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Get the Report →How to Work with JSON Services in ETL Validator JDBC
Connect to JSON from ETL Validator jobs using the CData JDBC Driver.
ETL Validator provides data movement and transformation capabilities for integrating data platforms across your organization. CData's JDBC driver seamlessly integrates with ETL Validator and extends its native connectivity to include JSON services.
This tutorial walks through the process of building a simple ETL validator data flow to extract data from JSON services and load it into an example data storage solution: SQL Server.
Add a new ETL Validator data source via CData
CData extends ETL Validator's data connectivity capabilities by providing the ability to add data sources that connect via CData's JDBC drivers. Connecting to JSON services simply requires creating a new data source in ETL Validator through CData's connectiviy suite as described below.
Login to ETL Validator
Begin by logging into ETL Validator to view the application dashboard.
Click on Add a DataSource
CData extends the data source options within ETL Validator.
Click on CData
CData's connectivity is embedded within ETL Validator's data source options.
Configure the CData Driver Connection String
You will need a JDBC connection string to establish a connection to JSON in ETL Validator.
See the Getting Started chapter in the data provider documentation to authenticate to your data source: The data provider models JSON APIs as bidirectional database tables and JSON files as read-only views (local files, files stored on popular cloud services, and FTP servers). The major authentication schemes are supported, including HTTP Basic, Digest, NTLM, OAuth, and FTP. See the Getting Started chapter in the data provider documentation for authentication guides.
After setting the URI and providing any authentication values, set DataModel to more closely match the data representation to the structure of your data.
The DataModel property is the controlling property over how your data is represented into tables and toggles the following basic configurations.
- Document (default): Model a top-level, document view of your JSON data. The data provider returns nested elements as aggregates of data.
- FlattenedDocuments: Implicitly join nested documents and their parents into a single table.
- Relational: Return individual, related tables from hierarchical data. The tables contain a primary key and a foreign key that links to the parent document.
See the Modeling JSON Data chapter for more information on configuring the relational representation. You will also find the sample data used in the following examples. The data includes entries for people, the cars they own, and various maintenance services performed on those cars.
Built-in Connection String Designer
For assistance in constructing the JDBC URL, use the connection string designer built into the JSON JDBC Driver. Either double-click the JAR file or execute the jar file from the command-line.
java -jar cdata.jdbc.json.jar
A typical connection string looks like this:
jdbc:json:URI=C:/people.json;DataModel=Relational;
Licensing the Driver
To ensure the JDBC driver is licensed appropriately, copy the license file to the appropriate location:
Copy the JDBC Driver for JSON and lic file from "C:\Program Files\CData[product_name]\lib" to
"C:\Datagaps\ETLValidator\Server\apache-tomcat\bin".
cdata.jdbc.json.jar
cdata.jdbc.json.lic
Note: If you do not copy the .lic file with the jar, you will see a licensing error that indicates you do not have a valid license installed. This is true for both the trial and full versions.
Save the connection
Should you encounter any difficulties loading the CData JDBC driver class, please contact DataGap's team, and they will provide you instructions on how to load the jar file for the relevant driver.
Add SQL Server as a Target
This example will use SQL Server as a destination for JSON services data, but any preferred destination can be used instead.
Go to DataSources and select MS_SQL_SERVER
This option is the default.
Fill in the necessary connection details and test the connection
The details will depend on the specific target, but these details may include a URL, authentiation credentials, etc.
Create a Dataflow in ETL Validator
Open the Dataflows tab
Configured data flows will appear in this window.
Select Create Dataflow
Name your new dataflow and save it.
Open the Dataflow to view the Dataflow Diagram
The details of the data movement will be configured in this panel.
Drag & drop the JDBC as a source from the right side
Give the new source an appropriate name and save it.
Fill in the Query section of the new source
Select the Table from the Schema option that reflects which data should be pulled from JSON services.
View the expected results of your query
The anticipated outcome of the configured query is displayed in the Result tab.
Add the destination to the Dataflow
Select Switch to Diagram, then drag & drop the DB Sink as a target from the right side (under Sink options). Give the sink an appropriate name and save it.
Set the appropriate Schema for the destination
Choose the Schema and table that matches the structure of the source table. For this example, the table on the target side was created to match the Source so that data flow seamlessly. More advanced schema transformation operations are beyond the scope of this article.
Hit the RUN option to begin replication
Running the job will take some time.
View the finished Dataflow
Return to the diagram to see the finished data replication job from JSON services to SQL Server.
Get Started Today
Download a free, 30-day trial of the CData JDBC Driver for JSON and start building JSON-connected applications with ETL Validator. Reach out to our Support Team if you have any questions.