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Connect to live data from Drift with the API Driver

Connect to Drift

Connect to Drift Data in CloverDX (formerly CloverETL)



Transfer Drift data using the visual workflow in the CloverDX data integration tool.

The CData JDBC Driver for Drift enables you to use the data transformation components in CloverDX (formerly CloverETL) to work with Drift as sources. In this article, you will use the JDBC Driver for Drift to set up a simple transfer into a flat file. The CData JDBC Driver for Drift enables you to use the data transformation components in CloverDX (formerly CloverETL) to work with Drift as sources. In this article, you will use the JDBC Driver for Drift to set up a simple transfer into a flat file.

Connect to Drift as a JDBC Data Source

  1. Create the connection to Drift data. In a new CloverDX graph, right-click the Connections node in the Outline pane and click Connections -> Create Connection. The Database Connection wizard is displayed.
  2. Click the plus icon to load a driver from a JAR. Browse to the lib subfolder of the installation directory and select the cdata.jdbc.api.jar file.
  3. Enter the JDBC URL.

    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.

    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.

    A typical JDBC URL is below:

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

Query Drift Data with the DBInputTable Component

  1. Drag a DBInputTable from the Readers selection of the Palette onto the job flow and double-click it to open the configuration editor.
  2. In the DB connection property, select the Drift JDBC data source from the drop-down menu.
  3. Enter the SQL query. For example: SELECT Id, DisplayName FROM Contacts WHERE LastName = 'Stark'

Write the Output of the Query to a UniversalDataWriter

  1. Drag a UniversalDataWriter from the Writers selection onto the jobflow.
  2. Double-click the UniversalDataWriter to open the configuration editor and add a file URL.
  3. Right-click the DBInputTable and then click Extract Metadata.
  4. Connect the output port of the DBInputTable to the UniversalDataWriter.
  5. In the resulting Select Metadata menu for the UniversalDataWriter, choose the Contacts table. (You can also open this menu by right-clicking the input port for the UniversalDataWriter.)
  6. Click Run to write to the file.