Import Real-Time Oracle Eloqua Reporting Data via JDBC in ColdFusion to Build Applications

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 Oracle Eloqua Reporting, you can link your ColdFusion web and mobile applications to operational Oracle Eloqua Reporting 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 Oracle Eloqua Reporting data from within a ColdFusion markup file.

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

Configuring the Connection to Oracle Eloqua Reporting

You will need a JDBC connection string to establish a connection between Coldfusion and Oracle Eloqua Reporting.

Oracle Eloqua Reporting supports the following authentication methods:

• Basic authentication (User and Password)
• OAuth 2.0 code grant flow
• OAuth 2.0 password grant flow

Basic Authentication (User and Password)

To perform authentication with a user and password, specify these properties:

• AuthScheme: Basic.
• Company: The company name associated with your Oracle Eloqua Reporting account.
• User: Your login account name.
• Password: Your login password.

OAuth Authentication (Code Grant Flow)

To authenticate with the OAuth code grant flow, you must set AuthScheme to OAuth and create a custom OAuth application. For information about how to create a custom OAuth application, see the Help documentation.

Then set the following properties:

• InitiateOAuth: GETANDREFRESH. Used to automatically get and refresh the OAuthAccessToken.
• OAuthClientId: The client Id assigned when you registered your application.
• OAuthClientSecret: The client secret that was assigned when you registered your application.
• CallbackURL: The redirect URI that was defined when you registered your application.

When you connect, the driver opens Oracle Eloqua Reporting's OAuth endpoint in your default browser. Log in and grant permissions to the application. When the access token expires, the driver refreshes it automatically.

OAuth Authentication (Password Grant Flow)

With the OAuth password grant flow, you can use your OAuth application's credentials alongside your user credentials to authenticate without the need to grant permission manually via a browser prompt. You must create an OAuth app (see the Help documentation) to use this authentication method.

Set the following properties:

• AuthScheme: OAuthPassword
• Company: The company's unique identifier.
• User: Your login account name.
• Password: Your login password.
• OAuthClientId: The client Id assigned when you registered your custom OAuth application.
• OAuthClientSecret: The client secret assigned when you registered your custom OAuth application.

Built-in Connection String Designer

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

java -jar cdata.jdbc.oracleeloquareporting.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 Oracle Eloqua Reporting data and display it in a table written in the ColdFusion Markup Language, or CFML:

1. Copy the JDBC Driver for Oracle Eloqua Reporting and lic file from "C:\Program Files\CData[product_name]\lib" to "C:\ColdFusion2021\cfusion\wwwroot\WEB-INF\lib".

               cdata.jdbc.oracleeloquareporting.jar
               cdata.jdbc.oracleeloquareporting.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.

2. From the ColdFusion administrator interface, choose Data & Services.
3. 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.
4. Next, populate the driver properties.
   • JDBC URL will need to be in the format: jdbc:oracleeloquareporting:|connectionString|.
   • A typical connection string looks like this:

     jdbc:oracleeloquareporting:AuthScheme=Basic;User=user;Password=password;Company=MyCompany;

   • The Driver Class is: cdata.jdbc.oracleeloquareporting.OracleEloquaReportingDriver
   • The Driver Name is arbitrary and simply used to recognize the data source in the ColdFusion administration console.
   
5. Now, test the connection by clicking the check mark to the left of the CDataOracle Eloqua ReportingJDBC data source you just created. When the data source reports an "OK" status, it is ready for use.
6. 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="Oracle Eloqua ReportingQuery" dataSource="CDataOracle Eloqua ReportingJDBC"> 
             SELECT * FROM  
           </cfquery> 
       

   And a CFTable can be used to quickly output the table in HTML:

               
             <cftable  
             query = "Oracle Eloqua ReportingQuery" 
             border = "1" 
             colHeaders 
             colSpacing = "2" 
             headerLines = "2" 
             HTMLTable 
             maxRows = "500" 
             startRow = "1"> 
   
             <cfcol header="<b></b>" align="Left" width=2 text=""/> 
   
             <cfcol header="<b></b>" align="Left" width=15 text=""/> 
   
             ...
   
           </cftable> 
       

   Full code, including the HTML portion is available below:

               
           <html> 
           <head><title>CData Software | Oracle Eloqua Reporting  Table Demo </title></head> 
           <body> 
           <cfoutput>#ucase("Oracle Eloqua Reporting  Table Demo")#</cfoutput> 
           <cfquery name="Oracle Eloqua ReportingQuery" dataSource="CDataOracle Eloqua ReportingJDBC"> 
   
             SELECT * FROM  
   
           </cfquery> 
           <cftable  
             query = "Oracle Eloqua ReportingQuery" 
             border = "1" 
             colHeaders 
             colSpacing = "2" 
             headerLines = "2" 
             HTMLTable 
             maxRows = "500" 
             startRow = "1"> 
             <cfcol header="<b></b>" align="Left" width=2 text=""/> 
   
             <cfcol header="<b></b>" align="Left" width=15 text=""/> 
   
             ...
   
           </cftable> 
           </body> 
   
           </html>  
       

7. Finally, run the code locally in a browser at the default port of 8500. It produces a table populated with Oracle Eloqua Reporting 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 Oracle Eloqua Reporting and start building Oracle Eloqua Reporting-connected applications with Adobe ColdFusion. Reach out to our Support Team if you have any questions.