Connect to Freshdesk Data from HeidiSQL

HeidiSQL is an open-source database administration tool that natively supports MariaDB, MySQL, SQL Server, and PostgreSQL. When paired with CData Connect Cloud, HediSQL reach extends to include access to live Freshdesk data. This article demonstrates how to connect to Freshdesk using Connect Cloud and query Freshdesk data in HeidiSQL.

CData Connect Cloud provides a pure SQL Server interface for Freshdesk, allowing you to query data from Freshdesk without replicating the data to a natively supported database. Using optimized data processing out of the box, CData Connect Cloud pushes all supported SQL operations (filters, JOINs, etc.) directly to Freshdesk, leveraging server-side processing to return the requested Freshdesk data quickly.

Configure Freshdesk Connectivity for HeidiSQL

Connectivity to Freshdesk from HeidiSQL is made possible through CData Connect Cloud. To work with Freshdesk data from HeidiSQL, we start by creating and configuring a Freshdesk connection.

1. Log into Connect Cloud, click Connections and click Add Connection
2. Select "Freshdesk" from the Add Connection panel
3. Enter the necessary authentication properties to connect to Freshdesk.

   FreshDesk makes use of basic authentication. To connect to data, set the following connection properties:

   • Domain: Set this to the domain associated with your FreshDesk account. For example, in your URL: https://my_domain.freshdesk.com.
   • APIKey: Set this to the API key associated with your FreshDesk account. To retrieve your API key, Log into your support Portal -> Click on profile picture in the top right corner -> profile settings page. The API key will be available below the change password section to the right.
4. Click Create & Test
5. Navigate to the Permissions tab in the Add Freshdesk Connection page and update the User-based permissions.

Add a Personal Access Token

If you are connecting from a service, application, platform, or framework that does not support OAuth authentication, you can create a Personal Access Token (PAT) to use for authentication. Best practices would dictate that you create a separate PAT for each service, to maintain granularity of access.

1. Click on your username at the top right of the Connect Cloud app and click User Profile.
2. On the User Profile page, scroll down to the Personal Access Tokens section and click Create PAT.
3. Give your PAT a name and click Create.
4. The personal access token is only visible at creation, so be sure to copy it and store it securely for future use.

Connect to Freshdesk from HeidiSQL using Connect Cloud

To establish a connection from HeidiSQL to the CData Connect Cloud Virtual SQL Server API, follow these steps.

Create a new HeidiSQL Session

1. In the Session Manager, select New in the bottom-left
2. Give the new session a descriptive name, e.g. Connect-Cloud-Freshdesk

Configure a SQL Server Connection to Connect Cloud

1. In the session settings, set the Network type to Microsoft SQL Server (TCP/IP)
2. The Library DLL should automatically update to MSOLEDBSQL
3. Set the Hostname/IP to tds.cdata.com
4. Set the User to your CData Connect Cloud username. This is displayed in the top-right corner of the CData Connect Cloud interface. For example, test@cdata.com
5. Set the Password to your PAT created in Connect Cloud in the previous section.
6. Set the Port to 14333

Query Freshdesk from HeidiSQL

1. In the database listing on the left, find your connection to Freshdesk configured earlier.
2. Expand this connection to view individual tables or data objects present within Freshdesk.
3. Write custom SQL queries targeting these tables, treating the data source like any SQL Server database, or visually explore each tabular data set by selecting the relevant tables

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