A PostgreSQL Interface for Google Drive Data

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Google Drive JDBC Driver

An easy-to-use database-like interface for Java based applications and reporting tools access to live Google Drive data (Files, Changes, Apps, and more).



Use the Remoting features of the Google Drive JDBC Driver to create a PostgreSQL entry-point for data access.

There are a vast number of PostgreSQL clients available on the Internet. From standard Drivers to BI and Analytics tools, PostgreSQL is a popular interface for data access. Using our JDBC Drivers, you can now create PostgreSQL entry-points that you can connect to from any standard client.

To access Google Drive data as a PostgreSQL database, use the CData JDBC Driver for Google Drive and a JDBC foreign data wrapper (FDW). In this article, we compile the FDW, install it, and query Google Drive data from PostgreSQL Server.

Connect to Google Drive Data as a JDBC Data Source

To connect to Google Drive as a JDBC data source, you will need the following:

  • Driver JAR path: The JAR is located in the lib subfolder of the installation directory.
  • Driver class: cdata.jdbc.googledrive.GoogleDriveDriver

  • JDBC URL: The URL must start with "jdbc:googledrive:" and can include any of the connection properties in name-value pairs separated with semicolons.

    You can connect to Google APIs on behalf of individual users or on behalf of a domain. Google uses the OAuth authentication standard. See the "Getting Started" section of the help documentation for a guide.

    Built-in Connection String Designer

    For assistance in constructing the JDBC URL, use the connection string designer built into the Google Drive JDBC Driver. Either double-click the JAR file or execute the jar file from the command-line.

    java -jar cdata.jdbc.googledrive.jar

    Fill in the connection properties and copy the connection string to the clipboard.

    A typical JDBC URL is below:

    jdbc:googledrive:InitiateOAuth=GETANDREFRESH

Build the JDBC Foreign Data Wrapper

The Foreign Data Wrapper can be installed as an extension to PostgreSQL, without recompiling PostgreSQL. The jdbc2_fdw extension is used as an example (downloadable here).

  1. Add a symlink from the shared object for your version of the JRE to /usr/lib/libjvm.so. For example: ln -s /usr/lib/jvm/java-6-openjdk/jre/lib/amd64/server/libjvm.so /usr/lib/libjvm.so
  2. Start the build: make install USE_PGXS=1

Query Google Drive Data as a PostgreSQL Database

After you have installed the extension, follow the steps below to start executing queries to Google Drive data:

  1. Log into your database.
  2. Load the extension for the database: CREATE EXTENSION jdbc2_fdw;
  3. Create a server object for Google Drive: CREATE SERVER GoogleDrive FOREIGN DATA WRAPPER jdbc2_fdw OPTIONS ( drivername 'cdata.jdbc.googledrive.GoogleDriveDriver', url 'jdbc:googledrive:InitiateOAuth=GETANDREFRESH', querytimeout '15', jarfile '/home/MyUser/CData/CData\ JDBC\ Driver\ for\ Salesforce MyDriverEdition/lib/cdata.jdbc.googledrive.jar');
  4. Create a user mapping for the username and password of a user known to the MySQL daemon. CREATE USER MAPPING for postgres SERVER GoogleDrive OPTIONS ( username 'admin', password 'test');
  5. Create a foreign table in your local database: postgres=# CREATE FOREIGN TABLE files ( files_id text, files_Name text, files_Size numeric) SERVER GoogleDrive OPTIONS ( table_name 'files');
You can now execute read/write commands to Google Drive: postgres=# SELECT * FROM files;