Mailchimp Connector - Using T-SQL / Linked Server

T-SQL is a programming language used for managing and querying data in Microsoft SQL Server databases. We provides tools for data integration, automation, and connectivity.

If you want to use T-SQL with ZappySys, you can use our Connector, which allows you to connect to SQL Server databases and execute T-SQL queries from Mailchimp.

Create Data Source in ZappySys Data Gateway based on ZappySys API Driver

Download and install ZappySys ODBC PowerPack.
Search for gateway in start menu and Open ZappySys Data Gateway:
Go to Users Tab to add our first Gateway user. Click Add; we will give it a name tdsuser and enter password you like to give. Check Admin option and click OK to save. We will use these details later when we create linked server:
Now we are ready to add a data source. Click Add, give data source a name (Copy this name somewhere, we will need it later) and then select Native - ZappySys API Driver. Finally, click OK. And it will create the Data Set for it and open the ZS driver UI.

MailchimpDSN
When the Configuration window appears give your data source a name if you haven't done that already, then select "Mailchimp" from the list of Popular Connectors. If "Mailchimp" 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:

MailchimpDSN

Mailchimp

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.

OAuth [OAuth]

Steps to get Mailchimp Credentials
To get the credentials you need in order to set up your OAuth workflow, you'll first need to register your application with Mailchimp:

Navigate to the Registered Apps page in your Mailchimp account.
Click Register An App.
Fill out the Register An App form.
Click Create.
After successfully registering your application, you'll see the client_id and client_secret at the bottom of the page - record these values and store them securely.
Record your Mailchimp data center, since we will need it later. The data center will be located in your browser's address bar URL. If the URL is "https://us21.admin.mailchimp.com/account/api/", then your data center is "us21".
Back at the connector screen, enter the data center that was recorded in step 6 into the Data Center field.
Enter the client_id value that was recorded in step 5 into the Client Id field.
Enter the client_secret value that was recorded in step 5 into the Client Secret field.
Click Generate Token. If proper authentication occurs, you will see a notice saying so. If you get any errors, click Yes on the dialog box and then a large browser window will launch - log into your Mailchimp account here and approve the use of the application.
Select the Test Connection button at the bottom of the window to verify proper connectivity with your Mailchimp account.
If the connection test succeeds, select OK.

Fill in all required parameters and set optional parameters if needed:

MailchimpDSN

Mailchimp

OAuth [OAuth]

https://[$DataCenter$].api.mailchimp.com

Required Parameters
Data Center	Fill in the parameter...
Client Id	Fill in the parameter...
Client Secret	Fill in the parameter...
Default List Id	Fill in the parameter...
Optional Parameters
RetryMode	Fill in the parameter...
RetryStatusCodeList	Fill in the parameter...
RetryCountMax	Fill in the parameter...
RetryMultiplyWaitTime	Fill in the parameter...

ApiKey Auth [Http]

Steps to get Mailchimp Credentials
The simplest way to authenticate a request to the Mailchimp Marketing API is by using an API key (If you require access to Mailchimp on behalf of other Mailchimp users, you'll want to set up OAuth authentication instead)::

Log into your Mailchimp account.
Navigate to the API Keys section of your Mailchimp account: https://admin.mailchimp.com/account/api/
In the Your API keys section of the page, click Create New Key.
Give your new key a descriptive name that will remind you which application it's used for.
Copy the generated key immediately and store it in a secure location. (You won’t be able to see or copy the key once you finish generating it.)
Record your Mailchimp data center, since we will need it later. The data center will be located in your browser's address bar URL. If the URL is "https://us21.admin.mailchimp.com/account/api/", then your data center is "us21".
Back at the connector screen, enter the data center that was recorded in step 6 into the Data Center field.
Enter the API key that was recorded in step 5 into the Api Key field.
Select the Test Connection button at the bottom of the window to verify proper connectivity with your Mailchimp account.
If the connection test succeeds, select OK.

Fill in all required parameters and set optional parameters if needed:

MailchimpDSN

Mailchimp

ApiKey Auth [Http]

https://[$DataCenter$].api.mailchimp.com

Required Parameters
Api Key	Fill in the parameter...
Default List Id	Fill in the parameter...
Optional Parameters
Data Center	Fill in the parameter...
RetryMode	Fill in the parameter...
RetryStatusCodeList	Fill in the parameter...
RetryCountMax	Fill in the parameter...
RetryMultiplyWaitTime	Fill in the parameter...

