Connecting Bold BI to Zendesk data source

Bold BI dashboard designer supports connecting Zendesk web services through REST API.

Choose Zendesk data source

To configure the Zendesk data source, follow the below steps:

Click the Data Sources button in the configuration panel to add a new data connection.
Click CREATE NEW to launch a new connection from the connection panel.
Select the Zendesk connection in the connection panel.

NOTE: You can also create a data source from the home page by clicking the Data Sources menu from left menu panel and Create Data Source from the data sources page.

Choose data source from server

Create Zendesk data source

Once you click the data source, the NEW DATA SOURCE configuration panel opens. Follow the below steps to create Zendesk data source.

Enter a name and description (optional) for the data source.
Enter a valid Zendesk REST API endpoint in the URL textbox. Refer the Zendesk API documentation for more details.

Example: https://<:yourdomainname>.zendesk.com/api/v2/<:your_endpoint>
Select GET method for the REST API in Method combo box.
In Max Rows, enter the maximum number of rows to be fetched from the Zendesk data source. This value is used to fetch the data from Zendesk data source via pagination.
Choose a time interval for Refresh Settings using the combo box, to trigger the Rest API request periodically to keep the data in sync with our dashboard.
Select JSON data type in Data Format combo box.
Choose one of the Authentication Type from the dropdown.
To connect based on the chosen Authentication, refer Supported Authentication Types.

You can also edit the connection information set here using the Edit Connection option.

Authentication for Zendesk

Basic Authentication

Before accessing your endpoint, ensure whether Password access is enabled in your account.

Login to your Zendesk account.
Click Admin(gear icon) on the left side bar.
Go to Admin -> Channel -> API and enable Password access.

Set Authentication Type as Basic http Authentication and input your Zendesk’s username and password.

API Token Authentication

Before accessing your endpoint, ensure whether Token access is enabled in your account.

Login to your Zendesk account.
Click Admin(gear icon) on the left side bar.
Go to Admin -> Channel -> API and enable Token access.

Set Authentication Type as None. Generate Base64 encoded string of your <:email_address>/token:<:api_token> and pass the encoded string as Header with key “Authorization” and value “Basic”. password.

Additional information

Max Rows	Most of the REST APIs return only fewer data on a single API request. To pull the amount of data you need, set a value in this field. Pagination is handled internally and will fetch the amount of data you need.
Refresh Settings	Period of time before next refresh call is triggered. This will automatically trigger a call for the API configured in the data source to keep the data up to date. If you do not want to sync your new data, choose ‘Never’.

Setting up the URL

Query the /tickets.json endpoint.
From the listed information, get the ID of the specific ticket.

Replace it in the URL to query a particular ticket:

https://domain_name.zendesk.com/api/v2/tickets/12.json

For more information on the API endpoints available for this data source, refer to their official API Documentation

Sample queries

Tickets

https://syncdb.zendesk.com/api/v2/tickets.json

Workspaces

https://syncdb.zendesk.com/api/v2/workspaces.json

Groups

https://syncdb.zendesk.com/api/v2/groups.json

Satisfaction ratings

https://syncdb.zendesk.com/api/v2/satisfaction_ratings.json

Preview and data import

Click Preview & Connect to connect with the configurations set.
The Choose Schema(s) dialog opens. The schema represents the key fields of JSON data retrieved from Zendesk Rest API request. This dialog displays a list of schemas in treeview and its corresponding values in grid for preview. Select required schema(s) from treeview to use in designer and click Connect.
Now, the data design view page with selected table schema opens. Drag and drop the table.
Click Save to save the data source with a relevant name.