Connect to Facebook Data in NetBeans

The CData JDBC Driver for Facebook integrates connectivity to live Facebook data in IDEs that support JDBC. The JDBC standard enables you to use built-in data access wizards and other tools supporting rapid development. This article shows how to connect to Facebook data in NetBeans. You will create a connection and edit and save Facebook data in the Table Editor.

Create a JDBC Data Source for Facebook in NetBeans

To create the JDBC data source, expand the Database node in the Service window, right-click the Drivers node, and select New Driver. In the New Driver wizard that results, enter the following information:

• Driver File(s): Click Add and, in the file explorer dialog that appears, select the cdata.jdbc.facebook.jar file. The driver JAR is located in the lib subfolder of the installation directory.
• Driver Class: Click Find to search for the driver class inside the JAR. Then select cdata.jdbc.facebook.FacebookDriver from the menu.
• Name: Enter the name for the driver.

Define Connection Parameters

Follow the steps below to define required connection properties:

1. In the Service window, right-click the Database node and click New Connection.

2. In the New Connection Wizard, enter the following connection properties:

   • Driver Name: In the menu, select the CData JDBC Driver for Facebook.
   • User Name: Enter the username. This can also be defined in the JDBC URL.
   • Password: Enter the password. This can also be defined in the JDBC URL.

   • JDBC URL: Specify the JDBC URL.

     Most tables require user authentication as well as application authentication. Facebook uses the OAuth authentication standard. To authenticate to Facebook, you can use the embedded OAuthClientId, OAuthClientSecret, and CallbackURL or you can obtain your own by registering an app with Facebook.

     See the Getting Started chapter of the help documentation for a guide to using OAuth.

     Built-in Connection String Designer

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

     java -jar cdata.jdbc.facebook.jar

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

     A typical JDBC URL is the following:

     jdbc:facebook:InitiateOAuth=GETANDREFRESH

Query Facebook Data

To connect to Facebook data, right-click the connection in the Database node and click Connect. After the connection is established, you can expand it to discover schema information.

To load a table in the Data Views window, right-click the table and then click View Data. You can also insert, update, or delete records in the Data Views window.