SQL Server OData Connector
In this article you will learn how to integrate Using OData Connector you will be able to connect, read, and write data from within SQL Server. Follow the steps below to see how we would accomplish that. Driver mentioned in this article is part of ODBC PowerPack which is a collection of high-performance Drivers for various API data source (i.e. REST API, JSON, XML, CSV, Amazon S3 and many more). Using familiar SQL query language you can make live connections and read/write data from API sources or JSON / XML / CSV Files inside SQL Server (T-SQL) or your favorite Reporting (i.e. Power BI, Tableau, Qlik, SSRS, MicroStrategy, Excel, MS Access), ETL Tools (i.e. Informatica, Talend, Pentaho, SSIS). You can also call our drivers from programming languages such as JAVA, C#, Python, PowerShell etc. If you are new to ODBC and ZappySys ODBC PowerPack then check the following links to get started. |
See also
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Video Tutorial - Integrate OData data in SQL Server
This video covers following and more so watch carefully. After watching this video follow the steps described in this article.
- How to download / install required driver for
OData integration in SQL Server - How to configure connection for
OData - Features about
API Driver (Authentication / Query Language / Examples / Driver UI) - Using
OData Connection in SQL Server
Create Data Source in ZappySys Data Gateway based on ZappySys API Driver
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Download and install ZappySys ODBC PowerPack.
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Search for gateway in start menu and Open ZappySys Data Gateway:
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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:
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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.
ODataDSN
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When the Configuration window appears give your data source a name if you haven't done that already, then select "OData" from the list of Popular Connectors. If "OData" 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:
ODataDSNOData -
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.
Fill in all required parameters and set optional parameters if needed:
ODataDSNNo Authentication [Http]https://services.odata.org/V3/Northwind/Northwind.svcRequired Parameters Optional Parameters Fill in all required parameters and set optional parameters if needed:
ODataDSNWindows Authentication [Http]https://services.odata.org/V3/Northwind/Northwind.svcRequired Parameters Optional Parameters Fill in all required parameters and set optional parameters if needed:
ODataDSNBasic Authentication [Http]https://services.odata.org/V3/Northwind/Northwind.svcRequired Parameters UserName Fill in the parameter... Password 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... Fill in all required parameters and set optional parameters if needed:
ODataDSNNTLM Authentication [Http]https://services.odata.org/V3/Northwind/Northwind.svcRequired Parameters UserName (i.e. Domain\UserName) Fill in the parameter... Password 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... Fill in all required parameters and set optional parameters if needed:
ODataDSNToken Authentication [Http]https://services.odata.org/V3/Northwind/Northwind.svcRequired Parameters Token Fill in the parameter... Optional Parameters AuthScheme Fill in the parameter... AuthHeader Fill in the parameter... RetryMode Fill in the parameter... RetryStatusCodeList Fill in the parameter... RetryCountMax Fill in the parameter... RetryMultiplyWaitTime Fill in the parameter... Fill in all required parameters and set optional parameters if needed:
ODataDSNOAuth Connection for OData API [OAuth]https://services.odata.org/V3/Northwind/Northwind.svcRequired Parameters Optional Parameters GrantType Fill in the parameter... OAuthVersion Fill in the parameter... ClientId Fill in the parameter... ClientSecret Fill in the parameter... UserName Fill in the parameter... Password Fill in the parameter... Scope Fill in the parameter... AuthUrl Fill in the parameter... TokenUrl Fill in the parameter... ReturnUrl Fill in the parameter... ExtraAttributesForTokenRequest Fill in the parameter... ExtraAttributesForAuthRequest 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:
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Click OK to finish creating the data source.
Read data in SQL Server from the ZappySys Data Gateway data source
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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:
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Then click on Security option and configure username we created in ZappySys Data Gateway in one of the previous steps:
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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');
Firewall settings
So far we have assumed that Gateway is running on the same machine as SQL Server. However there will be a case when ZappySys ODBC PowerPack is installed on a different machine than SQL Server. In such case you may have to perform additional Firewall configurations. On most computers firewall settings wont allow outside traffic to ZappySys Data Gateway. In such case perform following steps to allow other machines to connect to Gateway.
