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

Connect to Procore Data as a JDBC Data Source

To connect to Procore 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.api.APIDriver

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

  Start by setting the Profile connection property to the location of the Procore Profile on disk (e.g. C:\profiles\Procore.apip). Next, set the ProfileSettings connection property to the connection string for Procore (see below).

  Procore API Profile Settings

  To authenticate to Procore, and connect to your own data or to allow other users to connect to their data, you can use the OAuth standard.

  First, you will need to register an OAuth application with Procore. You can do so by logging to your Developer Account and going to Create New App. Follow all necessary steps to register your app. First you will need to create a new version of Sandbox Manifest and then promote it to Production in order to get your Production Crendentials. Your Oauth application will be assigned a client id and a client secret.

  After setting the following connection properties, you are ready to connect:

  • AuthScheme: Set this to OAuth.
  • InitiateOAuth: Set this to GETANDREFRESH. You can use InitiateOAuth to manage the process to obtain the OAuthAccessToken.
  • OAuthClientId: Set this to the client_id that is specified in you app settings.
  • OAuthClientSecret: Set this to the client_secret that is specified in you app settings.
  • CallbackURL: Set this to the Redirect URI that is specified in your app settings

  Built-in Connection String Designer

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

  java -jar cdata.jdbc.api.jar

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

  A typical JDBC URL is below:

  jdbc:api:Profile=C:\profiles\Procore.apip;Authscheme=OAuth;OAuthClientId=your_client_id;OAuthClientSecret=your_client_secret;CallbackUrl=your_callback_url;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 Procore Data as a PostgreSQL Database

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

1. Log into your database.
2. Load the extension for the database: CREATE EXTENSION jdbc2_fdw;
3. Create a server object for Procore: CREATE SERVER API FOREIGN DATA WRAPPER jdbc2_fdw OPTIONS ( drivername 'cdata.jdbc.api.APIDriver', url 'jdbc:api:Profile=C:\profiles\Procore.apip;Authscheme=OAuth;OAuthClientId=your_client_id;OAuthClientSecret=your_client_secret;CallbackUrl=your_callback_url;InitiateOAuth=GETANDREFRESH', querytimeout '15', jarfile '/home/MyUser/CData/CData\ JDBC\ Driver\ for\ Salesforce MyDriverEdition/lib/cdata.jdbc.api.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 API OPTIONS ( username 'admin', password 'test');
5. Create a foreign table in your local database: postgres=# CREATE FOREIGN TABLE companies ( companies_id text, companies_Id text, companies_Name numeric) SERVER API OPTIONS ( table_name 'companies');