Import Real-Time RabbitMQ Data via JDBC in ColdFusion to Build Applications

Dibyendu Datta
Lead Technology Evangelist

Use CData JDBC drivers to import and use RabbitMQ data in ColdFusion.

Adobe ColdFusion is a web and mobile application development platform. It uses its own scripting language, ColdFusion Markup Language (CFML), to create data-driven websites as well as generate remote services, such as REST.

When ColdFusion is paired with the CData API Driver for JDBC, you can link your ColdFusion web and mobile applications to operational RabbitMQ data. This allows for your applications to be more robust and complete. This article details how to use the JDBC driver to create a table populated with RabbitMQ data from within a ColdFusion markup file.

With built-in optimized data processing, the CData JDBC Driver offers unmatched performance for interacting with live RabbitMQ data. When you issue complex SQL queries to RabbitMQ, the driver pushes supported SQL operations, like filters and aggregations, directly to RabbitMQ and utilizes the embedded SQL engine to process unsupported operations client-side (often SQL functions and JOIN operations). Its built-in dynamic metadata querying allows you to work with and analyze RabbitMQ data using native data types.

Configuring the Connection to RabbitMQ

You will need a JDBC connection string to establish a connection between Coldfusion and RabbitMQ.

About RabbitMQ Management HTTP API

RabbitMQ is an open-source message broker that supports multiple messaging protocols. The RabbitMQ Management HTTP API provides HTTP-based access to management and monitoring data for a RabbitMQ server. The API exposes information about virtual hosts, exchanges, queues, bindings, connections, channels, consumers, users, permissions, policies, and cluster-wide statistics.

The Management plugin must be enabled on the RabbitMQ server for the HTTP API to be available. By default, the management interface listens on port 15672.

Using Basic Authentication

RabbitMQ Management HTTP API uses HTTP Basic authentication. You must supply the username and password of a RabbitMQ management user.

To enable access to the management API:

Ensure the RabbitMQ Management plugin is enabled on your server (rabbitmq-plugins enable rabbitmq_management).
Use an existing management user or create one with the appropriate management tag (management, policymaker, monitoring, or administrator).
Note the full base URL of your RabbitMQ Management HTTP API (e.g., http://localhost:15672).

After configuring your RabbitMQ server, set the following connection properties to connect:

AuthScheme: Set this to Basic.
URL: Set this to the base URL of your RabbitMQ Management HTTP API (e.g., http://localhost:15672).
User: Set this to your RabbitMQ management username (e.g., guest).
Password: Set this to your RabbitMQ management password.

Example connection string:

Profile=C:\profiles\RabbitMQ.apip;AuthScheme=Basic;URL=http://localhost:15672;User=guest;Password=guest;

Available Tables

The RabbitMQ profile provides access to the following tables:

Overview - Cluster-wide statistics and information about the RabbitMQ node
Nodes - Information about individual nodes in the RabbitMQ cluster
NodeMemory - Detailed memory usage breakdown for a specific cluster node
Connections - List of all open AMQP connections to the broker
Channels - List of all open AMQP channels across all connections
Consumers - List of all consumers registered across all queues
Exchanges - List of exchanges declared across all virtual hosts
Queues - List of queues declared across all virtual hosts
Bindings - List of all bindings between exchanges and queues
VirtualHosts - List of virtual hosts configured on the broker
VhostPermissions - User permissions within a specific virtual host
Users - List of all RabbitMQ users
Permissions - Permission records for all users across all virtual hosts
TopicPermissions - Topic-level permission records for all users
Policies - List of policies applied to queues and exchanges in virtual hosts
OperatorPolicies - List of operator policies applied to queues in virtual hosts
Parameters - List of component parameters (e.g., federation, shovel) per virtual host
GlobalParameters - List of global parameters that apply across all virtual hosts
VhostLimits - Resource limits configured for specific virtual hosts
UserLimits - Resource limits configured for specific users
FeatureFlags - List of feature flags and their enabled/disabled state on the node
DeprecatedFeatures - List of deprecated features and their usage state
AuthAttempts - Authentication attempt statistics for the node
ClusterName - The name of the RabbitMQ cluster
WhoAmI - Information about the currently authenticated management user
ExchangeBindingsSource - Bindings for which a specific exchange is the source
ExchangeBindingsDestination - Bindings for which a specific exchange is the destination
QueueBindings - Bindings for a specific queue within a virtual host

Built-in Connection String Designer

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

java -jar cdata.jdbc.api.jar

Using the built-in connection string designer to generate a JDBC URL (rabbitmq is shown.)

