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Get the Report →PowerShell Scripting to Replicate Box Data to MySQL
Write a simple PowerShell script to replicate Box data to a MySQL database.
The CData Cmdlets for Box offer live access to Box data from within PowerShell. Using PowerShell scripts, you can easily automate regular tasks like data replication. This article will walk through using the CData Cmdlets for Box and the CData Cmdlets for MySQL in PowerShell to replicate Box data to a MySQL database.
After obtaining the needed connection properties, accessing Box data in PowerShell and preparing for replication consists of four basic steps.
Box uses the OAuth standard to authenticate. To authenticate to Box, you will need to obtain the OAuthClientId, OAuthClientSecret, and CallbackURL by registering an app. See the "Getting Started" chapter of the help documentation for a guide to using OAuth.
Collecting Box Data
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Install the module:
Install-Module BoxCmdlets
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Connect to Box:
$box = Connect-Box -OAuthClientId $OAuthClientId -OAuthClientSecret $OAuthClientSecret -CallbackURL $CallbackURL
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Retrieve the data from a specific resource:
$data = Select-Box -Connection $box -Table "Files"
You can also use the Invoke-Box cmdlet to execute pure SQL-92 statements:
$data = Invoke-Box -Connection $box -Query 'SELECT * FROM Files WHERE Id = @Id' -Params @{'@Id'='123'}
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Save a list of the column names from the returned data.
$columns = ($data | Get-Member -MemberType NoteProperty | Select-Object -Property Name).Name
Inserting Box Data into the MySQL Database
With the data and column names collected, you are ready to replicate the data into a MySQL database.
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Install the module:
Install-Module MySQLCmdlets
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Connect to MySQL, using the server address and port of the MySQL server, valid user credentials, and a specific database with the table in which the data will be replicated:
$mysql = Connect-MySQL -User $User -Password $Password -Database $Database -Server $Server -Port $Port
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Loop through the Box data, store the values, and use the Add-MySQL cmdlet to insert the data into the MySQL database, one row at a time. In this example, the table will need to have the same name as the Box resource (Files) and to exist in the database.
$data | % { $row = $_ $values = @() $columns | % { $col = $_ $values += $row.$($col) } Add-MySQL -Connection $mysql -Table "Files" -Columns $columns -Values $values }
You have now replicated your Box data to a MySQL database. This gives you freedom to work with Box data in the same way that you work with other MySQL tables, whether that is performing analytics, building reports, or other business functions.
Notes
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Once you have connected to Box and MySQL in PowerShell, you can pipe command results to perform the replication in a single line:
Select-Box -Connection $box -Table "Files" | % { $row = $_ $values = @() $columns | % { $col = $_ $values += $row.$($col) } Add-MySQL -Connection $mysql -Table "Files" -Columns $columns -Values $values }
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If you wish to replicate the Box data to another database using another PowerShell module, you will want to exclude the Columns, Connection, and Table columns from the data returned by the Select-Box cmdlet since those columns are used to help pipe data from one CData cmdlet to another:
$columns = ($data | Get-Member -MemberType NoteProperty | Select-Object -Property Name).Name | ? {$_ -NotIn @('Columns','Connection','Table')}