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Rapidly create and deploy powerful Java applications that integrate with live Excel Online Spreadsheet data!

Create Informatica Mappings From/To a JDBC Data Source for Excel Online



Create Excel Online data objects in Informatica using the standard JDBC connection process: Copy the JAR and then connect.

Informatica provides a powerful, elegant means of transporting and transforming your data. By utilizing the CData JDBC Driver for Excel Online, you are gaining access to a driver based on industry-proven standards that integrates seamlessly with Informatica's powerful data transportation and manipulation features. This tutorial shows how to transfer and browse Excel Online data in Informatica PowerCenter.

Deploy the Driver

To deploy the driver to the Informatica PowerCenter server, copy the CData JAR and .lic file, located in the lib subfolder in the installation directory, to the following folder: Informatica-installation-directory\services\shared\jars\thirdparty.

To work with Excel Online data in the Developer tool, you will need to copy the CData JAR and .lic file, located in the lib subfolder in the installation directory, into the following folders:

  • Informatica-installation-directory\client\externaljdbcjars
  • Informatica-installation-directory\externaljdbcjars

Create the JDBC Connection

Follow the steps below to connect from Informatica Developer:

  1. In the Connection Explorer pane, right-click your domain and click Create a Connection.
  2. In the New Database Connection wizard that is displayed, enter a name and Id for the connection and in the Type menu select JDBC.
  3. In the JDBC Driver Class Name property, enter: cdata.jdbc.excelonline.ExcelOnlineDriver
  4. In the Connection String property, enter the JDBC URL, using the connection properties for Excel Online.

    You can connect to a workbook by providing authentication to Excel Online and then setting the following properties:

    • Workbook: Set this to the name or Id of the workbook.

      If you want to view a list of information about the available workbooks, execute a query to the Workbooks view after you authenticate.

    • UseSandbox: Set this to true if you are connecting to a workbook in a sandbox account. Otherwise, leave this blank to connect to a production account.

    You use the OAuth authentication standard to authenticate to Excel Online. See the Getting Started section in the help documentation for a guide. Getting Started also guides you through executing SQL to worksheets and ranges.

    Built-in Connection String Designer

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

    java -jar cdata.jdbc.excelonline.jar

    Fill in the connection properties and copy the connection string to the clipboard.

    A typical connection string is below:

    jdbc:excelonline:InitiateOAuth=GETANDREFRESH

Browse Excel Online Tables

After you have added the driver JAR to the classpath and created a JDBC connection, you can now access Excel Online entities in Informatica. Follow the steps below to connect to Excel Online and browse Excel Online tables:

  1. Connect to your repository.
  2. In the Connection Explorer, right-click the connection and click Connect.
  3. Clear the Show Default Schema Only option.

You can now browse Excel Online tables in the Data Viewer: Right-click the node for the table and then click Open. On the Data Viewer view, click Run.

Create Excel Online Data Objects

Follow the steps below to add Excel Online tables to your project:

  1. Select tables in Excel Online, then right-click a table in Excel Online, and click Add to Project.
  2. In the resulting dialog, select the option to create a data object for each resource.
  3. In the Select Location dialog, select your project.

    Create a Mapping

    Follow the steps below to add the Excel Online source to a mapping:

    1. In the Object Explorer, right-click your project and then click New -> Mapping.
    2. Expand the node for the Excel Online connection and then drag the data object for the table onto the editor.
    3. In the dialog that appears, select the Read option.

    Follow the steps below to map Excel Online columns to a flat file:

    1. In the Object Explorer, right-click your project and then click New -> Data Object.
    2. Select Flat File Data Object -> Create as Empty -> Fixed Width.
    3. In the properties for the Excel Online object, select the rows you want, right-click, and then click copy. Paste the rows into the flat file properties.
    4. Drag the flat file data object onto the mapping. In the dialog that appears, select the Write option.
    5. Click and drag to connect columns.

    To transfer Excel Online data, right-click in the workspace and then click Run Mapping.