Analyze Zendesk Data in Infragistics Reveal

Reveal is a data visualization solution provided by Infragistics and can be paired with the CData API Server and Zendesk ADO.NET Provider to build dynamic dashboards from live Zendesk data. The CData API Server generates an OData API for Zendesk, which is natively consumable in Reveal. In this article, we walk through connecting to Zendesk in API Server and connecting to the API Server from Infragistics Reveal to create a simple dashboard.

Connect to Zendesk from API Server

CData API Server uses a straightforward, point-and-click interface to connect to data sources and generate APIs.

1. Open API Server and click Settings -> Connection -> Add Connection
2. Select "Zendesk"
3. Enter the necessary authentication properties to connect to Zendesk.

   Connecting to Zendesk

   To connect, set the URL and provide authentication. The URL is your Zendesk Support URL: https://{subdomain}.zendesk.com.

   Authenticating to Zendesk

   You can authenticate using the Basic or OAuth methods.

   Using Basic Authentication

   To use Basic authentication, specify your email address and password or your email address and an API token. Set User to your email address and follow the steps below to provide the Password or ApiToken.

   • Enable password access in the Zendesk Support admin interface at Admin > Channels > API.
   • Manage API tokens in the Zendesk Support Admin interface at Admin > Channels > API. More than one token can be active at the same time. Deleting a token deactivates it permanently.

   Using OAuth Authentication

   See the Getting Started guide in the CData driver documentation for an authentication guide.

   

Add Zendesk Resource Definitions in API Server

After connecting to Zendesk, create Resources, which represent API endpoints for Zendesk data.

1. Click Settings -> Resources -> Add Resource
2. Select the Zendesk connection
3. Select the table you wish to retrieve and click Next
4. (Optional) Edit the resource to select specific fields and more
5. Save the settings

Add an API Server User

Create a User to connect to Zendesk from Reveal through API Server.

1. Click Settings -> Users
2. Click Add
3. Configure a User with access to the Zendesk Connection and Resource(s)

(Optional) Configure Cross-Origin Resource Sharing (CORS)

When accessing and connecting to multiple different domains from an application such as Ajax, there is a possibility of violating the limitations of cross-site scripting. In that case, configure the CORS settings in Settings -> Server.

• Enable cross-origin resource sharing (CORS): ON
• Allow all domains without '*': ON
• Access-Control-Allow-Methods: GET, PUT, POST, OPTIONS
• Access-Control-Allow-Headers: Authorization

Save the changes to the settings.

Create a Dashboard in Reveal

With the API Server configured, we can visualize Zendesk data in Reveal.

1. Log into Reveal and click Dashboards -> New
2. Click Data Source -> OData Feed
3. Specify the API Server API endpoint URL, for example: https://serverurl/api.rsc
4. Select Generic Credentials and specify the API Server username and authentication token
5. Select the entity you wish to visualize
6. Select fields and choose a chart type

More Information & Free Trial

At this point, you have created a simple dashboard from live Zendesk data. For more information on creating OData feeds from Zendesk (and more than 150 other sources), visit the API Server page. Download a free, 30-day trial and start working live Zendesk data in tools that consume OData APIs.