Method-1 (Preferred)If you are using newer version of ZappySys Data Gateway then adding firewall rule is just a single click.
- Search for gateway in start menu and open ZappySys Data Gateway.
- Go to Firewall Tab and click Add Firewall Rule button like below. This will create Firewall rule to all Inbound Traffic on Port 5000 (Unless you changed it).
- Search for Windows Firewall Advanced Security in start menu.
- Under Inbound Rules > Right click and click [New Rule] >> Click Next
- Select Port on Rule Type >> Click Next
- Click on TCP and enter port number under specified local port as 5000 (use different one if you changed Default port) >> Click Next
- Select Profile (i.e. Private, Public) >> Click Next
- Enter Rule name [i.e. ZappySys Data Gateway – Allow Inbound ] >> Click Next
- Click OK to save the rule

OPENQUERY vs EXEC (handling larger SQL text)
So far we have seen examples of using OPENQUERY. It allows us to send pass-through query at remote server. The biggest limitation of OPENQUERY is it doesn't allow you to use variables inside SQL so often we have to use unpleasant looking dynamic SQL (Lots of tick, tick …. and escape hell). Well there is good news. With SQL 2005 and later you can use EXEC(your_sql) AT your_linked_server
syntax .
Disadvantage of EXEC AT is you cannot do SELECT INTO like OPENQUERY. Also you cannot perform JOIN like below in EXEC AT
SELECT a.* FROM OPENQUERY(ls_json,'select * from value') a
JOIN OPENQUERY(ls_json,'select * from value') b ON a.id=b.id;
However you can always do INSERT INTO MyTable EXEC(…) AT LINKEDSRV. So table must exists when you do that way.
Here is how to use it. To use EXEC AT you must turn on RPC OUT option. Notice how we used variable in SQL to make it dynamic. This is much cleaner than previous approach we saw.
USE [master]
GO
EXEC master.dbo.sp_addlinkedserver @server = N'ls_Json', @srvproduct=N'', @provider=N'SQLNCLI', @datasrc=N'localhost,5000', @provstr=N'Network Library=DBMSSOCN;', @catalog=N'JsonApi';
EXEC master.dbo.sp_addlinkedsrvlogin @rmtsrvname=N'ls_Json',@useself=N'False',@locallogin=NULL,@rmtuser=N'tdsuser',@rmtpassword='########';
GO
EXEC sp_serveroption 'ls_Json', 'rpc out', true;
go
declare @tbl varchar(100)='$';
EXEC('select * from ' + @tbl ) AT ls_Json;
Here is the difference between OPENQUERY vs EXEC approaches:

Create Custom Store Procedure in ZappySys Driver
You can create procedures to encapsulate custom logic and then only pass handful parameters rather than long SQL to execute your API call.
Steps to create Custom Store Procedure in ZappySys Driver. You can insert Placeholders anywhere inside Procedure Body. Read more about placeholders here
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Go to Custom Objects Tab and Click on Add button and Select Add Procedure:
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Enter the desired Procedure name and click on OK:
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Select the created Store Procedure and write the your desired store procedure and Save it and it will create the custom store procedure in the ZappySys Driver:
Here is an example stored procedure for ZappySys Driver. You can insert Placeholders anywhere inside Procedure Body. Read more about placeholders here
CREATE PROCEDURE [usp_get_orders] @fromdate = '<<yyyy-MM-dd,FUN_TODAY>>' AS SELECT * FROM Orders where OrderDate >= '<@fromdate>';
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That's it now go to Preview Tab and Execute your Store Procedure using Exec Command. In this example it will extract the orders from the date 1996-01-01:
Exec usp_get_orders '1996-01-01';
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Let's generate the SQL Server Query Code to make the API call using store procedure. Go to Code Generator Tab, select language as SQL Server and click on Generate button the generate the code.
