A PostgreSQL Interface for PayPal Data

There are a vast number of PostgreSQL clients available on the Internet. From standard Drivers to BI and Analytics tools, PostgreSQL is a popular interface for data access. Using our JDBC Drivers, you can now create PostgreSQL entry-points that you can connect to from any standard client.

To access PayPal data as a PostgreSQL database, use the CData JDBC Driver for PayPal and a JDBC foreign data wrapper (FDW). In this article, we compile the FDW, install it, and query PayPal data from PostgreSQL Server.

Connect to PayPal Data as a JDBC Data Source

To connect to PayPal as a JDBC data source, you will need the following:

• Driver JAR path: The JAR is located in the lib subfolder of the installation directory.

• Driver class: cdata.jdbc.paypal.PayPalDriver

• JDBC URL: The URL must start with "jdbc:paypal:" and can include any of the connection properties in name-value pairs separated with semicolons.

  The provider surfaces tables from two PayPal APIs. The APIs use different authentication methods.

  • The REST API uses the OAuth standard. To authenticate to the REST API, you will need to set the OAuthClientId, OAuthClientSecret, and CallbackURL properties.
  • The Classic API requires Signature API credentials. To authenticate to the Classic API, you will need to obtain an API username, password, and signature.

  See the "Getting Started" chapter of the help documentation for a guide to obtaining the necessary API credentials.

  To select the API you want to work with, you can set the Schema property to REST or SOAP. By default the SOAP schema will be used.

  For testing purposes you can set UseSandbox to true and use sandbox credentials.

  Built-in Connection String Designer

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

  java -jar cdata.jdbc.paypal.jar

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

  A typical JDBC URL is below:

  jdbc:paypal:Schema=SOAP;Username=sandbox-facilitator_api1.test.com;Password=xyz123;Signature=zx2127;InitiateOAuth=GETANDREFRESH

Build the JDBC Foreign Data Wrapper

The Foreign Data Wrapper can be installed as an extension to PostgreSQL, without recompiling PostgreSQL. The jdbc2_fdw extension is used as an example (downloadable here).

1. Add a symlink from the shared object for your version of the JRE to /usr/lib/libjvm.so. For example: ln -s /usr/lib/jvm/java-6-openjdk/jre/lib/amd64/server/libjvm.so /usr/lib/libjvm.so
2. Start the build: make install USE_PGXS=1

Query PayPal Data as a PostgreSQL Database

After you have installed the extension, follow the steps below to start executing queries to PayPal data:

1. Log into your database.
2. Load the extension for the database: CREATE EXTENSION jdbc2_fdw;
3. Create a server object for PayPal: CREATE SERVER PayPal FOREIGN DATA WRAPPER jdbc2_fdw OPTIONS ( drivername 'cdata.jdbc.paypal.PayPalDriver', url 'jdbc:paypal:Schema=SOAP;Username=sandbox-facilitator_api1.test.com;Password=xyz123;Signature=zx2127;InitiateOAuth=GETANDREFRESH', querytimeout '15', jarfile '/home/MyUser/CData/CData\ JDBC\ Driver\ for\ Salesforce MyDriverEdition/lib/cdata.jdbc.paypal.jar');
4. Create a user mapping for the username and password of a user known to the MySQL daemon. CREATE USER MAPPING for postgres SERVER PayPal OPTIONS ( username 'admin', password 'test');
5. Create a foreign table in your local database: postgres=# CREATE FOREIGN TABLE transactions ( transactions_id text, transactions_Date text, transactions_GrossAmount numeric) SERVER PayPal OPTIONS ( table_name 'transactions');