TimeXtender connectors are changing: what are the consequences?

If you have followed the news about TimeXtender's technical progress, you will have seen a shift from CData connectors to connectors developed directly by TimeXtender. These new connectors have been available in TDI (the new release) for a while. With the release of 20.10.58 (and now 20.10.62), these connectors are also available in the 20.10.x series.

You may have seen TimeXtender's announcement about phasing out the CData connectors:

“As of 03-05-2025, the TimeXtender Enhanced data source providers will replace the current third-party providers from CData. Since we no longer distribute CData providers, they will not receive updates and no new providers can be downloaded through the application. If you have data sources that use CData providers, we strongly recommend upgrading to the latest release to get access to the new TimeXtender Enhanced providers and to start migrating from the old providers.”

This means that your existing data sources that use CData connectors will keep working, but you can no longer add new CData connectors. For new connectors, you have to switch to the TimeXtender native connectors.

Scenarios for 20.10.x (or older)

There are several scenarios depending on the version of TimeXtender you use:

You use a TimeXtender version older than 20.10.1:

1. In this case, your TimeXtender version is officially no longer supported and you need to update to 20.10.62. Since outdated features may be involved, it is best to contact us so that we can advise you on how to plan this process.
2. After the upgrade, you can start migrating your connectors to TimeXtender native.

You use a 20.10.x version before 20.10.57 or 20.10.59 / 20.10.60 / 20.10.61:

1. You need to upgrade to 20.10.62. Depending on the version you are coming from, there may be changes to take into account.
2. After the upgrade, you can start migrating connectors to TimeXtender native.

You use TimeXtender 20.10.57 / 58:

1. Check whether the bug fixes in the releases after your version affect your implementation and consider upgrading to 20.10.62.
2. You can start migrating connectors to TimeXtender native.

You use TimeXtender 20.10.62:

1. You can start migrating connectors to TimeXtender native.

TimeXtender native connectors

If you use TimeXtender 20.10.58 or TDI from 6505.1 (new connectors have been introduced over time), you have access to TimeXtender native connectors. Currently, the following native connectors are available:

• CSV
• Excel
• Harvest
• Oracle
• Parquet
• REST
• SAP DeltaQ
• SAP Table
• XML / JSON

You can still add your own drivers via OLE DB / ODBC, and the existing TimeXtender sources that were there before, such as SQL Server, are still there. The TimeXtender native connectors are easier to use than the .rsd files in CData for dealing with API authorization and other complexities, for example. This does mean there are changes: you may find that things that were impossible in CData are now directly possible in TimeXtender native connectors without resorting to .rsd scripting.

For more information about the TimeXtender native connectors:

• documentation
• correspondence table CData to native