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Consume Workday OData Feeds in PowerBuilder
This article demonstrates how to consume Workday data as OData feeds from PowerBuilder using the API Server.
The CData API Server, when paired with the ADO.NET Provider for Workday (or any of 200+ other ADO.NET Providers), produces secure feeds of Workday data that you can consume in PowerBuilder DataWindows. The API Server supports the major Web services, including OData, Atom, JSON, HTML, CSV, TSV, and RSS. It also supports the major authentication schemes and SSL.
This article shows how to create a DataWindow that uses the CData API Server to execute reads and writes.
About Workday Data Integration
CData provides the easiest way to access and integrate live data from Workday. Customers use CData connectivity to:
- Access the tables and datasets you create in Prism Analytics Data Catalog, working with the native Workday data hub without compromising the fidelity of your Workday system.
- Access Workday Reports-as-a-Service to surface data from departmental datasets not available from Prism and datasets larger than Prism allows.
- Access base data objects with WQL, REST, or SOAP, getting more granular, detailed access but with the potential need for Workday admins or IT to help craft queries.
Users frequently integrate Workday with analytics tools such as Tableau, Power BI, and Excel, and leverage our tools to replicate Workday data to databases or data warehouses. Access is secured at the user level, based on the authenticated user's identity and role.
For more information on configuring Workday to work with CData, refer to our Knowledge Base articles: Comprehensive Workday Connectivity through Workday WQL and Reports-as-a-Service & Workday + CData: Connection & Integration Best Practices.
Getting Started
Set Up the API Server
Follow the steps below to begin producing secure Workday 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 Workday
After you deploy the API Server and the ADO.NET Provider for Workday, provide authentication values and other connection properties needed to connect to Workday by clicking Settings -> Connections and adding a new connection in the API Server administration console.
To connect to Workday, users need to find the Tenant and BaseURL and then select their API type.
Obtaining the BaseURL and Tenant
To obtain the BaseURL and Tenant properties, log into Workday and search for "View API Clients." On this screen, you'll find the Workday REST API Endpoint, a URL that includes both the BaseURL and Tenant.
The format of the REST API Endpoint is: https://domain.com/subdirectories/mycompany, where:
- https://domain.com/subdirectories/ is the BaseURL.
- mycompany (the portion of the url after the very last slash) is the Tenant.
Using ConnectionType to Select the API
The value you use for the ConnectionType property determines which Workday API you use. See our Community Article for more information on Workday connectivity options and best practices.
| API | ConnectionType Value |
|---|---|
| WQL | WQL |
| Reports as a Service | Reports |
| REST | REST |
| SOAP | SOAP |
Authentication
Your method of authentication depends on which API you are using.
- WQL, Reports as a Service, REST: Use OAuth authentication.
- SOAP: Use Basic or OAuth authentication.
See the Help documentation for more information on configuring OAuth with Workday.
You can then choose the Workday entities you want to allow the API Server access to by clicking Settings -> Resources.
Additionally, click Settings -> Server and change the following settings for compatibility with PowerBuilder:
- Default Format: Select XML (Atom) in the menu.
- Default Version: Select 2.0 in the menu.
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.
Create a Profile for Workday
Follow the steps below to use the Database Painter tool to create a database profile for the OData API of the API Server. In the Database Painter, you can graphically manipulate data as well as execute SQL queries.
- Click Tools -> Database Painter.
- Right-click the OData node and click New Profile.
- In the Database Profile Setup dialog, enter the following:
- Profile Name: Enter a user-friendly name for the profile.
- URI: Enter the URL to the OData endpoint of the API Server. This URL will resemble the one below:
http://MyServer:8032/api.rsc - Supply User Id and Password: Click this option to use HTTP Basic authentication. Note that the API Server also supports Windows authentication.
- User Id: Enter the name of an user in the API Server.
- Password: Enter the authtoken of an user in the API Server.
- To view and modify a table, right-click a table and then click Edit Data -> Grid.
Using Workday Data with PowerBuilder Controls
You can use standard PowerBuilder objects to connect to OData feeds and execute queries. The following example shows how to retrieve Workday data into a DataWindow.
You can add the following code to the open method:
SQLCA.DBMS = "ODT"
SQLCA.DBParm = "ConnectString='URI=http://MyServer:8032/api.rsc;UID=MyAPIUser;PWD=MyAuthtoken'";
CONNECT USING SQLCA;
dw_workers.SetTransObject(SQLCA);
dw_workers.Retrieve();
