How to integrate Asana using C#

Learn how to quickly and efficiently connect Asana with C# for smooth data access.

Read and write Asana data effortlessly. Integrate, manage, and automate tasks, projects, workspaces, and time entries — almost no coding required. You can do it all using the high-performance Asana ODBC Driver for C# (often referred to as the Asana Connector). We'll walk you through the entire setup.

Ready to dive in? Download the product to jump right in, or follow the step-by-step guide below to see how it works.

Asana ODBC Driver Powering this integration

High performance
Bidirectional
Low-code / No-code
Easy to use

Built on the ZappySys API Driver, the Asana ODBC Driver is a high-performance, low-code / no-code solution. It enables you to connect to Asana data without any coding right in your SQL Server, or any ODBC/JDBC application. Part of the ODBC PowerPack.

Documentation

Create data source using Asana ODBC Driver

Step-by-step instructions

To get data from Asana using C#, we first need to create an ODBC data source. We will later read this data in C#. Perform these steps:

Download and install ODBC PowerPack (if you haven't already).
Search for odbc and open the ODBC Data Sources (64-bit):
Create a User data source (User DSN) based on the ZappySys API Driver driver:

ZappySys API Driver
- Create and use a User DSN if the client application runs under a User Account. This is the ideal option at design time (e.g., when developing in Visual Studio). Use it for both types of applications (64-bit and 32-bit).
- Create and use a System DSN if the client application runs under a System Account (e.g., as a Windows Service). This is usually the required option in a production environment. If your Windows Service is a 32-bit application, you must use the 32-bit ODBC Data Source Administrator to configure this
When the Configuration window appears give your data source a name if you haven't done that already, then select "Asana" from the list of Popular Connectors. If "Asana" is not present in the list, then click "Search Online" and download it. Then set the path to the location where you downloaded it. Finally, click Continue >> to proceed with configuring the DSN:

AsanaDSN

Asana

Now it's time to configure the Connection Manager. Select Authentication Type, e.g. Token Authentication. Then select API Base URL (in most cases, the default one is the right one). More info is available in the Authentication section.

Personal Access Token

Asana authentication

Here is how to obtain a Personal Access Token (PAT) in Asana:

Open My apps in Asana portal and click Create new token button:
Once a popup opens, name your new token:
Then click Copy button to copy the token:
Now go to SSIS package or ODBC data source and use this token in Personal Access Token authentication configuration.
Choose Default Workspace and Default Project to work with.
Click Test Connection to confirm the connection is working.
Done! Now you are ready to use Asana Connector!

API Connection Manager configuration

Just perform these simple steps to finish authentication configuration:

Set Authentication Type to Personal Access Token [Http]
Optional step. Modify API Base URL if needed (in most cases default will work).
Fill in all the required parameters and set optional parameters if needed.
Finally, hit OK button:

AsanaDSN

Asana

Personal Access Token [Http]

https://app.asana.com/api/1.0

Required Parameters
Enter Token (Personal Access Token - PAT)	Fill-in the parameter...
Default Workspace	Fill-in the parameter...
Default Project	Fill-in the parameter...
Optional Parameters
RetryMode	RetryWhenStatusCodeMatch
RetryStatusCodeList	429
RetryCountMax	5
RetryMultiplyWaitTime	True

OAuth app

Asana authentication

Here is how to register an OAuth app in Asana:

Open My apps in Asana portal and click Create new app button:
Once a popup opens, name your app and check two options, and click Create app button:
Then copy Client ID and Client secret and save them in a file (we will need them for authentication):
Continue by selecting OAuth menu item on your left and click Add redirect URL button (you can have your own or use https://zappysys.com/oauth):
Proceed by clicking on the Manage distribution section on your left.
Then specify workspaces your app needs to access (use Any workspace to access them all):
Once you do that, click Save changes button.
Now go to SSIS package or ODBC data source and use Client ID, Client Secret, and Redirect URL in OAuth app authentication configuration.
When you are done with that, click Generate Token button to generate Access and Refresh Tokens.
Choose Default Workspace and Default Project to work with.
Click Test Connection to confirm the connection is working.
Done! Now you are ready to use Asana Connector!

API Connection Manager configuration

Just perform these simple steps to finish authentication configuration:

Set Authentication Type to OAuth app [OAuth]
Optional step. Modify API Base URL if needed (in most cases default will work).
Fill in all the required parameters and set optional parameters if needed.
Press Generate Token button to generate the tokens.
Finally, hit OK button:

AsanaDSN

Asana

OAuth app [OAuth]

https://app.asana.com/api/1.0

Required Parameters
ClientId	Fill-in the parameter...
Client Secret	Fill-in the parameter...
Default Workspace ( Select after Token is generated )	Fill-in the parameter...
Default Project ( Select after Token is generated )	Fill-in the parameter...
Optional Parameters
Permissions	default
Redirect URL	https://zappysys.com/oauth
RetryMode	RetryWhenStatusCodeMatch
RetryStatusCodeList	429
RetryCountMax	5
RetryMultiplyWaitTime	True

Once the data source connection has been configured, it's time to configure the SQL query. Select the Preview tab and then click Query Builder button to configure the SQL query:

ZappySys API Driver - Asana

Read and write Asana data effortlessly. Integrate, manage, and automate tasks, projects, workspaces, and time entries — almost no coding required.

