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Connect to live data from ConstantContact with the API Driver

Connect to ConstantContact

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Create a Data Access Object for ConstantContact Data using JDBI


A brief overview of creating a SQL Object API for ConstantContact data in JDBI.

JDBI is a SQL convenience library for Java that exposes two different style APIs, a fluent style and a SQL object style. The CData JDBC Driver for ConstantContact integrates connectivity to live ConstantContact data in Java applications. By pairing these technologies, you gain simple, programmatic access to ConstantContact data. This article walks through building a basic Data Access Object (DAO) and the accompanying code to read ConstantContact data.

Create a DAO for the ConstantContact Contacts Entity

The interface below declares the desired behavior for the SQL object to create a single method for each SQL statement to be implemented.

public interface MyContactsDAO { //request specific data from ConstantContact (String type is used for simplicity) @SqlQuery("SELECT EmailAddress FROM Contacts WHERE CompanyName = :companyName") String findEmailAddressByCompanyName(@Bind("companyName") String companyName); /* * close with no args is used to close the connection */ void close(); }

Open a Connection to ConstantContact

Collect the necessary connection properties and construct the appropriate JDBC URL for connecting to ConstantContact.

Start by setting the Profile connection property to the location of the ConstantContact Profile on disk (e.g. C:\profiles\ConstantContact.apip). Next, set the ProfileSettings connection property to the connection string for Profile (see below).

ConstantContact API Profile Settings

ConstantContact uses OAuth-based authentication.

First, you will need to register an OAuth application with ConstantContact. You can do so from the ConstantContact API Guide (https://v3.developer.constantcontact.com/api_guide/index.html), under "MyApplications" > "New Application". Your Oauth application will be assigned a client id (API Key) and you can generate a client secret (Secret).

After setting the following connection properties, you are ready to connect:

  • AuthScheme: Set this to OAuth.
  • InitiateOAuth: Set this to GETANDREFRESH. You can use InitiateOAuth to manage the process to obtain the OAuthAccessToken.
  • OAuthClientId: Set this to the client_id that is specified in you app settings.
  • OAuthClientSecret: Set this to the client_secret that is specified in you app settings.
  • CallbackURL: Set this to the Redirect URI you specified in your app settings.

Built-in Connection String Designer

For assistance in constructing the JDBC URL, use the connection string designer built into the ConstantContact 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 connection string for ConstantContact will typically look like the following:

jdbc:api:Profile=C:\profiles\ConstantContact.apip;Authscheme=OAuth;OAuthClientId=your_client_id;OAuthClientSecret=your_client_secret;CallbackUrl=your_callback_url;

Use the configured JDBC URL to obtain an instance of the DAO interface. The particular method shown below will open a handle bound to the instance, so the instance needs to be closed explicitly to release the handle and the bound JDBC connection.

DBI dbi = new DBI("jdbc:api:Profile=C:\profiles\ConstantContact.apip;Authscheme=OAuth;OAuthClientId=your_client_id;OAuthClientSecret=your_client_secret;CallbackUrl=your_callback_url;"); MyContactsDAO dao = dbi.open(MyContactsDAO.class); //do stuff with the DAO dao.close();

Read ConstantContact Data

With the connection open to ConstantContact, simply call the previously defined method to retrieve data from the Contacts entity in ConstantContact.

//disply the result of our 'find' method String emailAddress = dao.findEmailAddressByCompanyName("Acme, Inc."); System.out.println(emailAddress);

Since the JDBI library is able to work with JDBC connections, you can easily produce a SQL Object API for ConstantContact by integrating with the CData JDBC Driver for ConstantContact. Download a free trial and work with live ConstantContact data in custom Java applications today.