Import Real-Time SAP Netweaver Gateway 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 SAP Netweaver Gateway, you can link your ColdFusion web and mobile applications to operational SAP Netweaver Gateway 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 SAP Netweaver Gateway data from within a ColdFusion markup file.

With built-in optimized data processing, the CData JDBC Driver offers unmatched performance for interacting with live SAP Netweaver Gateway data. When you issue complex SQL queries to SAP Netweaver Gateway, the driver pushes supported SQL operations, like filters and aggregations, directly to SAP Netweaver Gateway 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 SAP Netweaver Gateway data using native data types.

Configuring the Connection to SAP Netweaver Gateway

You will need a JDBC connection string to establish a connection between Coldfusion and SAP Netweaver Gateway.

SAP Gateway allows both basic and OAuth 2.0 authentication. You can use basic authentication to connect to your own account, or you can use OAuth to enable other users to retrieve data from your service with their accounts. In addition to authenticating, set the following connection properties to access SAP Gateway tables.

• Url: Set this to the URL of your environment, or to the full URL of the service. For example, the full URL might appear as: https://sapes5.sapdevcenter.com/sap/opu/odata/IWBEP/GWSAMPLE_BASIC/. In this example, the environment URL would just be: https://sapes5.sapdevcenter.com.
• Namespace: Set the appropriate Service Namespace. In the example above, IWBEP is the namespace. It is optional if the full URL to the service is specified.
• Service: Set this to the service you want to retrieve data from. In the example above, the service is GWSAMPLE_BASIC. It is not required if the full URL is specified.

Authenticate via Basic Authentication

In basic authentication, you use your login credentials to connect. Set the following properties:

• User: This is the username you use to log in to SAP Gateway.
• Password: This is the password you use to log in to SAP Gateway.

Authenticate via OAuth Authentication

You can connect to SAP Gateway using the embedded OAuth connectivity (without setting any additional authentication connection properties). When you connect, the OAuth endpoint opens in your browser. Log in and grant permissions to complete the OAuth process. See the OAuth section in the online Help documentation for more information on other OAuth authentication flows.

Built-in Connection String Designer

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

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

     jdbc:sapgateway:User=user;Password=password;URL=https://sapes5.sapdevcenter.com/sap/opu/odata/IWBEP/GWSAMPLE_BASIC/;InitiateOAuth=GETANDREFRESH

   • The Driver Class is: cdata.jdbc.sapgateway.SAPGatewayDriver
   • 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 CDataSAP Netweaver GatewayJDBC 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="SAP Netweaver GatewayQuery" dataSource="CDataSAP Netweaver GatewayJDBC"> 
             SELECT * FROM SalesOrderLineItems 
           </cfquery> 
       

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

               
             <cftable  
             query = "SAP Netweaver GatewayQuery" 
             border = "1" 
             colHeaders 
             colSpacing = "2" 
             headerLines = "2" 
             HTMLTable 
             maxRows = "500" 
             startRow = "1"> 
   
             <cfcol header="<b>ProductID</b>" align="Left" width=2 text="ProductID"/> 
   
             <cfcol header="<b>Quantity</b>" align="Left" width=15 text="Quantity"/> 
   
             ...
   
           </cftable> 
       

   Full code, including the HTML portion is available below:

               
           <html> 
           <head><title>CData Software | SAP Netweaver Gateway SalesOrderLineItems Table Demo </title></head> 
           <body> 
           <cfoutput>#ucase("SAP Netweaver Gateway SalesOrderLineItems Table Demo")#</cfoutput> 
           <cfquery name="SAP Netweaver GatewayQuery" dataSource="CDataSAP Netweaver GatewayJDBC"> 
   
             SELECT * FROM SalesOrderLineItems 
   
           </cfquery> 
           <cftable  
             query = "SAP Netweaver GatewayQuery" 
             border = "1" 
             colHeaders 
             colSpacing = "2" 
             headerLines = "2" 
             HTMLTable 
             maxRows = "500" 
             startRow = "1"> 
             <cfcol header="<b>ProductID</b>" align="Left" width=2 text="ProductID"/> 
   
             <cfcol header="<b>Quantity</b>" align="Left" width=15 text="Quantity"/> 
   
             ...
   
           </cftable> 
           </body> 
   
           </html>  
       

7. Finally, run the code locally in a browser at the default port of 8500. It produces a table populated with SAP Netweaver Gateway 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 SAP Netweaver Gateway and start building SAP Netweaver Gateway-connected applications with Adobe ColdFusion. Reach out to our Support Team if you have any questions.