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Connect to live data from Drift with the API Driver

Connect to Drift

How to connect and process Drift Data from Azure Databricks



Use CData, Azure, and Databricks to perform data engineering and data science on live Drift Data

Databricks is a cloud-based service that provides data processing capabilities through Apache Spark. When paired with the CData JDBC Driver, customers can use Databricks to perform data engineering and data science on live Drift data. This article walks through hosting the CData JDBC Driver in Azure, as well as connecting to and processing live Drift data in Databricks.

With built-in optimized data processing, the CData JDBC Driver offers unmatched performance for interacting with live Drift data. When you issue complex SQL queries to Drift, the driver pushes supported SQL operations, like filters and aggregations, directly to Drift 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 Drift data using native data types.

Install the CData JDBC Driver in Azure

To work with live Drift data in Databricks, install the driver on your Azure cluster.

  1. Navigate to your Databricks administration screen and select the target cluster.
  2. On the Libraries tab, click "Install New."
  3. Select "Upload" as the Library Source and "Jar" as the Library Type.
  4. Upload the JDBC JAR file (cdata.jdbc.api.jar) from the installation location (typically C:\Program Files\CData[product_name]\lib).

Connect to Drift from Databricks

With the JAR file installed, we are ready to work with live Drift data in Databricks. Start by creating a new notebook in your workspace. Name the notebook, select Python as the language (though Scala is available as well), and choose the cluster where you installed the JDBC driver. When the notebook launches, we can configure the connection, query Drift, and create a basic report.

Configure the Connection to Drift

Connect to Drift by referencing the class for the JDBC Driver and constructing a connection string to use in the JDBC URL. Additionally, you will need to set the RTK property in the JDBC URL (unless you are using a Beta driver). You can view the licensing file included in the installation for information on how to set this property.

driver = "cdata.jdbc.api.APIDriver"
url = "jdbc:api:RTK=5246...;Profile=C:\profiles\Drift.apip;Authscheme=OAuth;OAuthClientId=your_client_id;OAuthClientSecret=your_client_secret;CallbackUrl=your_callback_url;InitiateOAuth=GETANDREFRESH"

Built-in Connection String Designer

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

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

Drift API Profile Settings

Drift uses OAuth-based authentication.

You must first register an application here: https://dev.drift.com. Your app will be assigned a client ID and a client secret. Set these in your connection string via the OAuthClientId and OAuthClientSecret properties. More information on setting up an OAuth application can be found at https://devdocs.drift.com/docs/.

After setting the following options in the ProfileSettings connection property, you are ready to connect:

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

Load Drift Data

Once the connection is configured, you can load Drift data as a dataframe using the CData JDBC Driver and the connection information.

remote_table = spark.read.format ( "jdbc" ) \
	.option ( "driver" , driver) \
	.option ( "url" , url) \
	.option ( "dbtable" , "Contacts") \
	.load ()

Display Drift Data

Check the loaded Drift data by calling the display function.

display (remote_table.select ("Id"))

Analyze Drift Data in Azure Databricks

If you want to process data with Databricks SparkSQL, register the loaded data as a Temp View.

remote_table.createOrReplaceTempView ( "SAMPLE_VIEW" )

The SparkSQL below retrieves the Drift data for analysis.

% sql

SELECT Id, DisplayName FROM Contacts WHERE LastName = 'Stark'

The data from Drift is only available in the target notebook. If you want to use it with other users, save it as a table.

remote_table.write.format ( "parquet" ) .saveAsTable ( "SAMPLE_TABLE" )

Download a free, 30-day trial of the CData API Driver for JDBC and start working with your live Drift data in Azure Databricks. Reach out to our Support Team if you have any questions.