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URL: https://www.cdata.com/kb/tech/taxjar-odbc-coldfusion.rst

⇱ Import Real-Time TaxJar Data via ODBC in ColdFusion to Build Applications

Import Real-Time TaxJar Data via ODBC in ColdFusion to Build Applications

👁 Dibyendu Datta
Dibyendu Datta
Lead Technology Evangelist
Use CData ODBC drivers to import and use TaxJar data in ColdFusion.

Adobe ColdFusion is a web and mobile application development platform. It uses its own scripting language, ColdFusion Markup Language (CFML), to create data-driven websites as well as generate remote services, such as REST. When ColdFusion is paired with the CData ODBC Driver for TaxJar, you can link your ColdFusion web and mobile applications to operational TaxJar data. This allows for your applications to be more robust and complete. This article details how to use the ODBC driver to create a table populated with TaxJar data from within a ColdFusion markup file.

To follow along with this tutorial, you need to install the CData ODBC Driver for TaxJar and Adobe ColdFusion.

Configuring the Connection

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 process. You can use the Microsoft ODBC Data Source Administrator to create and configure ODBC DSNs.

To authenticate to the TaxJar API, first obtain the API Key from the TaxJar UI.

NOTE: the API is available only for Professional and Premium TaxJar plans.

If you already have a Professional or Premium plan you can find the API Key by logging in the TaxJar UI and navigating to Account -> TaxJar API. After obtaining the API Key, you can set it in the APIKey connection property.

Additional Notes

  • By default, the CData connector will retrieve data of the last 3 months in cases where the entity support date range filtering. You can set StartDate to specify the minimum creation date of the data retrieved.
  • If the API Key has been created for a sandbox API account please set UseSandbox to true, but not all endpoints will work as expected. For more information, refer to the TaxJar developer documentation.

Adding a Data Source and Creating a Table

After creating a DSN, follow the steps below to add a new data source, test our connection to it, create a ColdFusion markup file, and, finally, import TaxJar Data and display it in a table in ColdFusion:

  1. From the ColdFusion administrator interface, choose Data & Services. 👁 Selecting Data & Services
  2. Here, click "Add New Data Source". The data source name can be any name, provided it conforms to the ColdFusion variable naming conventions. For our ODBC driver, choose "ODBC Socket", then click the "Add" button. 👁 Adding Data Source Name
  3. From the ODBC DSN Dropdown menu select CData TaxJar Sys. Under the Advanced Settings section, leave the Connection String blank. Note that any properties specified in this input field will override the ones specified in the DSN Configuration. 👁 Populating driver properties
  4. Now, test the connection by pressing the check mark to the left of the CDataTaxJarODBC data source you just created. When the data source reports an "OK" status, it is ready for use. 👁 Testing the connection
  5. Next, create a new ColdFusion Markup file (.cfm) and place it in the wwwroot directory ("C:\ColdFusion2021\cfusion\wwwroot") for ColdFusion.

    The following code queries the data source: 

     
 <cfquery name="TaxJarQuery" dataSource="CDataTaxJarODBC"> 
 SELECT * FROM Orders 
 </cfquery>
    And a CFTable can be used to quickly output the table in HTML: 
     
 <cftable 
 query = "TaxJarQuery" 
 border = "1" 
 colHeaders 
 colSpacing = "2" 
 headerLines = "2" 
 HTMLTable 
 maxRows = "500" 
 startRow = "1"> 

 <cfcol header="<b>TransactionID</b>" align="Left" width=2 text="TransactionID"/> 

 <cfcol header="<b>UserID</b>" align="Left" width=15 text="UserID"/> 

 ...

 </cftable>
    Full code, including the HTML portion is available below: 
     
 <html> 
 <head><title>CData Software | TaxJar Orders Table Demo </title></head> 
 <body> 
 <cfoutput>#ucase("TaxJar Orders Table Demo")#</cfoutput> 
 <cfquery name="TaxJarQuery" dataSource="CDataTaxJarODBC"> 

 SELECT * FROM Orders 

 </cfquery> 
 <cftable 
 query = "TaxJarQuery" 
 border = "1" 
 colHeaders 
 colSpacing = "2" 
 headerLines = "2" 
 HTMLTable 
 maxRows = "500" 
 startRow = "1"> 
 <cfcol header="<b>TransactionID</b>" align="Left" width=2 text="TransactionID"/> 

 <cfcol header="<b>UserID</b>" align="Left" width=15 text="UserID"/> 

 ...

 </cftable> 
 </body> 

 </html>
  6. Finally, run the code in a browser. It produces a table populated with TaxJar data! 👁 Running the code

As a note, the CData ODBC Drivers also support parameterized queries using the cfqueryparam element. For example: 

SELECT * FROM Account WHERE name =

Get Started Today

Download a free, 30-day trial of the CData ODBC Driver for TaxJar and start building TaxJar-connected applications with Adobe ColdFusion. Reach out to our Support Team if you have any questions.

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👁 TaxJar Icon
TaxJar ODBC Driver

The TaxJar ODBC Driver is a powerful tool that allows you to connect with live data from TaxJar, directly from any applications that support ODBC connectivity.

Access TaxJar data like you would a database - read, write, and update TaxJar Transactions, TaxAmounts, etc. through a standard ODBC Driver interface.