplified access to data from more than 100 SaaS, Big Data, and NoSQL sources in cloud applications like Axios, refer to our Connect AI page.