Feed Foursquare Data into FineReport

The CData JDBC Driver for Foursquare fully implements the JDBC standard and can provide Foursquare data connectivity to a wide variety of BI, reporting, and ETL tools and custom applications. In this article, we explain how to set Foursquare data as JDBC data source in FineReport and view Foursquare data as a table in the Report Designer.

Set Up a JDBC Data Source of Foursquare Data

Follow the instruction below to set Foursquare data as a FineReport database connection.

1. Copy the cdata.jdbc.api.jar file from the lib folder in the CData JDBC Driver for Foursquare installation directory to the lib folder of the FineReport installation directory. You will need to copy the cdata.jdbc.api.lic file as well.
2. From the Server tab, select Define Data Connection, click to add a new connection, and click JDBC.

Next we will set up the data connection definition in the window.

1. Database: Others
2. JDBC Driver: cdata.jdbc.api.APIDriver
3. URL: A standard JDBC connection string using semicolon-separated connection properties.

   Using API Key Authentication

   Foursquare Places API uses Service Key (Bearer token) authentication. To obtain a Service Key:

   1. Go to the Foursquare Developer Console at https://foursquare.com/developers/
   2. Create a new project or select an existing one
   3. Navigate to the API Keys section
   4. Generate a new Service Key for the Places API

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

   • AuthScheme: Set this to APIKey.
   • ServiceKey: Set this to your Foursquare Service Key obtained from the Developer Console.
   • XPlacesApiVersion: (Optional) Set this to the API version date. Defaults to 2025-06-17.

   Example APIKey connection string

   Profile=C:\profiles\Foursquare.apip;AuthScheme=APIKey;ProfileSettings='APIKey=your_personal_access_token';
   

   Built-in Connection String Designer

   For assistance in constructing the JDBC URL, use the connection string designer built into the Foursquare 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.

   

   When you configure the JDBC URL, you may also want to set the Max Rows connection property. This will limit the number of rows returned, which is especially helpful for improving performance when designing reports and visualizations.

   A typical JDBC URL is below:

       jdbc:api:Profile=C:\profiles\Foursquare.apip;AuthScheme=APIKey;ProfileSettings='APIKey=your_personal_access_token';
     


4. Click Connection pool attributes and set Test before getting connections to No.

Click Test connection to ensure you have configured the connection properly. With the connection to Foursquare set up, you can use it as FineReport data source.

Select Foursquare Data in the Report Designer.

1. Click to add a new template data set and select DB query to open the database query window.

2. Choose the JDBC connection that you created from the dropdown list.
3. The Foursquare entities will appear as tables on the left pane.
4. Write a SELECT statement for the Foursquare data tables and columns that you want to load.

5. Click preview and data is shown as table.

With these simple steps, Foursquare can be used as a JDBC data source in FineReport.