Adding a Data Source and Creating a Table

After configuring the connection, follow the steps below to add the CData JDBC Driver to ColdFusion's lib directory, add a new data source, test the connection, create a ColdFusion markup file, and, finally, make a real-time connection with RabbitMQ data and display it in a table written in the ColdFusion Markup Language, or CFML:

Copy the JDBC Driver for RabbitMQ and lic file from "C:\Program Files\CData[product_name]\lib" to "C:\ColdFusion2021\cfusion\wwwroot\WEB-INF\lib".
```
            cdata.jdbc.api.jar
            cdata.jdbc.api.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.
From the ColdFusion administrator interface, choose Data & Services.
Here, we can "Add New Data Source". The data source name can be any name, provided it conforms to the ColdFusion variable naming conventions. For our JDBC driver, choose "other", then click the "Add" button.
Next, populate the driver properties.
- JDBC URL will need to be in the format: jdbc:api:|connectionString|.
- A typical connection string looks like this:
  
  jdbc:api:Profile=C:\profiles\\RabbitMQ.apip;AuthScheme=Basic;URL=http://localhost:15672;User=guest;Password=guest;
- The Driver Class is: cdata.jdbc.api.APIDriver
- The Driver Name is arbitrary and simply used to recognize the data source in the ColdFusion administration console.
Now, test the connection by clicking the check mark to the left of the CDataRabbitMQJDBC data source you just created. When the data source reports an "OK" status, it is ready for use.

Next, create a new ColdFusion Markup file (.cfm) and place it in the wwwroot directory ("C:\ColdFusion2021\cfusion\wwwroot") for ColdFusion.

The following code queries the data source:

            
        <cfquery name="RabbitMQQuery" dataSource="CDataRabbitMQJDBC"> 
          SELECT * FROM AuthAttempts 
        </cfquery>

And a CFTable can be used to quickly output the table in HTML:

            
          <cftable  
          query = "RabbitMQQuery" 
          border = "1" 
          colHeaders 
          colSpacing = "2" 
          headerLines = "2" 
          HTMLTable 
          maxRows = "500" 
          startRow = "1"> 

          <cfcol header="<b></b>" align="Left" width=2 text=""/> 

          <cfcol header="<b></b>" align="Left" width=15 text=""/> 

          ...

        </cftable>

Full code, including the HTML portion is available below:

            
        <html> 
        <head><title>CData Software | RabbitMQ AuthAttempts Table Demo </title></head> 
        <body> 
        <cfoutput>#ucase("RabbitMQ AuthAttempts Table Demo")#</cfoutput> 
        <cfquery name="RabbitMQQuery" dataSource="CDataRabbitMQJDBC"> 

          SELECT * FROM AuthAttempts 

        </cfquery> 
        <cftable  
          query = "RabbitMQQuery" 
          border = "1" 
          colHeaders 
          colSpacing = "2" 
          headerLines = "2" 
          HTMLTable 
          maxRows = "500" 
          startRow = "1"> 
          <cfcol header="<b></b>" align="Left" width=2 text=""/> 

          <cfcol header="<b></b>" align="Left" width=15 text=""/> 

          ...

        </cftable> 
        </body> 

        </html>

Finally, run the code locally in a browser at the default port of 8500. It produces a table populated with RabbitMQ data!

As a note, the CData JDBC Drivers also support parameterized queries using the cfqueryparam element. For example:

SELECT * FROM Account WHERE name =

Get Started Today

Download a free, 30-day trial of the CData JDBC Driver for RabbitMQ and start building RabbitMQ-connected applications with Adobe ColdFusion. Reach out to our Support Team if you have any questions.

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