Analyze Anaplan Data in R via JDBC

Access Anaplan data with pure R script and standard SQL on any machine where R and Java can be installed. You can use the CData JDBC Driver for Anaplan and the RJDBC package to work with remote Anaplan data in R. By using the CData Driver, you are leveraging a driver written for industry-proven standards to access your data in the popular, open-source R language. This article shows how to use the driver to execute SQL queries to Anaplan and visualize Anaplan data by calling standard R functions.

Install R

You can match the driver's performance gains from multi-threading and managed code by running the multithreaded Microsoft R Open or by running open R linked with the BLAS/LAPACK libraries. This article uses Microsoft R Open 3.2.3, which is preconfigured to install packages from the Jan. 1, 2016 snapshot of the CRAN repository. This snapshot ensures reproducibility.

Load the RJDBC Package

To use the driver, download the RJDBC package. After installing the RJDBC package, the following line loads the package:

library(RJDBC)

Connect to Anaplan as a JDBC Data Source

You will need the following information to connect to Anaplan as a JDBC data source:

• Driver Class: Set this to cdata.jdbc.anaplan.AnaplanDriver
• Classpath: Set this to the location of the driver JAR. By default this is the lib subfolder of the installation folder.

The DBI functions, such as dbConnect and dbSendQuery, provide a unified interface for writing data access code in R. Use the following line to initialize a DBI driver that can make JDBC requests to the CData JDBC Driver for Anaplan:

driver <- JDBC(driverClass = "cdata.jdbc.anaplan.AnaplanDriver", classPath = "MyInstallationDir\lib\cdata.jdbc.anaplan.jar", identifier.quote = "'") 

You can now use DBI functions to connect to Anaplan and execute SQL queries. Initialize the JDBC connection with the dbConnect function.

Authenticating to Anaplan

The driver supports authenticating with Basic, Certificate, or OAuth. In every case, set Region to the region where your Anaplan account data is hosted (e.g., US1, which is the default).

Using Basic Authentication

Set AuthScheme to Basic, then supply your Anaplan User and Password. If your workspace uses single sign-on (SSO), you must be assigned as an Exception User to use Basic authentication.

Using Certificate Authentication

Set AuthScheme to Certificate, then supply the Certificate, CertificateType, and PrivateKey properties (and the matching CertificatePassword / PrivateKeyPassword if either is encrypted). The certificate must be a CA-issued X.509 certificate registered with your Anaplan tenant administrator.

Using OAuth Authentication

Register a custom OAuth application in Anaplan, then set the following properties:

• OAuthClientId: The client Id assigned when you registered your custom OAuth application.
• OAuthClientSecret: The client secret assigned when you registered your custom OAuth application.
• CallbackURL: The redirect URI defined when you registered your application.
• InitiateOAuth: Set to GETANDREFRESH to have the driver manage the OAuth token exchange and refresh automatically.

See the Getting Started chapter of the help documentation for a guide to creating a custom OAuth app and using OAuth.

Built-in Connection String Designer

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

java -jar cdata.jdbc.anaplan.jar

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

Below is a sample dbConnect call, including a typical JDBC connection string:

conn <- dbConnect(driver,"jdbc:anaplan:OAuthClientId=your_client_id;OAuthClientSecret=your_client_secret;CallbackURL=your_callback_url;Region=US1;InitiateOAuth=GETANDREFRESH;")

Schema Discovery

The driver models Anaplan APIs as relational tables, views, and stored procedures. Use the following line to retrieve the list of tables:

dbListTables(conn)

Execute SQL Queries

You can use the dbGetQuery function to execute any SQL query supported by the Anaplan API:

sales <- dbGetQuery(conn,"SELECT Region, Product FROM [Workspace].[Model].[Sales] WHERE Value = '100'")

You can view the results in a data viewer window with the following command:

View(sales)

Plot Anaplan Data

You can now analyze Anaplan data with any of the data visualization packages available in the CRAN repository. You can create simple bar plots with the built-in bar plot function:

par(las=2,ps=10,mar=c(5,15,4,2))
barplot(sales$Product, main="Anaplan Sales", names.arg = sales$Region, horiz=TRUE)