How to use SQLAlchemy ORM to access Adobe Experience Manager Data in Python

The rich ecosystem of Python modules lets you get to work quickly and integrate your systems effectively. With the CData Python Connector for Adobe Experience Manager and the SQLAlchemy toolkit, you can build Adobe Experience Manager-connected Python applications and scripts. This article shows how to use SQLAlchemy to connect to Adobe Experience Manager data to query Adobe Experience Manager data.

With built-in optimized data processing, the CData Python Connector offers unmatched performance for interacting with live Adobe Experience Manager data in Python. When you issue complex SQL queries from Adobe Experience Manager, the CData Connector pushes supported SQL operations, like filters and aggregations, directly to Adobe Experience Manager and utilizes the embedded SQL engine to process unsupported operations client-side (often SQL functions and JOIN operations).

Connecting to Adobe Experience Manager Data

Connecting to Adobe Experience Manager data looks just like connecting to any relational data source. Create a connection string using the required connection properties. For this article, you will pass the connection string as a parameter to the create_engine function.

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.

Follow the procedure below to install SQLAlchemy and start accessing Adobe Experience Manager through Python objects.

Install Required Modules

Use the pip utility to install the SQLAlchemy toolkit and SQLAlchemy ORM package:

pip install sqlalchemy
pip install sqlalchemy.orm

Be sure to import the appropriate modules:

from sqlalchemy import create_engine, String, Column
from sqlalchemy.ext.declarative import declarative_base
from sqlalchemy.orm import sessionmaker

Model Adobe Experience Manager Data in Python

You can now connect with a connection string. Use the create_engine function to create an Engine for working with Adobe Experience Manager data.

NOTE: Users should URL encode the any connection string properties that include special characters. For more information, refer to the SQL Alchemy documentation.

engine = create_engine("adobeexperiencemanager:///?URL=https://author-p12345-e67890.adobeaemcloud.com/crx/server&User=admin&Password=admin")

Declare a Mapping Class for Adobe Experience Manager Data

After establishing the connection, declare a mapping class for the table you wish to model in the ORM (in this article, we will model the Content table). Use the sqlalchemy.ext.declarative.declarative_base function and create a new class with some or all of the fields (columns) defined.

base = declarative_base()
class Content(base):
	__tablename__ = "Content"
	Id = Column(String,primary_key=True)
	Name = Column(String)
	...

Query Adobe Experience Manager Data

With the mapping class prepared, you can use a session object to query the data source. After binding the Engine to the session, provide the mapping class to the session query method.

Using the query Method

engine = create_engine("adobeexperiencemanager:///?URL=https://author-p12345-e67890.adobeaemcloud.com/crx/server&User=admin&Password=admin")
factory = sessionmaker(bind=engine)
session = factory()
for instance in session.query(Content).filter_by(Name="example"):
	print("Id: ", instance.Id)
	print("Name: ", instance.Name)
	print("---------")

Alternatively, you can use the execute method with the appropriate table object. The code below works with an active session.

Using the execute Method

Content_table = Content.metadata.tables["Content"]
for instance in session.execute(Content_table.select().where(Content_table.c.Name == "example")):
	print("Id: ", instance.Id)
	print("Name: ", instance.Name)
	print("---------")

For examples of more complex querying, including JOINs, aggregations, limits, and more, refer to the Help documentation for the extension.

Free Trial & More Information

Download a free, 30-day trial of the CData Python Connector for Adobe Experience Manager to start building Python apps and scripts with connectivity to Adobe Experience Manager data. Reach out to our Support Team if you have any questions.