Obtaining connection values for Microsoft Excel Online

About this task

This topic provides instructions for obtaining the connection values for the Microsoft Excel Online connector.

To generate these values and connect to Microsoft Excel Online, you need to register an application with the required permissions in Microsoft Azure, which will enable App Connect to integrate with Microsoft Excel Online by using APIs and protocols.

To connect by using either OAUTH2_PASSWORD or BASIC_OAUTH authorization, you'll need to obtain a client ID and a client secret for your registered app, and then configure permissions. If using BASIC_OAUTH authorization, you must also obtain an access token and a refresh token.
Note: These instructions assume that you are registering an application in Microsoft Azure for the first time.

Procedure

  1. To register an application with Microsoft Azure, for use with App Connect:
    1. Log in to the Microsoft Azure portal, and then locate and click App registrations.
    2. If you have access to more than one tenant, switch to the tenant where you want to register the app by using the Directories + subscriptions filter in the banner and then click the Close icon (X) to return to the previous page.
    3. In the App registrations page, click New registration.
    4. In the Register an application page, specify a unique name for your app, select Accounts in any organizational directory (Any Azure AD directory - Multitenant) as the account type, and accept the default values for the remaining fields.
      Figure 1. Microsoft Azure registering an application window
      The image is described in the surrounding text.
    5. Click Register. The Overview page for the application is displayed.
      Overview page for the registered application
    6. Make a note of the Application (client) ID value because you need to specify it as a connection value when creating the account (by using either OAUTH2_PASSWORD or BASIC_OAUTH authorization) in App Connect.
  2. To generate a client secret for your registered application:
    1. Next to Client credentials on the Overview page, click Add a certificate or secret. This displays the Certificates & secrets page.
    2. Click New client secret
    3. In the Add a client secret panel, specify a description for the secret (for example, App Connect secret) and then select an expiry period.
    4. Click Add. The generated client secret is displayed on the Certificates & secrets page.
    5. Generated client secret for the registered app
    6. Copy and store the client secret value because you need to specify it as a connection value when creating the account (by using either OAUTH2_PASSWORD or BASIC_OAUTH authorization) in App Connect. If you are using BASIC_OAUTH authorization, you'll also need to specify the client secret value while generating access and refresh tokens.
      Note: The client secret value won't be shown again in full after you leave this page.
  3. Configure the permissions that App Connect needs.
    1. In the left pane, click API permissions and then click Add a permission > Microsoft Graph > Delegated permissions to add each of the following permissions in turn. You can search for and select a permission, and then click Add permissions.
      Permissions Description
      Directory.ReadWrite.All Read and write directory data.

      (Allows App Connect to read and write data in your organization's directory, such as users, and groups.)

      offline_access Maintain access to data you have given it access to.

      (Allows App Connect to see and update the data you gave it access to, even when users are not currently using App Connect.)
      Note: Directory.ReadWrite.All requires admin consent.
    2. If the status of any permission is shown as Not granted for myDomain, click Grant admin consent for myDomain, where myDomain is your domain name. Then click Yes to confirm. (This updates the status of all permissions to Granted for myDomain.)
      Required permissions for the registered app
  4. If you want to connect by using BASIC_OAUTH authorization, use an application such as IBM API Connect Test and Monitor or Postman to submit a POST request to generate an access token and a refresh token that will be used to interact with Microsoft Excel Online on your behalf. Specify the following parameters:
    • Request URL: 
      https://login.microsoftonline.com/organizations/oauth2/v2.0/token
    • Content-Type: application/x-www-form-urlencoded
    • Request parameters:
      Key Value
      client_id Set this to the Application (client) ID value that was generated for your registered app.
      scope Directory.ReadWrite.All offline_access
      grant_type password
      client_secret Set this to the client secret value that was generated under Certificates & secrets for your registered app.
      userName Set this to the username that was used to log in to the Azure portal.
      password Set this to the associated password for the username

    • Postman Version 7.29.1 was used in these instructions, so there might be a slight variation in the fields that you see if your version is different.

      1. Start a new POST request and specify the request URL.
      2. Click the Body tab and select x-www-form-urlencoded. This option automatically adds the Content-Type: application/x-www-form-urlencoded setting in the request header.
      3. Specify the request parameters.

      When you click Send, an access token and refresh token are returned in the response. Make a note of these values because you need to specify them as connection values when creating the account.

      Note: The generated access token is valid for 1hour, and the refresh token will expire after 90 days of inactivity. So it is expected that you need to generate new tokens only if the refresh token has been revoked or has not been used in 90 days.