As we already created the linked server for this Data Source, in that you just need to copy the Select Query and need to use the linked server name which we have apply on the place of [MY_API_SERVICE] placeholder.
SELECT * FROM OPENQUERY([MY_API_SERVICE], 'EXEC [usp_get_orders] ''1996-01-01''')
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Now go to SQL served and execute that query and it will make the API call using store procedure and provide you the response.
Create Custom Virtual Table in ZappySys Driver
ZappySys API Drivers support flexible Query language so you can override Default Properties you configured on Data Source such as URL, Body. This way you don't have to create multiple Data Sources if you like to read data from multiple EndPoints. However not every application support supplying custom SQL to driver so you can only select Table from list returned from driver.
Many applications like MS Access, Informatica Designer wont give you option to specify custom SQL when you import Objects. In such case Virtual Table is very useful. You can create many Virtual Tables on the same Data Source (e.g. If you have 50 URLs with slight variations you can create virtual tables with just URL as Parameter setting.
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Go to Custom Objects Tab and Click on Add button and Select Add Table:
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Enter the desired Table name and click on OK:
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And it will open the New Query Window Click on Cancel to close that window and go to Custom Objects Tab.
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Select the created table, Select Text Type AS SQL and write the your desired SQL Query and Save it and it will create the custom table in the ZappySys Driver:
Here is an example SQL query for ZappySys Driver. You can insert Placeholders also. Read more about placeholders here
SELECT "ShipCountry", "OrderID", "CustomerID", "EmployeeID", "OrderDate", "RequiredDate", "ShippedDate", "ShipVia", "Freight", "ShipName", "ShipAddress", "ShipCity", "ShipRegion", "ShipPostalCode" FROM "Orders" Where "ShipCountry"='USA'
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That's it now go to Preview Tab and Execute your custom virtual table query. In this example it will extract the orders for the USA Shipping Country only:
SELECT * FROM "vt__usa_orders_only"
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Let's generate the SQL Server Query Code to make the API call using store procedure. Go to Code Generator Tab, select language as SQL Server and click on Generate button the generate the code.
As we already created the linked server for this Data Source, in that you just need to copy the Select Query and need to use the linked server name which we have apply on the place of [MY_API_SERVICE] placeholder.
SELECT * FROM OPENQUERY([MY_API_SERVICE], 'EXEC [usp_get_orders] ''1996-01-01''')
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Now go to SQL served and execute that query and it will make the API call using store procedure and provide you the response.
Conclusion
In this article we discussed how to connect to OData in SQL Server and integrate data without any coding. Click here to Download OData Connector for SQL Server and try yourself see how easy it is. If you still have any question(s) then ask here or simply click on live chat icon below and ask our expert (see bottom-right corner of this page).
Download OData Connector for SQL Server
Documentation
Actions supported by OData Connector
OData Connector support following actions for REST API integration. If some actions are not listed below then you can easily edit Connector file and enhance out of the box functionality.Parameter | Description |
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TableName |
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TableName |
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Url |
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Body |
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IsMultiPart |
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Filter |
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Headers |
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Other App Integration scenarios for OData
Other Connectors for SQL Server
Download OData Connector for SQL Server
Documentation
How to connect OData in SQL Server?
How to get OData data in SQL Server?
How to read OData data in SQL Server?
How to load OData data in SQL Server?
How to import OData data in SQL Server?
How to pull OData data in SQL Server?
How to push data to OData in SQL Server?
How to write data to OData in SQL Server?
How to POST data to OData in SQL Server?
Call OData API in SQL Server
Consume OData API in SQL Server
OData SQL Server Automate
OData SQL Server Integration
Integration OData in SQL Server
Consume real-time OData data in SQL Server
Consume realtime OData API data in SQL Server
OData ODBC Driver | ODBC Driver for OData | ODBC OData Driver | SSIS OData Source | SSIS OData Destination
Connect OData in SQL Server
Load OData in SQL Server
Load OData data in SQL Server
Read OData data in SQL Server
OData API Call in SQL Server