Import Real-Time Google Analytics Data in ColdFusion to Build Applications

Adobe ColdFusion is a web and mobile application development platform. It uses its own scripting language, ColdFusion Markup Language (CFML), to create data-driven websites as well as generate remote services, such as REST.

When ColdFusion is paired with the CData JDBC Driver for Google Analytics, you can link your ColdFusion web and mobile applications to operational Google Analytics data. This allows for your applications to be more robust and complete. This article details how to use the JDBC driver to create a table populated with Google Analytics data from within a ColdFusion markup file.

With built-in optimized data processing, the CData JDBC Driver offers unmatched performance for interacting with live Google Analytics data. When you issue complex SQL queries to Google Analytics, the driver pushes supported SQL operations, like filters and aggregations, directly to Google Analytics and utilizes the embedded SQL engine to process unsupported operations client-side (often SQL functions and JOIN operations). Its built-in dynamic metadata querying allows you to work with and analyze Google Analytics data using native data types.

Configuring the Connection to Google Analytics

You will need a JDBC connection string to establish a connection between Coldfusion and Google Analytics.

Google uses the OAuth authentication standard. To access Google APIs on behalf on individual users, you can use the embedded credentials or you can register your own OAuth app.

OAuth also enables you to use a service account to connect on behalf of users in a Google Apps domain. To authenticate with a service account, you will need to register an application to obtain the OAuth JWT values.

In addition to the OAuth values, set Profile to the profile you want to connect to. This can be set to either the Id or website URL for the Profile. If not specified, the first Profile returned will be used.

Built-in Connection String Designer

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

Adding a Data Source and Creating a Table

After configuring the connection, follow the steps below to add the CData JDBC Driver to ColdFusion's lib directory, add a new data source, test the connection, create a ColdFusion markup file, and, finally, make a real-time connection with Google Analytics data and display it in a table written in the ColdFusion Markup Language, or CFML:

1. Copy the JDBC Driver for Google Analytics and lic file from "C:\Program Files\CData[product_name]\lib" to "C:\ColdFusion2021\cfusion\wwwroot\WEB-INF\lib". cdata.jdbc.googleanalytics.jar cdata.jdbc.googleanalytics.lic

   Note: If you do not copy the .lic file with the jar, you will see a licensing error that indicates you do not have a valid license installed. This is true for both the trial and full versions.

2. From the ColdFusion administrator interface, choose Data & Services.
3. Here, we can "Add New Data Source". The data source name can be any name, provided it conforms to the ColdFusion variable naming conventions. For our JDBC driver, choose "other", then click the "Add" button.
4. Next, populate the driver properties.
   • JDBC URL will need to be in the format: jdbc:googleanalytics:|connectionString|.
   • A typical connection string looks like this:

     jdbc:googleanalytics:Profile=MyProfile;InitiateOAuth=GETANDREFRESH

   • The Driver Class is: cdata.jdbc.googleanalytics.GoogleAnalyticsDriver
   • The Driver Name is arbitrary and simply used to recognize the data source in the ColdFusion administration console.
5. Now, test the connection by clicking the check mark to the left of the CDataGoogle AnalyticsJDBC data source you just created. When the data source reports an "OK" status, it is ready for use.
6. Next, create a new ColdFusion Markup file (.cfm) and place it in the wwwroot directory ("C:\ColdFusion2021\cfusion\wwwroot") for ColdFusion.

   The following code queries the data source:

               
           <cfquery name="Google AnalyticsQuery" dataSource="CDataGoogle AnalyticsJDBC"> 
             SELECT * FROM Traffic 
           </cfquery> 
       

   And a CFTable can be used to quickly output the table in HTML:

               
             <cftable  
             query = "Google AnalyticsQuery" 
             border = "1" 
             colHeaders 
             colSpacing = "2" 
             headerLines = "2" 
             HTMLTable 
             maxRows = "500" 
             startRow = "1"> 
   
             <cfcol header="<b>Browser</b>" align="Left" width=2 text="Browser"/> 
   
             <cfcol header="<b>Sessions</b>" align="Left" width=15 text="Sessions"/> 
   
             ...
   
           </cftable> 
       

   Full code, including the HTML portion is available below:

               
           <html> 
           <head><title>CData Software | Google Analytics Traffic Table Demo </title></head> 
           <body> 
           <cfoutput>#ucase("Google Analytics Traffic Table Demo")#</cfoutput> 
           <cfquery name="Google AnalyticsQuery" dataSource="CDataGoogle AnalyticsJDBC"> 
   
             SELECT * FROM Traffic 
   
           </cfquery> 
           <cftable  
             query = "Google AnalyticsQuery" 
             border = "1" 
             colHeaders 
             colSpacing = "2" 
             headerLines = "2" 
             HTMLTable 
             maxRows = "500" 
             startRow = "1"> 
             <cfcol header="<b>Browser</b>" align="Left" width=2 text="Browser"/> 
   
             <cfcol header="<b>Sessions</b>" align="Left" width=15 text="Sessions"/> 
   
             ...
   
           </cftable> 
           </body> 
   
           </html>  
       

7. Finally, run the code locally in a browser at the default port of 8500. It produces a table populated with Google Analytics data!

As a note, the CData JDBC Drivers also support parameterized queries using the cfqueryparam element. For example: SELECT * FROM Account WHERE name =

Get Started Today

Download a free, 30-day trial of the CData JDBC Driver for Google Analytics and start building Google Analytics-connected applications with Adobe ColdFusion. Reach out to our Support Team if you have any questions.