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Import Printful Data into Microsoft Power Query
The CData API Server offers standards-based Web service endpoints that allow a variety of applications to access Printful data. In this article, you will use the OData format to import Printful data into Microsoft Power Query.
The API Server, when paired with the ADO.NET Provider for Printful (or any of 200+ other ADO.NET Providers), enables you to use Web services to connect to and query Printful data. This article details how to import an OData feed of Printful data into Microsoft Power Query.
Set Up the API Server
Follow the steps below to begin producing secure Printful OData services:
Deploy
The API Server runs on your own server. On Windows, you can deploy using the stand-alone server or IIS. On a Java servlet container, drop in the API Server WAR file. See the help documentation for more information and how-tos.
The API Server is also easy to deploy on Microsoft Azure, Amazon EC2, and Heroku.
Connect to Printful
After you deploy the API Server and the ADO.NET Provider for Printful, provide authentication values and other connection properties needed to connect to Printful by clicking Settings -> Connections and adding a new connection in the API Server administration console.
Start by setting the Profile connection property to the location of the Printful Profile on disk (e.g. C:\profiles\Printful.apip). Next, set the ProfileSettings connection property to the connection string for Printful (see below).
Printful API Profile Settings
In order to authenticate to Printful, you'll need to provide your API Key. To get your API Key, first go to 'Settings' then 'Stores'. Select the Store you would like to connect to, then click the 'Add API Access' button to generate an API Key. Set the API Key in the ProfileSettings property to connect.
You can then choose the Printful entities you want to allow the API Server access to by clicking Settings -> Resources.
Authorize API Server Users
After determining the OData services you want to produce, authorize users by clicking Settings -> Users. The API Server uses authtoken-based authentication and supports the major authentication schemes. Access can also be restricted based on IP address; by default, only connections to the local machine are allowed. You can authenticate as well as encrypt connections with SSL.
Connect to Printful Data from Power Query
Follow the steps below to import tables that can be refreshed on demand:
- Configure the API Server to use a version of the OData protocol that is recognized by Power Query. In the API Server administration console, click Settings -> Server and change the value of the Default Version property to 3.0.
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From the ribbon in Excel, click Power Query -> From Other Data Sources -> From OData Feed, and enter the OData URL:
https://your-server:8032/api.rsc
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In the next step of the wizard, define authentication credentials and set privacy levels. Select Basic authentication and enter the credentials for a user authorized to make requests. Specify the Username field and enter the user's authtoken in the Password field.
To change the authentication scheme that Power Query will use, click Power Query -> Data Source Settings. Select the OData feed from the list and then click Edit Credential. Select the privacy level from the menu on the Data Source Settings page.
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You can now access Printful data in Power Query. In the Navigator expand the node for the OData feed, right-click a table, and click Edit to open the Query Editor. This will display the table data.