Once the data source has been configured, you can preview data. Select the Preview tab and use settings similar to the following to preview data:
Click OK to finish creating the data source.

Read data in SQL Server from the ZappySys Data Gateway

To read the data in SQL Server the first thing you have to do is create a Linked Server. Go to SQL Server Management Studio and configure it in a similar way:
Then click on Security option and configure username we created in ZappySys Data Gateway in one of the previous steps:
Optional: Under the Server Options, Enable RPC and RPC Out and Disable Promotion of Distributed Transactions(MSDTC).

You need to enable RPC Out if you plan to use EXEC(...) AT [MY_LINKED_SERVER_NAME] rather than OPENQUERY.
If don't enabled it, you will encounter the Server 'MY_LINKED_SERVER_NAME' is not configured for RPC error.

Query Example:
```
EXEC('Select * from Products') AT [MY_LINKED_SERVER_NAME]
```
If you plan to use 'INSERT INTO...EXEC(....) AT [MY_LINKED_SERVER_NAME]' in that case you need to Disable Promotion of Distributed Transactions(MSDTC).
If don't disabled it, you will encounter the The operation could not be performed because OLE DB provider "SQLNCLI11" for linked server "MY_LINKED_SERVER_NAME" was unable to begin a distributed transaction. error.

Query Example:
```
Insert Into dbo.Products
 EXEC('Select * from Products') AT [MY_LINKED_SERVER_NAME]
```
Finally, open a new query and execute a query we saved in one of the previous steps:
```
SELECT * FROM OPENQUERY([MY_LINKED_SERVER_NAME], 'SELECT * FROM Products');
```

Create Linked Server using Code

In previous section you saw how to create a Linked Server from UI. You can do similar action by code too (see below). Run below script after changing necessary parameters. Assuming your Data Source name on ZappySys Data Gateway UI is 'MailchimpDSN'


    USE [master]
    GO
    --///////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////
    --Run below code in SSMS to create Linked Server and use ZappySys Drivers in SQL Server
    --///////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////

    //Replace YOUR_GATEWAY_USER, YOUR_GATEWAY_PASSWORD
    //Replace localhost with IP/Machine name if ZappySys Gateway Running on different machine other than SQL Server
    //Replace Port 5000 if you configured gateway on a different port


    --1. Configure your gateway service as per this article https://zappysys.com/links?id=10036
    
    --2. Make sure you have SQL Server Installed. You can download FREE SQL Server Express Edition from here if you dont want to buy Paid version https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/sql-server/sql-server-editions-express

    --Uncomment below if you like to drop linked server if it already exists
    --EXEC master.dbo.sp_dropserver @server=N'LS_MailchimpDSN', @droplogins='droplogins'

    --3. Create new linked server
    
    EXEC master.dbo.sp_addlinkedserver
      @server = N'LS_MailchimpDSN'  --Linked server name (this will be used in OPENQUERY sql
    , @srvproduct=N''
    , @provider=N'SQLNCLI11'
    , @datasrc=N'localhost,5000' --//Machine / Port where Gateway service is running
    , @provstr=N'Network Library=DBMSSOCN;'
    , @catalog=N'MailchimpDSN' --Data source name you gave on Gateway service settings

    --4. Attach gateway login with linked server

    EXEC master.dbo.sp_addlinkedsrvlogin
      @rmtsrvname=N'LS_MailchimpDSN'  --linked server name
    , @useself=N'False'
    , @locallogin=NULL
    , @rmtuser=N'YOUR_GATEWAY_USER' --enter your Gateway user name
    , @rmtpassword='YOUR_GATEWAY_PASSWORD'  --enter your Gateway user's password
    GO

    --5. Enable RPC OUT (This is Optional - Only needed if you plan to use EXEC(...) AT YourLinkedServerName rather than OPENQUERY
    EXEC sp_serveroption 'LS_MailchimpDSN', 'rpc', true;
    EXEC sp_serveroption 'LS_MailchimpDSN', 'rpc out', true;

    --Disable MSDTC - Below needed to support INSERT INTO from EXEC AT statement
    EXEC sp_serveroption 'LS_MailchimpDSN', 'remote proc transaction promotion', false;
    
    --Increase query timeout if query is going to take longer than 10 mins (Default timeout is 600 seconds)
    --EXEC sp_serveroption 'LS_MailchimpDSN', 'query timeout', 1200;
    GO