Import Real-Time Google Cloud Storage 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 Cloud Storage, you can link your ColdFusion web and mobile applications to operational Google Cloud Storage 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 Cloud Storage 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 Cloud Storage data. When you issue complex SQL queries to Google Cloud Storage, the driver pushes supported SQL operations, like filters and aggregations, directly to Google Cloud Storage 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 Cloud Storage data using native data types.

Configuring the Connection to Google Cloud Storage

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

Authenticate with a User Account

You can connect without setting any connection properties for your user credentials. After setting InitiateOAuth to GETANDREFRESH, you are ready to connect.

When you connect, the Google Cloud Storage OAuth endpoint opens in your default browser. Log in and grant permissions, then the OAuth process completes

Authenticate with a Service Account

Service accounts have silent authentication, without user authentication in the browser. You can also use a service account to delegate enterprise-wide access scopes.

You need to create an OAuth application in this flow. See the Help documentation for more information. After setting the following connection properties, you are ready to connect:

• InitiateOAuth: Set this to GETANDREFRESH.
• OAuthJWTCertType: Set this to "PFXFILE".
• OAuthJWTCert: Set this to the path to the .p12 file you generated.
• OAuthJWTCertPassword: Set this to the password of the .p12 file.
• OAuthJWTCertSubject: Set this to "*" to pick the first certificate in the certificate store.
• OAuthJWTIssuer: In the service accounts section, click Manage Service Accounts and set this field to the email address displayed in the service account Id field.
• OAuthJWTSubject: Set this to your enterprise Id if your subject type is set to "enterprise" or your app user Id if your subject type is set to "user".
• ProjectId: Set this to the Id of the project you want to connect to.

The OAuth flow for a service account then completes.

Built-in Connection String Designer

For assistance in constructing the JDBC URL, use the connection string designer built into the Google Cloud Storage 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 Cloud Storage data and display it in a table written in the ColdFusion Markup Language, or CFML:

1. Copy the JDBC Driver for Google Cloud Storage and lic file from "C:\Program Files\CData[product_name]\lib" to "C:\ColdFusion2021\cfusion\wwwroot\WEB-INF\lib". cdata.jdbc.googlecloudstorage.jar cdata.jdbc.googlecloudstorage.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:googlecloudstorage:|connectionString|.
   • A typical connection string looks like this:

     jdbc:googlecloudstorage:ProjectId='project1';InitiateOAuth=GETANDREFRESH

   • The Driver Class is: cdata.jdbc.googlecloudstorage.GoogleCloudStorageDriver
   • 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 Cloud StorageJDBC 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 Cloud StorageQuery" dataSource="CDataGoogle Cloud StorageJDBC"> 
             SELECT * FROM Buckets 
           </cfquery> 
       

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

               
             <cftable  
             query = "Google Cloud StorageQuery" 
             border = "1" 
             colHeaders 
             colSpacing = "2" 
             headerLines = "2" 
             HTMLTable 
             maxRows = "500" 
             startRow = "1"> 
   
             <cfcol header="<b>Name</b>" align="Left" width=2 text="Name"/> 
   
             <cfcol header="<b>OwnerId</b>" align="Left" width=15 text="OwnerId"/> 
   
             ...
   
           </cftable> 
       

   Full code, including the HTML portion is available below:

               
           <html> 
           <head><title>CData Software | Google Cloud Storage Buckets Table Demo </title></head> 
           <body> 
           <cfoutput>#ucase("Google Cloud Storage Buckets Table Demo")#</cfoutput> 
           <cfquery name="Google Cloud StorageQuery" dataSource="CDataGoogle Cloud StorageJDBC"> 
   
             SELECT * FROM Buckets 
   
           </cfquery> 
           <cftable  
             query = "Google Cloud StorageQuery" 
             border = "1" 
             colHeaders 
             colSpacing = "2" 
             headerLines = "2" 
             HTMLTable 
             maxRows = "500" 
             startRow = "1"> 
             <cfcol header="<b>Name</b>" align="Left" width=2 text="Name"/> 
   
             <cfcol header="<b>OwnerId</b>" align="Left" width=15 text="OwnerId"/> 
   
             ...
   
           </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 Cloud Storage 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 Cloud Storage and start building Google Cloud Storage-connected applications with Adobe ColdFusion. Reach out to our Support Team if you have any questions.