AsanaDSN
Start by selecting the Table or Endpoint you are interested in and then configure the parameters. This will generate a query that we will use in C# to retrieve data from Asana. Hit OK button to use this query in the next step.
```
SELECT * FROM Workspaces
```
Some parameters configured in this window will be passed to the Asana API, e.g. filtering parameters. It means that filtering will be done on the server side (instead of the client side), enabling you to get only the meaningful data much faster.
Now hit Preview Data button to preview the data using the generated SQL query. If you are satisfied with the result, use this query in C#:
ZappySys API Driver - Asana

Read and write Asana data effortlessly. Integrate, manage, and automate tasks, projects, workspaces, and time entries — almost no coding required.

AsanaDSN
```
SELECT * FROM Workspaces
```
You can also access data quickly from the tables dropdown by selecting <Select table>.

A WHERE clause, LIMIT keyword will be performed on the client side, meaning that the whole result set will be retrieved from the Asana API first, and only then the filtering will be applied to the data. If possible, it is recommended to use parameters in Query Builder to filter the data on the server side (in Asana servers).
Click OK to finish creating the data source.

Video Tutorial

Read data in C#

Using ODBC DSN

Use this code snippet to read the data using AsanaDSN data source:

"AsanaDSN" ;
Press F5 to run the code and read the data:

Here is the code in text format:

using System;
using System.Data.Odbc;

namespace ConsoleApp {
    class Program {
        static void Main() {
            var dsn = "AsanaDSN";
            using (var conn = new OdbcConnection(String.Format("DSN={0}", dsn)))
            {
                conn.Open();
                var cmd = new OdbcCommand("SELECT * FROM Products", conn);
                
                //Increase the timeout duration from the default 30 seconds, which may be insufficient in certain scenarios
                cmd.CommandTimeout=600; // 600-Seconds
                
                var rdr = cmd.ExecuteReader();
                while (rdr.Read())
                {
                    for (int i = 0; i < rdr.FieldCount; i++)
                    {
                            Console.Write("{0}\t", rdr[i]);
                    }
                    Console.WriteLine();
                }
            }
            Console.ReadKey();
        }
    }
}

Using a full ODBC connection string

If you want to avoid being dependent on a DSN and creating multiple DSNs for each platform (x86, x64), then you can use a fully qualified connection string. Simply go to your DSN and copy the Connection String:

Open ODBC data source configuration and click Copy settings:

ZappySys API Driver - Configuration [Version: 2.0.1.10418]

ZappySys API Driver - Asana

Read and write Asana data effortlessly. Integrate, manage, and automate tasks, projects, workspaces, and time entries — almost no coding required.

AsanaDSN
The window opens, telling us the connection string was successfully copied to the clipboard:

Then in your C# code, pass the connection string as an argument when calling the OdbcConnection object's constructor, for example:

var connectionString = @"DRIVER={ZappySys API Driver};ServiceUrl=https://app.asana.com/api/1.0;CredentialType=Token;";

using (var conn = new OdbcConnection(connectionString))
{
    // your code goes here
}

Handling limitations of using a full connection string

Despite using a full ODBC connection string may be very convenient it comes with a limitation: it's length is limited to 1024 symbols (or sometimes more). It usually happens when API provider generates a very long Refresh Token when OAuth is at play. If you are using such a long ODBC connection string, you may get this error:

"Connection string exceeds maximum allowed length of 1024"

But there is a solution to this by storing the full connection string in a file. Follow the steps below to achieve this:

Open your ODBC data source.
Click Copy settings button to copy a full connection string (see the previous section on how to accomplish that).
Then create a new file, let's say, in C:\temp\odbc-connection-string.txt.
Continue by pasting the copied connection string into a newly created file and save it.
Finally, the last step! Just construct a shorter ODBC connection string using this format:
```
DRIVER={ZappySys API Driver};SettingsFile=C:\temp\odbc-connection-string.txt
```
Our troubles are over! Now you should be able to use this connection string in C# with no problems.

This feature requires ODBC PowerPack v1.9.0 or later.

Optional: Centralized data access via ZappySys Data Gateway

In some situations, you may need to provide Asana data access to multiple users or services. Configuring the data source on a Data Gateway creates a single, centralized connection point for this purpose.

This configuration provides two primary advantages:

Centralized data access
The data source is configured once on the gateway, eliminating the need to set it up individually on each user's machine or application. This significantly simplifies the management process.
Centralized access control
Since all connections route through the gateway, access can be governed or revoked from a single location for all users.

