Import Real-Time Adobe Experience Manager Data via ODBC in ColdFusion to Build Applications

Dibyendu Datta
Dibyendu Datta
Lead Technology Evangelist
Use CData ODBC drivers to import and use Adobe Experience Manager data in ColdFusion.

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 ODBC Driver for Adobe Experience Manager, you can link your ColdFusion web and mobile applications to operational Adobe Experience Manager data. This allows for your applications to be more robust and complete. This article details how to use the ODBC driver to create a table populated with Adobe Experience Manager data from within a ColdFusion markup file.

To follow along with this tutorial, you need to install the CData ODBC Driver for Adobe Experience Manager and Adobe ColdFusion.

Configuring the Connection

If you have not already, first specify connection properties in an ODBC DSN (Data Source Name). This is the last step of the driver installation process. You can use the Microsoft ODBC Data Source Administrator to create and configure ODBC DSNs.

The driver connects to Adobe Experience Manager (AEM) instances that expose the JCR repository over WebDAV. It supports both on-premises AEM and AEM as a Cloud Service deployments.

To establish a connection, set the following properties:

  • URL: The WebDAV-enabled JCR server URL.
    • AEM as a Cloud Service: https://author-pXXXXX-eXXXXX.adobeaemcloud.com/crx/server
    • Local development: http://localhost:4502/crx/server
  • User: Your AEM username.
  • Password: Your AEM password.

Note: Tables are dynamically generated based on the JCR repository structure. Ensure that the configured user has sufficient permissions to access the required content paths in the AEM repository.

Adding a Data Source and Creating a Table

After creating a DSN, follow the steps below to add a new data source, test our connection to it, create a ColdFusion markup file, and, finally, import Adobe Experience Manager Data and display it in a table in ColdFusion:

  1. From the ColdFusion administrator interface, choose Data & Services.
  2. Here, click "Add New Data Source". The data source name can be any name, provided it conforms to the ColdFusion variable naming conventions. For our ODBC driver, choose "ODBC Socket", then click the "Add" button.
  3. From the ODBC DSN Dropdown menu select CData Adobe Experience Manager Sys. Under the Advanced Settings section, leave the Connection String blank. Note that any properties specified in this input field will override the ones specified in the DSN Configuration.
  4. Now, test the connection by pressing the check mark to the left of the CDataAdobe Experience ManagerODBC data source you just created. When the data source reports an "OK" status, it is ready for use.
  5. 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="Adobe Experience ManagerQuery" dataSource="CDataAdobe Experience ManagerODBC"> 
          SELECT * FROM Content 
        </cfquery>
    And a CFTable can be used to quickly output the table in HTML: 
                
          <cftable  
          query = "Adobe Experience ManagerQuery" 
          border = "1" 
          colHeaders 
          colSpacing = "2" 
          headerLines = "2" 
          HTMLTable 
          maxRows = "500" 
          startRow = "1"> 

          <cfcol header="<b>Id</b>" align="Left" width=2 text="Id"/> 

          <cfcol header="<b>Name</b>" align="Left" width=15 text="Name"/> 

          ...

        </cftable>
    Full code, including the HTML portion is available below: 
                
        <html> 
        <head><title>CData Software | Adobe Experience Manager Content Table Demo </title></head> 
        <body> 
        <cfoutput>#ucase("Adobe Experience Manager Content Table Demo")#</cfoutput> 
        <cfquery name="Adobe Experience ManagerQuery" dataSource="CDataAdobe Experience ManagerODBC"> 

          SELECT * FROM Content 

        </cfquery> 
        <cftable  
          query = "Adobe Experience ManagerQuery" 
          border = "1" 
          colHeaders 
          colSpacing = "2" 
          headerLines = "2" 
          HTMLTable 
          maxRows = "500" 
          startRow = "1"> 
          <cfcol header="<b>Id</b>" align="Left" width=2 text="Id"/> 

          <cfcol header="<b>Name</b>" align="Left" width=15 text="Name"/> 

          ...

        </cftable> 
        </body> 

        </html>
  6. Finally, run the code in a browser. It produces a table populated with Adobe Experience Manager data!

As a note, the CData ODBC 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 ODBC Driver for Adobe Experience Manager and start building Adobe Experience Manager-connected applications with Adobe ColdFusion. Reach out to our Support Team if you have any questions.

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Download a free trial of the Adobe Experience Manager ODBC Driver to get started:

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Learn more:

Adobe Experience Manager Icon Adobe Experience Manager ODBC Driver

The Adobe Experience Manager ODBC Driver is a powerful tool that allows you to connect with live data from Adobe Experience Manager, directly from any applications that support ODBC connectivity.

Access Adobe Experience Manager data like you would a database - read, write, and update Adobe Experience Manager 0, etc. through a standard ODBC Driver interface.

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