Import Real-Time AlloyDB Data in ColdFusion to Build Applications

Adobe ColdFusion is a web and mobile application development platform. It uses its own scripting language, ColdFusion Markup Language (CFML), to create data-driven websites as well as generate remote services, such as REST.

When ColdFusion is paired with the CData JDBC Driver for AlloyDB, you can link your ColdFusion web and mobile applications to operational AlloyDB data. This allows for your applications to be more robust and complete. This article details how to use the JDBC driver to create a table populated with AlloyDB data from within a ColdFusion markup file.

With built-in optimized data processing, the CData JDBC Driver offers unmatched performance for interacting with live AlloyDB data. When you issue complex SQL queries to AlloyDB, the driver pushes supported SQL operations, like filters and aggregations, directly to AlloyDB and utilizes the embedded SQL engine to process unsupported operations client-side (often SQL functions and JOIN operations). Its built-in dynamic metadata querying allows you to work with and analyze AlloyDB data using native data types.

Configuring the Connection to AlloyDB

You will need a JDBC connection string to establish a connection between Coldfusion and AlloyDB.

The following connection properties are usually required in order to connect to AlloyDB.

• Server: The host name or IP of the server hosting the AlloyDB database.
• User: The user which will be used to authenticate with the AlloyDB server.
• Password: The password which will be used to authenticate with the AlloyDB server.

You can also optionally set the following:

• Database: The database to connect to when connecting to the AlloyDB Server. If this is not set, the user's default database will be used.
• Port: The port of the server hosting the AlloyDB database. This property is set to 5432 by default.

Authenticating with Standard Authentication

Standard authentication (using the user/password combination supplied earlier) is the default form of authentication.

No further action is required to leverage Standard Authentication to connect.

Authenticating with pg_hba.conf Auth Schemes

There are additional methods of authentication available which must be enabled in the pg_hba.conf file on the AlloyDB server.

Find instructions about authentication setup on the AlloyDB Server here.

Authenticating with MD5 Authentication

This authentication method must be enabled by setting the auth-method in the pg_hba.conf file to md5.

Authenticating with SASL Authentication

This authentication method must be enabled by setting the auth-method in the pg_hba.conf file to scram-sha-256.

Authenticating with Kerberos

The authentication with Kerberos is initiated by AlloyDB Server when the ∏ is trying to connect to it. You should set up Kerberos on the AlloyDB Server to activate this authentication method. Once you have Kerberos authentication set up on the AlloyDB Server, see the Kerberos section of the help documentation for details on how to authenticate with Kerberos.

Built-in Connection String Designer

For assistance in constructing the JDBC URL, use the connection string designer built into the AlloyDB JDBC Driver. Either double-click the JAR file or execute the jar file from the command-line.

Adding a Data Source and Creating a Table

After configuring the connection, follow the steps below to add the CData JDBC Driver to ColdFusion's lib directory, add a new data source, test the connection, create a ColdFusion markup file, and, finally, make a real-time connection with AlloyDB data and display it in a table written in the ColdFusion Markup Language, or CFML:

1. Copy the JDBC Driver for AlloyDB and lic file from "C:\Program Files\CData[product_name]\lib" to "C:\ColdFusion2021\cfusion\wwwroot\WEB-INF\lib". cdata.jdbc.alloydb.jar cdata.jdbc.alloydb.lic

   Note: If you do not copy the .lic file with the jar, you will see a licensing error that indicates you do not have a valid license installed. This is true for both the trial and full versions.

2. From the ColdFusion administrator interface, choose Data & Services.
3. Here, we can "Add New Data Source". The data source name can be any name, provided it conforms to the ColdFusion variable naming conventions. For our JDBC driver, choose "other", then click the "Add" button.
4. Next, populate the driver properties.
   • JDBC URL will need to be in the format: jdbc:alloydb:|connectionString|.
   • A typical connection string looks like this:

     jdbc:alloydb:User=alloydb;Password=admin;Database=alloydb;Server=127.0.0.1;Port=5432

   • The Driver Class is: cdata.jdbc.alloydb.AlloyDBDriver
   • The Driver Name is arbitrary and simply used to recognize the data source in the ColdFusion administration console.
5. Now, test the connection by clicking the check mark to the left of the CDataAlloyDBJDBC data source you just created. When the data source reports an "OK" status, it is ready for use.
6. Next, create a new ColdFusion Markup file (.cfm) and place it in the wwwroot directory ("C:\ColdFusion2021\cfusion\wwwroot") for ColdFusion.

   The following code queries the data source:

               
           <cfquery name="AlloyDBQuery" dataSource="CDataAlloyDBJDBC"> 
             SELECT * FROM Orders 
           </cfquery> 
       

   And a CFTable can be used to quickly output the table in HTML:

               
             <cftable  
             query = "AlloyDBQuery" 
             border = "1" 
             colHeaders 
             colSpacing = "2" 
             headerLines = "2" 
             HTMLTable 
             maxRows = "500" 
             startRow = "1"> 
   
             <cfcol header="<b>ShipName</b>" align="Left" width=2 text="ShipName"/> 
   
             <cfcol header="<b>ShipCity</b>" align="Left" width=15 text="ShipCity"/> 
   
             ...
   
           </cftable> 
       

   Full code, including the HTML portion is available below:

               
           <html> 
           <head><title>CData Software | AlloyDB Orders Table Demo </title></head> 
           <body> 
           <cfoutput>#ucase("AlloyDB Orders Table Demo")#</cfoutput> 
           <cfquery name="AlloyDBQuery" dataSource="CDataAlloyDBJDBC"> 
   
             SELECT * FROM Orders 
   
           </cfquery> 
           <cftable  
             query = "AlloyDBQuery" 
             border = "1" 
             colHeaders 
             colSpacing = "2" 
             headerLines = "2" 
             HTMLTable 
             maxRows = "500" 
             startRow = "1"> 
             <cfcol header="<b>ShipName</b>" align="Left" width=2 text="ShipName"/> 
   
             <cfcol header="<b>ShipCity</b>" align="Left" width=15 text="ShipCity"/> 
   
             ...
   
           </cftable> 
           </body> 
   
           </html>  
       

7. Finally, run the code locally in a browser at the default port of 8500. It produces a table populated with AlloyDB data!

As a note, the CData JDBC Drivers also support parameterized queries using the cfqueryparam element. For example: SELECT * FROM Account WHERE name =

Get Started Today

Download a free, 30-day trial of the CData JDBC Driver for AlloyDB and start building AlloyDB-connected applications with Adobe ColdFusion. Reach out to our Support Team if you have any questions.