Access Databox Data in Mule Applications Using the CData JDBC Driver

The CData API Driver for JDBC connects Databox data to Mule applications enabling read functionality with familiar SQL queries. The JDBC Driver allows users to easily create Mule applications to backup, transform, report, and analyze Databox data.

This article demonstrates how to use the CData API Driver for JDBC inside of a Mule project to create a Web interface for Databox data. The application created allows you to request Databox data using an HTTP request and have the results returned as JSON. The exact same procedure outlined below can be used with any CData JDBC Driver to create a Web interface for the hundreds of available data sources.

1. Create a new Mule Project in Anypoint Studio.
2. Add an HTTP Connector to the Message Flow.
3. Configure the address for the HTTP Connector.
4. Add a Database Select Connector to the same flow, after the HTTP Connector.
5. Create a new Connection (or edit an existing one) and configure the properties.
   • Set Connection to "Generic Connection"
   • Select the CData JDBC Driver JAR file in the Required Libraries section (e.g. cdata.jdbc.api.jar).
   • Set the URL to the connection string for Databox

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

     Databox API Profile Settings

     To use the Databox API, you need to generate a personal access key from your Databox account. Navigate to the Databox account settings under Data Manager and generate an API key (prefixed with pak_).

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

     • AuthScheme: Set this to APIKey.
     • APIKey: Set this to your Databox personal access key.

     Built-in Connection String Designer

     For assistance in constructing the JDBC URL, use the connection string designer built into the Databox 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.

   • Set the Driver class name to cdata.jdbc.api.APIDriver.
   • Click Test Connection.
6. Set the SQL Query Text to a SQL query to request Databox data. For example:

   SELECT Id, Title FROM Datasets WHERE DataSourceId = '4976164'

   
7. Add a Transform Message Component to the flow.
8. Set the Output script to the following to convert the payload to JSON:

   %dw 2.0
   output application/json
   ---
   payload
           

   
9. To view your Databox data, navigate to the address you configured for the HTTP Connector (localhost:8081 by default): http://localhost:8081. The Databox data is available as JSON in your Web browser and any other tools capable of consuming JSON endpoints.

At this point, you have a simple Web interface for working with Databox data (as JSON data) in custom apps and a wide variety of BI, reporting, and ETL tools. Download a free, 30 day trial of the JDBC Driver for Databox and see the CData difference in your Mule Applications today.