Connect to PDFMonkey Data in RapidMiner

This article shows how you can easily integrate the CData JDBC driver for PDFMonkey into your processes in RapidMiner. This article uses the CData JDBC Driver for PDFMonkey to transfer PDFMonkey data to a process in RapidMiner.

Connect to PDFMonkey in RapidMiner as a JDBC Data Source

You can follow the procedure below to establish a JDBC connection to PDFMonkey:

1. Add a new database driver for PDFMonkey: Click Connections -> Manage Database Drivers.
2. In the resulting wizard, click the Add button and enter a name for the connection.
3. Enter the prefix for the JDBC URL:

   jdbc:api:
   

4. Enter the path to the cdata.jdbc.api.jar file, located in the lib subfolder of the installation directory.
5. Enter the driver class:

   cdata.jdbc.api.APIDriver
   

   
6. Create a new PDFMonkey connection: Click Connections -> Manage Database Connections.
7. Enter a name for your connection.
8. For Database System, select the PDFMonkey driver you configured previously.
9. Enter your connection string in the Host box.

   Using API Key Authentication

   PdfMonkey uses API key authentication. To obtain an API key:

   1. Log in to your PdfMonkey account at https://app.pdfmonkey.io
   2. Navigate to your account settings
   3. Open the API Key page
   4. Copy your API key

   After obtaining your API key, set the following connection properties:

   • AuthScheme: Set this to APIKey.
   Set the following in the ProfileSettings connection property:
   • APIKey: Set this to your PdfMonkey API key.

   Example Connection String

   Profile=C:\profiles\PdfMonkey.apip;AuthScheme=APIKey;ProfileSettings="APIKey=your_api_key"
   

   Connecting to PdfMonkey

   Once the authentication is configured, you can connect to PdfMonkey and query data from any of the available tables such as CurrentUser, DocumentCards, Documents, DocumentTemplateCards, and DocumentTemplates.

   Built-in Connection String Designer

   For assistance in constructing the JDBC URL, use the connection string designer built into the PDFMonkey 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 typical connection string is below:

   Profile=C:\profiles\PdfMonkey.apip;AuthScheme=APIKey;ProfileSettings="APIKey=your_api_key"
   

10. Enter your username and password if necessary.

You can now use your PDFMonkey connection with the various RapidMiner operators in your process. To retrieve PDFMonkey data, drag the Retrieve operator from the Operators view. With the Retrieve operator selected, you can then define which table to retrieve in the Parameters view by clicking the folder icon next to the "repository entry." In the resulting Repository Browser, you can expand your connection node to select the desired example set.

Finally, wire the output to the Retrieve process to a result, and run the process to see the PDFMonkey data.