Access Live eBay Data in TIBCO Data Virtualization

TIBCO Data Virtualization (TDV) is an enterprise data virtualization solution that orchestrates access to multiple and varied data sources. When paired with the CData TIBCO DV Adapter for eBay, you get federated access to live eBay data directly within TIBCO Data Virtualization. This article walks through deploying an adapter and creating a new data source based on eBay.

With built-in optimized data processing, the CData TIBCO DV Adapter offers unmatched performance for interacting with live eBay data. When you issue complex SQL queries to eBay, the adapter pushes supported SQL operations, like filters and aggregations, directly to eBay. Its built-in dynamic metadata querying allows you to work with and analyze eBay data using native data types.

Deploy the eBay TIBCO DV Adapter

1. In a console, navigate to the bin folder in the TDV Server installation directory. If there is a current version of the adapter installed, you will need to undeploy it.

   .\server_util.bat -server localhost -user admin -password ******** -undeploy -version 1 -name Ebay
   

2. Extract the CData TIBCO DV Adapter to a local folder and deploy the JAR file (tdv.ebay.jar) to the server from the extract location.

   .\server_util.bat -server localhost -user admin -password ******** -deploy -package /PATH/TO/tdv.ebay.jar
   

You may need to restart the server to ensure the new JAR file is loaded properly, which can be accomplished by running the composite.bat script located at: C:\Program Files\TIBCO\TDV Server <version>\bin. Note that reauthenticating to the TDV Studio is required after restarting the server.

Sample Restart Call

.\composite.bat monitor restart

Authenticate with eBay Using OAuth

Since eBay authenticates using the OAuth protocol and TDV Studio does not support browser-based authentication internally, you will need to create and run a simple Java application to retrieve the OAuth tokens. Once retrieved, the tokens are used to connect to eBay directly from the adapter.

The following code sample shows how to authenticate with eBay. You will simply need to execute the Java application with the tdv.ebay.jar file in the class path.

EbayOAuth oauth = new EbayOAuth();  
oauth.generateOAuthSettingsFile("InitiateOAuth=GETANDREFRESH;" + 
                                  "AppId=MyAppId;CertId=MyCertId;DevId=MyDevId;SiteId=MySiteId;RuName=MyRuName;CallbackURL=http://localhost:33333;" + 
                                  "OAuthSettingsLocation=C:\ebay\OAuthSettings.txt;");

Once you deploy the adapter and authenticate, you can create a new data source for eBay in TDV Studio.

Create a eBay Data Source in TDV Studio

With the CData TIBCO DV Adapter for eBay, you can easily create a data source for eBay and introspect the data source to add resources to TDV.

Create the Data Source

1. Right-click on the folder you wish to add the data source to and select New -> New Data Source.
2. Scroll until you find the adapter (e.g. eBay) and click Next.
3. Name the data source (e.g. CData eBay Source).

4. Fill in the required connection properties.

   If you will be accessing your own account, you can generate an OAuthAccessToken from your developer account dashboard. You can also allow other users to securely access their own accounts.

   Both of these methods require you to create an application key set to obtain values for the following connection properties: AppId, CertId, DevId, and SiteId.

   The user consent flow additionally requires the RuName and CallbackURL.

   See the "Getting Started" chapter in the help documentation for a guide to using OAuth.

   NOTE: Set the OAuthSettingsLocation property in the DV Adapter to the same value you used when performing the OAuth authentication (see above).

5. Click Create & Close.

Introspect the Data Source

Once the data source is created, you can introspect the data source by right-clicking and selecting Open. In the dashboard, click Add/Remove Resources and select the Tables, Views, and Stored Procedures to include as part of the data source. Click Next and Finish to add the selected eBay tables, views, and stored procedures as resources.

After creating and introspecting the data source, you are ready to work with eBay data in TIBCO Data Virtualization just like you would any other relational data source. You can create views, query using SQL, publish the data source, and more.