How to Connect DBeaver to Outlook via a JDBC Driver

Jerod Johnson
Jerod Johnson
Director, Technology Evangelism
Manage Outlook data with visual tools in DBeaver like the query browser.

The CData API Driver for JDBC implements JDBC standards that enable third-party tools to interoperate, from wizards in IDEs to business intelligence tools. This article shows how to connect to Outlook data with wizards in DBeaver and browse data in the DBeaver GUI.

Create a JDBC Data Source for Outlook Data

Follow the steps below to load the driver JAR in DBeaver.

  1. Open the DBeaver application and, in the "Database" menu, select the "Driver Manager" option. Click "New" to open the "Create new driver" form.
  2. In the Settings tab:
    • Set Driver Name to a user-friendly name for the driver (e.g. CData API Driver for JDBC).
    • Set Class Name to the class name for the JDBC driver: cdata.jdbc.api.APIDriver.
    • Set URL Template to jdbc:api:.
  3. In the Libraries tab, click "Add File," navigate to the "lib" folder in the installation directory (C:\Program Files\CData[product_name] XXXX\) and select the JAR file (cdata.jdbc.API.jar).

Create a Connection to Outlook Data

Follow the steps below to add credentials and other required connection properties.

  1. In the "Database" menu, click "New Database Connection."
  2. In the "Connect to a database" wizard that results, select the driver you just created (e.g. CData API Driver for JDBC) and click "Next >."
  3. On the Main tab of the configuration wizard, set the JDBC URL, using the required connection properties:

    Using OAuth Authentication

    Microsoft Graph API uses OAuth 2.0 for authentication. You must register an application in the Microsoft Azure Portal to obtain OAuth credentials (Client ID and Client Secret).

    Obtaining OAuth Credentials

    1. Log in to the Azure Portal.
    2. Navigate to Azure Active Directory > App registrations.
    3. Click New registration to create a new application.
    4. Enter an application name and select the appropriate account types.
    5. Set the Redirect URI to your application's callback URL (e.g., http://localhost:33333 for desktop apps).
    6. Click Register to create the application.
    7. On the application overview page, copy the Application (client) ID - this is your OAuthClientId.
    8. Navigate to Certificates & secrets and create a new client secret.
    9. Copy the client secret value - this is your OAuthClientSecret.
    10. Navigate to API permissions and add the required Microsoft Graph API permissions:
      • Mail.Read - For accessing email messages
      • Contacts.Read - For accessing contacts
      • Calendars.Read - For accessing calendar events
      • Tasks.Read - For accessing To Do tasks
      • offline_access - For obtaining refresh tokens
    11. Click Grant admin consent to grant these permissions.

    Connecting with OAuth

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

    • AuthScheme: Set this to OAuth.
    • InitiateOAuth: Set this to GETANDREFRESH. The CData API Profile for Outlook will automatically walk through the OAuth process in order to obtain the access token.
    • OAuthClientId: Set this to the Application (client) ID from Azure Portal.
    • OAuthClientSecret: Set this to the client secret value from Azure Portal.
    • TenantId: Set this to your Azure AD tenant identifier (GUID or domain name like 'contoso.onmicrosoft.com').
    • CallbackURL: Set this to the Redirect URI you specified in your app registration (e.g., http://localhost:33333 for desktop apps).

    Example connection string

    Profile=C:\profiles\Outlook.apip;AuthScheme=OAuth;InitiateOAuth=GETANDREFRESH;OAuthClientId=your_client_id;OAuthClientSecret=your_client_secret;TenantId=your_tenant_id;CallbackUrl=http://localhost:33333;
    

    Built-in Connection String Designer

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

    Below is a typical connection string:

    jdbc:api:Profile=C:\profiles\Outlook.apip;AuthScheme=OAuth;InitiateOAuth=GETANDREFRESH;OAuthClientId=your_client_id;OAuthClientSecret=your_client_secret;TenantId=your_tenant_id;CallbackUrl=http://localhost:33333;
    
  4. Click "Test Connection ..." to ensure you have configured the connection properly.
  5. Click "Finish."

Query Outlook Data

You can now query information from the tables exposed by the connection: Right-click a Table and then click View Table. The data is available on the Data tab.

More Information & Free Trial

Download a free, 30-day trial of the CData API Driver for JDBC and start working with your live Outlook data in DBeaver. Join the CData Community or reach out to our Support Team if you have any questions.

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