Query Facebook Data as a SQL Server Database in Node.js



Execute SQL Server queries against Facebook data from Node.js.

You can use CData Connect Cloud to query Facebook data through a SQL Server interface. Follow the procedure below to create a virtual database for Facebook in Connect Cloud and start querying using Node.js.

CData Connect Cloud provides a pure MySQL, cloud-to-cloud interface for Facebook, allowing you to easily query live Facebook data in Node.js — without replicating the data to a natively supported database. As you query data in Node.js, CData Connect Cloud pushes all supported SQL operations (filters, JOINs, etc) directly to Facebook, leveraging server-side processing to quickly return Facebook data.

Configure Facebook Connectivity for NodeJS

Connectivity to Facebook from NodeJS is made possible through CData Connect Cloud. To work with Facebook data from NodeJS, we start by creating and configuring a Facebook connection.

  1. Log into Connect Cloud, click Connections and click Add Connection
  2. Select "Facebook" from the Add Connection panel
  3. Facebook uses OAuth to authenticate. Click "Sign in" to authenticate with Facebook.
  4. Navigate to the Permissions tab in the Add Facebook Connection page and update the User-based permissions.

Add a Personal Access Token

If you are connecting from a service, application, platform, or framework that does not support OAuth authentication, you can create a Personal Access Token (PAT) to use for authentication. Best practices would dictate that you create a separate PAT for each service, to maintain granularity of access.

  1. Click on your username at the top right of the Connect Cloud app and click User Profile.
  2. On the User Profile page, scroll down to the Personal Access Tokens section and click Create PAT.
  3. Give your PAT a name and click Create.
  4. The personal access token is only visible at creation, so be sure to copy it and store it securely for future use.

With the connection configured, you are ready to connect to Facebook data from Node.js.

Query Facebook from Node.js

The following example shows how to define a connection and execute queries to Facebook with the SQL Server module. You will need the following information:

  • server: tds.cdata.com
  • port: 14333
  • user: a Connect Cloud user (e.g. [email protected])
  • password: the PAT for the above user
  • database: The connection you configured for Facebook (Facebook1)

Connect to Facebook data and start executing queries with the code below:

var sql = require('mssql')
var config = {
	server: 'tds.cdata.com',
	port: 14333, 
	user: '[email protected]', //update me
	password: 'CONNECT_USER_PAT', //update me	
	options: {
		encrypt: true,
		database: 'Facebook1'
	}
}

sql.connect(config, err => { 
    if(err){
        throw err ;
    }
    new sql.Request().query('SELECT * FROM Posts', (err, result) => {
        console.dir(result)
    })
        
});

sql.on('error', err => {
    console.log("SQL Error: " ,err);
})

Ready to get started?

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