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Connect any Web, Desktop, or Mobile Java/J2EE application with Facebook data including Events, Groups, Pages, Places, Posts and more!

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Connect to Facebook Data from PowerBuilder


This article demonstrates how to access Facebook data from PowerBuilder using the Facebook JDBC Driver.

The CData JDBC Driver for Facebook is a standards-based control that can be used from any platform or development technology that supports JDBC, including PowerBuilder. This article shows how to use the CData JDBC Driver for Facebook in PowerBuilder.

This article shows how to create a basic PowerBuilder application that uses the CData JDBC Driver for Facebook to perform reads and writes.

Connect to Facebook Data from PowerBuilder

Follow the steps below to use the Database Painter tool to create a database profile based on an JDBC URL for Facebook. You can use a database profile to save connection properties. In the Database Painter, you can graphically manipulate data as well as execute SQL queries.

  1. Add the driver JAR to the PowerBuilder classpath. Set the CLASSPATH system environment variable to the path to the driver JAR, located in the lib subfolder of the installation directory.

    Note: If you are using PowerBuilder Classic, you can also add the path to the driver JAR by clicking Tools -> System Options -> Java.

  2. Click Tools -> Database Painter.
  3. Right-click the JDBC node and click New Profile.
  4. In the Database Profile Setup dialog, enter the following:
    • Profile Name: Enter a user-friendly name for the profile.
    • Driver Name: Enter the class name of the driver, cdata.jdbc.facebook.FacebookDriver
    • URL: Enter 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 below:

      jdbc:facebook:InitiateOAuth=GETANDREFRESH
  5. To view and modify a table, right-click a table and then click Edit Data -> Grid.

Using Facebook Data with PowerBuilder Controls

You can use standard PowerBuilder objects to connect to JDBC data sources and execute queries. The following example shows how to retrieve Facebook data into a DataWindow. You can add the following code to the open method:

SQLCA.DBMS = "JDBC" SQLCA.AutoCommit = False SQLCA.DBParm = "Driver='cdata.jdbc.facebook.FacebookDriver',URL='jdbc:facebook:InitiateOAuth=GETANDREFRESH"; CONNECT USING SQLCA; dw_posts.SetTransObject(SQLCA); dw_posts.Retrieve();