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Get the Report →A PostgreSQL Interface for Avalara AvaTax Data
Use the Remoting features of the Avalara AvaTax JDBC Driver to create a PostgreSQL entry-point for data access.
There are a vast number of PostgreSQL clients available on the Internet. From standard Drivers to BI and Analytics tools, PostgreSQL is a popular interface for data access. Using our JDBC Drivers, you can now create PostgreSQL entry-points that you can connect to from any standard client.
To access Avalara AvaTax data as a PostgreSQL database, use the CData JDBC Driver for Avalara AvaTax and a JDBC foreign data wrapper (FDW). In this article, we compile the FDW, install it, and query Avalara AvaTax data from PostgreSQL Server.
Connect to Avalara AvaTax Data as a JDBC Data Source
To connect to Avalara AvaTax as a JDBC data source, you will need the following:
- Driver JAR path: The JAR is located in the lib subfolder of the installation directory.
Driver class:
cdata.jdbc.avalaraavatax.AvalaraAvataxDriver
- JDBC URL:
The URL must start with "jdbc:avalaraavatax:" and can include any of the connection properties in name-value pairs separated with semicolons.
The primary method for performing basic authentication is to provide your login credentials, as follows:
- User: Set this to your username.
- Password: Set this to your password.
Optionally, if you are making use of a sandbox environment, set the following:
- UseSandbox: Set this to true if you are authenticating with a sandbox account.
Authenticating Using Account Number and License Key
Alternatively, you can authenticate using your account number and license key. Connect to data using the following:
- AccountId: Set this to your Account Id. The Account Id is listed in the upper right hand corner of the admin console.
- LicenseKey: Set this to your Avalara Avatax license key. You can generate a license key by logging into Avalara Avatax as an account administrator and navigating to Settings -> Reset License Key.
Built-in Connection String Designer
For assistance in constructing the JDBC URL, use the connection string designer built into the Avalara AvaTax JDBC Driver. Either double-click the JAR file or execute the jar file from the command-line.
java -jar cdata.jdbc.avalaraavatax.jar
Fill in the connection properties and copy the connection string to the clipboard.
A typical JDBC URL is below:
jdbc:avalaraavatax:User=MyUser;Password=MyPassword;
Build the JDBC Foreign Data Wrapper
The Foreign Data Wrapper can be installed as an extension to PostgreSQL, without recompiling PostgreSQL. The jdbc2_fdw extension is used as an example (downloadable here).
- Add a symlink from the shared object for your version of the JRE to /usr/lib/libjvm.so. For example:
ln -s /usr/lib/jvm/java-6-openjdk/jre/lib/amd64/server/libjvm.so /usr/lib/libjvm.so
- Start the build:
make install USE_PGXS=1
Query Avalara AvaTax Data as a PostgreSQL Database
After you have installed the extension, follow the steps below to start executing queries to Avalara AvaTax data:
- Log into your database.
-
Load the extension for the database:
CREATE EXTENSION jdbc2_fdw;
-
Create a server object for Avalara AvaTax:
CREATE SERVER AvalaraAvatax FOREIGN DATA WRAPPER jdbc2_fdw OPTIONS ( drivername 'cdata.jdbc.avalaraavatax.AvalaraAvataxDriver', url 'jdbc:avalaraavatax:User=MyUser;Password=MyPassword;', querytimeout '15', jarfile '/home/MyUser/CData/CData\ JDBC\ Driver\ for\ Salesforce MyDriverEdition/lib/cdata.jdbc.avalaraavatax.jar');
-
Create a user mapping for the username and password of a user known to the MySQL daemon.
CREATE USER MAPPING for postgres SERVER AvalaraAvatax OPTIONS ( username 'admin', password 'test');
-
Create a foreign table in your local database:
postgres=# CREATE FOREIGN TABLE transactions ( transactions_id text, transactions_Id text, transactions_TotalTax numeric) SERVER AvalaraAvatax OPTIONS ( table_name 'transactions');
postgres=# SELECT * FROM transactions;