Build a PostgreSQL Interface for AdRoll Data using the CData JDBC Driver

Jerod Johnson
Jerod Johnson
Director, Technology Evangelism
Use the Remoting features of the AdRoll JDBC Driver to create a PostgreSQL entry-point for data access.

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

Connect to AdRoll Data as a JDBC Data Source

To connect to AdRoll 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 AdRoll Profile on disk (e.g. C:\profiles\AdRoll.apip). Next, set the ProfileSettings connection property to the connection string for AdRoll (see below).

    AdRoll API Profile Settings

    Register a developer account with AdRoll and create an OAuth application to receive a client ID and secret.

    Built-in Connection String Designer

    For assistance in constructing the JDBC URL, use the connection string designer built into the AdRoll 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\AdRoll.apip;Authscheme=OAuth;OAuthClientId=your_client_id;OAuthClientSecret=your_client_secret;CallbackUrl=your_callback_url;
    

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 AdRoll Data as a PostgreSQL Database

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

  1. Log into your database.
  2. Load the extension for the database:
    CREATE EXTENSION jdbc2_fdw;
    
  3. Create a server object for AdRoll:
    CREATE SERVER API 
    FOREIGN DATA WRAPPER jdbc2_fdw OPTIONS (
    drivername 'cdata.jdbc.api.APIDriver',
    url 'jdbc:api:Profile=C:\profiles\AdRoll.apip;Authscheme=OAuth;OAuthClientId=your_client_id;OAuthClientSecret=your_client_secret;CallbackUrl=your_callback_url;',
    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 accounts (
    accounts_id text,
    accounts_Eid text,
    accounts_Name numeric) 
    SERVER API OPTIONS (
    table_name 'accounts');
    
You can now execute SELECT commands to AdRoll:
postgres=# SELECT * FROM accounts;

Ready to get started?

Connect to live data from AdRoll with the API Driver

Connect to AdRoll