Create a Data Access Object for Foursquare 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 Foursquare integrates connectivity to live Foursquare data in Java applications. By pairing these technologies, you gain simple, programmatic access to Foursquare data. This article explains how to build a basic Data Access Object (DAO) and the accompanying code to read Foursquare data.

Create a DAO for the Foursquare Autocomplete 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 MyAutocompleteDAO {
  //request specific data from Foursquare (String type is used for simplicity)
  @SqlQuery("SELECT  FROM Autocomplete WHERE Query = :query")
  String findByQuery(@Bind("query") String query);

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

Open a Connection to Foursquare

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

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.

A connection string for Foursquare will typically look like the following:

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

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\Foursquare.apip;AuthScheme=APIKey;ProfileSettings='APIKey=your_personal_access_token';");
MyAutocompleteDAO dao = dbi.open(MyAutocompleteDAO.class);

//do stuff with the DAO

dao.close();

Read Foursquare Data

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

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

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