Access Factorial Data in Mule Applications Using the CData JDBC Driver

The CData API Driver for JDBC connects Factorial data to Mule applications enabling read functionality with familiar SQL queries. The JDBC Driver allows users to easily create Mule applications to backup, transform, report, and analyze Factorial data.

This article demonstrates how to use the CData API Driver for JDBC inside of a Mule project to create a Web interface for Factorial data. The application created allows you to request Factorial data using an HTTP request and have the results returned as JSON. The exact same procedure outlined below can be used with any CData JDBC Driver to create a Web interface for the hundreds of available data sources.

1. Create a new Mule Project in Anypoint Studio.
2. Add an HTTP Connector to the Message Flow.
3. Configure the address for the HTTP Connector.
4. Add a Database Select Connector to the same flow, after the HTTP Connector.
5. Create a new Connection (or edit an existing one) and configure the properties.
   • Set Connection to "Generic Connection"
   • Select the CData JDBC Driver JAR file in the Required Libraries section (e.g. cdata.jdbc.api.jar).
   • Set the URL to the connection string for 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.

   • Set the Driver class name to cdata.jdbc.api.APIDriver.
   • Click Test Connection.
6. Set the SQL Query Text to a SQL query to request Factorial data. For example:

   SELECT ,  FROM Agreements WHERE ProcessId = '123'

   
7. Add a Transform Message Component to the flow.
8. Set the Output script to the following to convert the payload to JSON:

   %dw 2.0
   output application/json
   ---
   payload
           

   
9. To view your Factorial data, navigate to the address you configured for the HTTP Connector (localhost:8081 by default): http://localhost:8081. The Factorial data is available as JSON in your Web browser and any other tools capable of consuming JSON endpoints.

At this point, you have a simple Web interface for working with Factorial data (as JSON data) in custom apps and a wide variety of BI, reporting, and ETL tools. Download a free, 30 day trial of the JDBC Driver for Factorial and see the CData difference in your Mule Applications today.