Create a Data Access Object for Factorial Data using JDBI

JDBI is a SQL convenience library for Java that exposes two different style APIs, a fluent style and a SQL object style. The CData JDBC Driver for Factorial integrates connectivity to live Factorial data in Java applications. By pairing these technologies, you gain simple, programmatic access to Factorial data. This article explains how to build a basic Data Access Object (DAO) and the accompanying code to read Factorial data.

Create a DAO for the Factorial Agreements Entity

The interface below declares the desired behavior for the SQL object to create a single method for each SQL statement to be implemented.

public interface MyAgreementsDAO {
  //request specific data from Factorial (String type is used for simplicity)
  @SqlQuery("SELECT  FROM Agreements WHERE ProcessId = :processId")
  String findByProcessId(@Bind("processId") String processId);

  /*
   * close with no args is used to close the connection
   */
  void close();
}

Open a Connection to Factorial

Collect the necessary connection properties and construct the appropriate JDBC URL for connecting to Factorial.

Authentication

Factorial uses OAuth 2.0 for authentication to connect to your HR data or to allow other users to connect to their data.

Using OAuth Authentication

To connect using OAuth, follow these steps:

1. Navigate to your Factorial admin panel and create a new OAuth application.
2. Copy the Client ID and Client Secret from your application configuration.
3. Configure the following connection properties:

After setting the following connection properties, you are ready to connect:

• AuthScheme: Set this to OAuth.
• OAuthClientId: Set this to your OAuth Client ID.
• OAuthClientSecret: Set this to your OAuth Client Secret.
• Scope: Set this to specify the data access permissions (default: "read write").

Built-in Connection String Designer

For assistance in constructing the JDBC URL, use the connection string designer built into the Factorial 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 connection string for Factorial will typically look like the following:

jdbc:api:Profile=C:\profiles\Factorial.apip;AuthScheme=OAuth;OAuthClientId=your_client_id;OAuthClientSecret=your_client_secret;CallbackUrl=your_callback_url;

Use the configured JDBC URL to obtain an instance of the DAO interface. The particular method shown below will open a handle bound to the instance, so the instance needs to be closed explicitly to release the handle and the bound JDBC connection.

DBI dbi = new DBI("jdbc:api:Profile=C:\profiles\Factorial.apip;AuthScheme=OAuth;OAuthClientId=your_client_id;OAuthClientSecret=your_client_secret;CallbackUrl=your_callback_url;");
MyAgreementsDAO dao = dbi.open(MyAgreementsDAO.class);

//do stuff with the DAO

dao.close();

Read Factorial Data

With the connection open to Factorial, simply call the previously defined method to retrieve data from the Agreements entity in Factorial.

//disply the result of our 'find' method
String  = dao.findByProcessId("123");
System.out.println();

Since the JDBI library is able to work with JDBC connections, you can easily produce a SQL Object API for Factorial by integrating with the CData JDBC Driver for Factorial. Download a free trial and work with live Factorial data in custom Java applications today.