Build Sage 200-Connected Web Apps with Axios and CData Connect Cloud

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 Cloud, you get access to live Sage 200 data for your web apps. This article shows how to connect to Sage 200 and build web apps in Axios with access to live Sage 200 data.

Connect to Sage 200 from Axios

To work with Sage 200 in Axios, we need to connect to Sage 200 from Connect Cloud, provide user access to the connection, and create OData endpoints for the Sage 200 data.

(Optional) Add a New Connect Cloud User

As needed, create Users to connect to Sage 200 through Connect Cloud.

1. Navigate to the Users page and click Invite Users
2. Enter the new user's email address and click Send to invite the user
3. You can review and edit users from the Users page

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 Sage 200 from Connect Cloud

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

1. Log into Connect Cloud, click Connections and click Add Connection
2. Select "Sage 200" from the Add Connection panel
3. Enter the necessary authentication properties to connect to Sage 200.
   • Schema: Determines which Sage 200 edition you are connecting to. Specify either StandardUK or ProfessionalUK.
   • Subscription Key: Provides access to the APIs that are used to establish a connection. You will first need to log into the Sage 200 API website and subscribe to the API edition that matches your account. You can do so here: https://developer.columbus.sage.com/docs/services/api/uk. Afterwards, the subscription key may be found in your profile after logging into Sage 200.
   
4. Click Create & Test
5. Navigate to the Permissions tab in the Add Sage 200 Connection page and update the User-based permissions.

Note the CData Connect Cloud SQL API Endpoint(s)

CData Connect Cloud contains API endpoints that allow you to submit SQL queries to Sage 200 through common web requests. To work with Sage 200 data in Axios web apps, you will use the query endpoint.

Query Endpoint

With the connection and Workspace configured, you are ready to connect to Sage 200 data from Axios.

Connect to Sage 200 Data in Axios Workflows

To establish a connection from Axios to CData Connect Cloud 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 Cloud username (e.g. user@mydomain.com) and PAT (the PAT you created in the prerequisites). You must also provide a query for your data, such as SELECT * FROM Sage2001.SCHEMA.Banks.

   server.js code

   const axios = require('axios') const user = 'user@mydomain.com' const pat = '***********************************'; //Your API endpoint const url = 'https://cloud.cdata.com/api/query'; //Your data to be sent in the POST request const data = { "query":"SELECT * FROM Sage2001.SCHEMA.Banks" }; 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 Sage 200 Data from Cloud Applications

At this point, you have a direct connection to live Sage 200 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 Cloud page.