Viewing Superchat Data in RAD Studio Data Explorer

Embarcadero RAD Studio provides a development environment for Delphi and C++Builder applications. With the CData ODBC Driver for Superchat, you gain access to live Superchat data within RAD Studio, abstracting the data into tables, views, and stored procedures that can be used to both retrieve Superchat data. This article will walk through connecting to Superchat using the Data Explorer.

Configure a Connection to Superchat

If you have not already, first specify connection properties in an ODBC DSN (data source name). This is the last step of the driver installation. You can use the Microsoft ODBC Data Source Administrator to create and configure ODBC DSNs.

Superchat uses API Key authentication. The API key is passed via the X-API-KEY request header on every call.

Authentication

To authenticate to Superchat, you need to obtain your API key from the Superchat workspace settings.

Using API Key Authentication

You can obtain your API key from Settings > Integrations > API Key in your Superchat workspace.

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

• AuthScheme: Set this to APIKey.
• APIKey: Set this to your Superchat API key.

Example connection string:

Profile=C:\profiles\Superchat.apip;AuthScheme=APIKey;ProfileSettings='APIKey=your_api_key';

Connecting to Superchat Data Using Data Explorer

You can create a simple application for displaying Superchat data by utilizing the CData FireDAC Components for Superchat and a new VCL Forms Application:

1. Open the Data Explorer in RAD Studio and expand FireDAC.
2. Right-click the ODBC Data Source node in the Data Explorer.
3. Click Add New Connection. 👁 Adding a New Connection. (Salesforce is shown.)
   
4. Enter a name for the connection.
5. In the FireDAC Connection Editor that appears, set the DataSource property to the name of the ODBC DSN for Superchat. 👁 Setting the Connection Parameters. (Salesforce is shown.)
   
6. Back in the Data Explorer, expand the views for the connection.

7. Create a new VCL Forms application and drag a view (for example: Channels) onto the form.

   👁 Placing the View on the Form. (Salesforce is shown.)
   
8. Select the ChannelsView object on the form and set the Active property to true.

9. Right-click on the object, bind visually, and link everything (*) to a new control (TStringGrid).

   👁 Visually Binding the View. (Salesforce is shown.)
   

10. Arrange the TStringGrid on the form and run the application to see the Channels data.

    👁 The View data on a Form. (Salesforce is shown.)
    

Related Articles

Below you can find other articles for using the CData ODBC Driver with RAD Studio, Delphi, and C++ Builder.

• DataBind Controls to Superchat Data in C++Builder
• DataBind Controls to Superchat Data in Delphi
• Build a Simple VCL Application for Superchat Data