	Data Gateway	Local ODBC data source
Simple configuration
Installation	Single machine	Per machine
Connectivity	Local and remote	Local only
Connections limit	Limited by License	Unlimited
Central data access
Central access control
More flexible cost

To achieve this, you must first create a data source in the Data Gateway (server-side) and then create an ODBC data source in C# (client-side) to connect to it.

Let's not wait and get going!

Create Asana data source in the gateway

In this section we will create a data source for Asana in the Data Gateway. Let's follow these steps to accomplish that:

Search for gateway in the Windows Start Menu and open ZappySys Data Gateway Configuration:
Go to the Users tab and follow these steps to add a Data Gateway user:
- Click the Add button
- In the Login field enter a username, e.g., john
- Then enter a Password
- Check the Is Administrator checkbox
- Click OK to save
Now we are ready to add a data source:
- Click the Add button
- Give the Data source a name (have it handy for later)
- Then select Native - ZappySys API Driver
- Finally, click OK
AsanaDSN

ZappySys API Driver
When the ZappySys API Driver configuration window opens, go back to ODBC Data Source Administrator where you already have the Asana ODBC data source created and configured, and follow these steps on how to Import data source configuration into the Gateway:
- Open ODBC data source configuration and click Copy settings:
  
  ZappySys API Driver - Configuration [Version: 2.0.1.10418]
  
  ZappySys API Driver - Asana
  
  Read and write Asana data effortlessly. Integrate, manage, and automate tasks, projects, workspaces, and time entries — almost no coding required.
  
  AsanaDSN
- The window opens, telling us the connection string was successfully copied to the clipboard:
- Then go to Data Gateway configuration and in data source configuration window click Load settings:
  
  AsanaDSN
  
  ZappySys API Driver - Configuration [Version: 2.0.1.10418]
  
  ZappySys API Driver - Asana
  
  Read and write Asana data effortlessly. Integrate, manage, and automate tasks, projects, workspaces, and time entries — almost no coding required.
  
  AsanaDSN
- Once a window opens, just paste the settings by pressing CTRL+V or by clicking right mouse button and then Paste option.
Once done, go to the Network Settings tab and Add a firewall rule for inbound traffic:
- This will initially allow all inbound traffic.
- Click Edit IP filters to restrict access to specific IP addresses or ranges.
Crucial Step: After creating or modifying the data source, you must:
- Click the Save button to persist your changes.
- Hit Yes when prompted to restart the Data Gateway service.
This ensures all changes are properly applied:

Skipping this step may cause the new settings to fail, preventing you from connecting to the data source.

Create ODBC data source to connect to the gateway

In this part we will create an ODBC data source to connect to the ZappySys Data Gateway from C#. To achieve that, let's perform these steps:

Search for odbc and open the ODBC Data Sources (64-bit):
Create a User data source (User DSN) based on the ODBC Driver 17 for SQL Server driver:

ODBC Driver 17 for SQL Server

If you don't see the ODBC Driver 17 for SQL Server driver in the list, choose a similar version.
Then set a Name for the data source (e.g. Gateway) and the address of the Data Gateway:

ZappySysGatewayDSN

localhost,5000

Make sure you separate the hostname and port with a comma, e.g. localhost,5000.
Proceed with the authentication part:
- Select SQL Server authentication
- In the Login ID field enter the user name you created in the Data Gateway, e.g., john
- Set Password to the one you configured in the Data Gateway
Then set the default database property to AsanaDSN (the one we used in the Data Gateway):

AsanaDSN

AsanaDSN

Make sure to type the data source name manually or copy/paste it directly into the field. Using the dropdown might fail because the Trust server certificate option is not enabled yet (next step).
Continue by checking the Trust server certificate option:
Once you do that, test the connection:
If the connection is successful, everything is good:
Done!

We are ready to move to the final step. Let's do it!

Access data in C# via the gateway

Finally, we are ready to read data from Asana in C# via the Data Gateway. Follow these final steps:

Go back to C#.
Use this code snippet to read the data using ZappySysGatewayDSN data source:

"ZappySysGatewayDSN" ;
Read the data the same way we discussed at the beginning of this article.
That's it!

Now you can connect to Asana data in C# via the Data Gateway.

If you are asked for authentication details, use Database authentication, SQL authentication or Basic authentication option and enter the credentials you used when configuring the Data Gateway, e.g. john and your password.

Supported Asana Connector actions

Got a specific use case in mind? We've mapped out exactly how to perform a variety of essential Asana operations directly in C#, so you don't have to figure out the setup from scratch. Check out the step-by-step guides below:

Conclusion

In this article we showed you how to connect to Asana in C# and integrate data without writing complex code — all of this was powered by Asana ODBC Driver.

Download ODBC PowerPack now or ping us via chat if you have any questions or are looking for a specific feature (you can also reach out to us by submitting a ticket):

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