Connect to Elasticsearch Data in Jaspersoft Studio



Execute SQL to remote Elasticsearch data in Jaspersoft Studio.

This article shows how to connect to Elasticsearch from Jaspersoft Studio as a standard JDBC data source with the CData JDBC Driver for Elasticsearch. You will use the standard Jaspersoft wizards to build SQL queries to Elasticsearch. The queries are executed directly to the Elasticsearch APIs, enabling real-time connectivity to Elasticsearch data.

About Elasticsearch Data Integration

Accessing and integrating live data from Elasticsearch has never been easier with CData. Customers rely on CData connectivity to:

  • Access both the SQL endpoints and REST endpoints, optimizing connectivity and offering more options when it comes to reading and writing Elasticsearch data.
  • Connect to virtually every Elasticsearch instance starting with v2.2 and Open Source Elasticsearch subscriptions.
  • Always receive a relevance score for the query results without explicitly requiring the SCORE() function, simplifying access from 3rd party tools and easily seeing how the query results rank in text relevance.
  • Search through multiple indices, relying on Elasticsearch to manage and process the query and results instead of the client machine.

Users frequently integrate Elasticsearch data with analytics tools such as Crystal Reports, Power BI, and Excel, and leverage our tools to enable a single, federated access layer to all of their data sources, including Elasticsearch.

For more information on CData's Elasticsearch solutions, check out our Knowledge Base article: CData Elasticsearch Driver Features & Differentiators.


Getting Started


Connect to Elasticsearch Data as a JDBC Data Source

To create a JDBC data source in Jaspersoft Studio, create a data adapter:

  1. In the Repository Explorer view, right-click the Data Adapters node and click Create Data Adapter.
  2. Select Database JDBC Connection.
  3. Enter a user-friendly name for the driver.
  4. On the Driver Classpath tab, click Add. In the resulting dialog, navigate to the lib subfolder of the installation directory. Select the driver JAR.
  5. On the Database Location tab, enter the class name of the JDBC driver: cdata.jdbc.elasticsearch.ElasticsearchDriver.
  6. Enter the JDBC URL.

    Set the Server and Port connection properties to connect. To authenticate, set the User and Password properties, PKI (public key infrastructure) properties, or both. To use PKI, set the SSLClientCert, SSLClientCertType, SSLClientCertSubject, and SSLClientCertPassword properties.

    The data provider uses X-Pack Security for TLS/SSL and authentication. To connect over TLS/SSL, prefix the Server value with 'https://'. Note: TLS/SSL and client authentication must be enabled on X-Pack to use PKI.

    Once the data provider is connected, X-Pack will then perform user authentication and grant role permissions based on the realms you have configured.

    Built-in Connection String Designer

    For assistance in constructing the JDBC URL, use the connection string designer built into the Elasticsearch JDBC Driver. Either double-click the JAR file or execute the jar file from the command-line.

    java -jar cdata.jdbc.elasticsearch.jar

    Fill in the connection properties and copy the connection string to the clipboard.

    When you configure the JDBC URL, you may also want to set the Max Rows connection property. This will limit the number of rows returned, which is especially helpful for improving performance when designing reports and visualizations.

    Below is a typical JDBC URL for Elasticsearch:

    jdbc:elasticsearch:Server=127.0.0.1;Port=9200;User=admin;Password=123456;

Create Reports with Elasticsearch Data

Follow the steps below to build an SQL query to Elasticsearch, the basis of a simple report:

  1. Click File -> New Jasper Report. Select a template, select the parent project, and specify the report file.
  2. In the Data Adapter menu, select the data adapter you created in the previous section.
  3. In the Diagram tab, drag tables into the box and click the columns you want. Or, enter a custom query on the Texts tab. For example: SELECT Orders.Freight, Customers.ContactName FROM Customers INNER JOIN Orders ON Customers.CustomerId=Orders.CustomerId
  4. Select the fields you want to include in the dataset. This example uses all fields.
  5. Skip the Group By step and finish the wizard.

In the Preview tab, you can see the report as it would look with the current Elasticsearch data.

Create a Chart

The following sections show how to create a chart tied to its own SQL query. When retrieving the data from the remote data source, more restrictive queries, written for specific report objects, can result in faster performance.

Create a DataSet

Follow the steps below to create a new dataset to populate the chart:

  1. In the report editing area, click the Design tab.
  2. In the Outline view, right-click the root node for the report and click Create Dataset.
  3. Enter a name for the dataset and click the option to create a new dataset from a connection or data source.
  4. In the Data Adapter menu, select the data adapter you created in the first section.
  5. Enter a query such as the following:

    SELECT Orders.Freight, Customers.ContactName FROM Customers INNER JOIN Orders ON Customers.CustomerId=Orders.CustomerId
  6. Select the fields you want in the dataset. This example uses OrderName and Freight.
  7. Skip the step to group by fields and finish the wizard.

Configure the Chart

After adding the dataset, follow the steps below to map column values to the chart axes in the chart wizard:

  1. Click the Summary node in the Outline view. In the Properties view, set the height to 400 pixels. The summary band is printed at the end of the report.
  2. Drag a chart from the Palette onto the summary. The chart wizard is displayed.
  3. Select the chart type. This example uses a bar chart.
  4. In the Dataset menu, select the dataset you created for the chart.
  5. In the Dataset tab, select the option to use the same JDBC connection used to fill the master report.
  6. Specify the chart's series: Click the button next to the Series menu and click Add. In the Expression Editor that is displayed, double-click the OrderName column to set the expression to $F{OrderName}.
  7. Specify the y-axis values: In the chart wizard, click the button next to the Value box. In the Expression Editor, double-click Freight to set the expression to $F{Freight}.

  8. Specify the labels for the series elements: In the chart wizard, click the button next to the Label box. In the Expression Editor, double-click the OrderName column to set the expression to $F{OrderName}. If needed, convert the column type to string, as in the following expression: $F{OrderName}.toString()
  9. Expand the chart to fill the summary section: right-click the chart and click Size to Container -> Fit Both.

Running the Report

You can now generate reports on Elasticsearch data just as you would any other JDBC data source. Jaspersoft Studio periodically refreshes the data across report runs.

Ready to get started?

Download a free trial of the Elasticsearch Driver to get started:

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