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Use CData JDBC drivers to import and use Databricks data in ColdFusion.
Adobe ColdFusion is a web and mobile application development platform. It uses its own scripting language, ColdFusion Markup Language (CFML), to create data-driven websites as well as generate remote services, such as REST.
When ColdFusion is paired with the CData JDBC Driver for Databricks, you can link your ColdFusion web and mobile applications to operational Databricks data. This allows for your applications to be more robust and complete. This article details how to use the JDBC driver to create a table populated with Databricks data from within a ColdFusion markup file.
With built-in optimized data processing, the CData JDBC Driver offers unmatched performance for interacting with live Databricks data. When you issue complex SQL queries to Databricks, the driver pushes supported SQL operations, like filters and aggregations, directly to Databricks and utilizes the embedded SQL engine to process unsupported operations client-side (often SQL functions and JOIN operations). Its built-in dynamic metadata querying allows you to work with and analyze Databricks data using native data types.
About Databricks Data Integration
Accessing and integrating live data from Databricks has never been easier with CData. Customers rely on CData connectivity to:
- Access all versions of Databricks from Runtime Versions 9.1 - 13.X to both the Pro and Classic Databricks SQL versions.
- Leave Databricks in their preferred environment thanks to compatibility with any hosting solution.
- Secure authenticate in a variety of ways, including personal access token, Azure Service Principal, and Azure AD.
- Upload data to Databricks using Databricks File System, Azure Blog Storage, and AWS S3 Storage.
While many customers are using CData's solutions to migrate data from different systems into their Databricks data lakehouse, several customers use our live connectivity solutions to federate connectivity between their databases and Databricks. These customers are using SQL Server Linked Servers or Polybase to get live access to Databricks from within their existing RDBMs.
Read more about common Databricks use-cases and how CData's solutions help solve data problems in our blog: What is Databricks Used For? 6 Use Cases.
Getting Started
Configuring the Connection to Databricks
You will need a JDBC connection string to establish a connection between Coldfusion and Databricks.
To connect to a Databricks cluster, set the properties as described below.
Note: The needed values can be found in your Databricks instance by navigating to Clusters, and selecting the desired cluster, and selecting the JDBC/ODBC tab under Advanced Options.
- Server: Set to the Server Hostname of your Databricks cluster.
- HTTPPath: Set to the HTTP Path of your Databricks cluster.
- Token: Set to your personal access token (this value can be obtained by navigating to the User Settings page of your Databricks instance and selecting the Access Tokens tab).
Built-in Connection String Designer
For assistance in constructing the JDBC URL, use the connection string designer built into the Databricks JDBC Driver. Either double-click the JAR file or execute the jar file from the command-line.
java -jar cdata.jdbc.databricks.jar
Adding a Data Source and Creating a Table
After configuring the connection, follow the steps below to add the CData JDBC Driver to ColdFusion's lib directory, add a new data source, test the connection, create a ColdFusion markup file, and, finally, make a real-time connection with Databricks data and display it in a table written in the ColdFusion Markup Language, or CFML:
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Copy the JDBC Driver for Databricks and lic file from "C:\Program Files\CData[product_name]\lib" to
"C:\ColdFusion2021\cfusion\wwwroot\WEB-INF\lib".
cdata.jdbc.databricks.jar cdata.jdbc.databricks.lic
Note: If you do not copy the .lic file with the jar, you will see a licensing error that indicates you do not have a valid license installed. This is true for both the trial and full versions.
- From the ColdFusion administrator interface, choose Data & Services.
- Here, we can "Add New Data Source". The data source name can be any name, provided it conforms to the ColdFusion variable naming conventions. For our JDBC driver, choose "other", then click the "Add" button.
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Next, populate the driver properties.
- JDBC URL will need to be in the format: jdbc:databricks:|connectionString|.
- A typical connection string looks like this:
jdbc:databricks:Server=127.0.0.1;Port=443;TransportMode=HTTP;HTTPPath=MyHTTPPath;UseSSL=True;User=MyUser;Password=MyPassword;
- The Driver Class is: cdata.jdbc.databricks.DatabricksDriver
- The Driver Name is arbitrary and simply used to recognize the data source in the ColdFusion administration console.
- Now, test the connection by clicking the check mark to the left of the CDataDatabricksJDBC data source you just created. When the data source reports an "OK" status, it is ready for use.
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Next, create a new ColdFusion Markup file (.cfm) and place it in the wwwroot directory ("C:\ColdFusion2021\cfusion\wwwroot")
for ColdFusion.
The following code queries the data source:
<cfquery name="DatabricksQuery" dataSource="CDataDatabricksJDBC"> SELECT * FROM Customers </cfquery>
And a CFTable can be used to quickly output the table in HTML:<cftable query = "DatabricksQuery" border = "1" colHeaders colSpacing = "2" headerLines = "2" HTMLTable maxRows = "500" startRow = "1"> <cfcol header="<b>City</b>" align="Left" width=2 text="City"/> <cfcol header="<b>CompanyName</b>" align="Left" width=15 text="CompanyName"/> ... </cftable>
Full code, including the HTML portion is available below:<html> <head><title>CData Software | Databricks Customers Table Demo </title></head> <body> <cfoutput>#ucase("Databricks Customers Table Demo")#</cfoutput> <cfquery name="DatabricksQuery" dataSource="CDataDatabricksJDBC"> SELECT * FROM Customers </cfquery> <cftable query = "DatabricksQuery" border = "1" colHeaders colSpacing = "2" headerLines = "2" HTMLTable maxRows = "500" startRow = "1"> <cfcol header="<b>City</b>" align="Left" width=2 text="City"/> <cfcol header="<b>CompanyName</b>" align="Left" width=15 text="CompanyName"/> ... </cftable> </body> </html>
- Finally, run the code locally in a browser at the default port of 8500. It produces a table populated with Databricks data!
As a note, the CData JDBC Drivers also support parameterized queries using the cfqueryparam element.
For example:
SELECT * FROM Account WHERE name =
Get Started Today
Download a free, 30-day trial of the CData JDBC Driver for Databricks and start building Databricks-connected applications with Adobe ColdFusion. Reach out to our Support Team if you have any questions.