Integrate Respond.io Data in Pentaho Data Integration

Jerod Johnson
Jerod Johnson
Director, Technology Evangelism
Build ETL pipelines based on Respond.io data in the Pentaho Data Integration tool.

The CData API Driver for JDBC enables access to live data from data pipelines. Pentaho Data Integration is an Extraction, Transformation, and Loading (ETL) engine that data, cleanses the data, and stores data using a uniform format that is accessible.This article shows how to connect to Respond.io data as a JDBC data source and build jobs and transformations based on Respond.io data in Pentaho Data Integration.

Configure to Respond.io Connectivity

Start by setting the Profile connection property to the location of the Respondio Profile on disk (e.g. C:\profiles\Respondio.apip). Next, set the ProfileSettings connection property to the connection string for Respondio (see below).

Respondio API Profile Settings

Respond.io uses API key authentication. To obtain an API key:

  1. Log in to your Respond.io account.
  2. Navigate to Settings in your workspace.
  3. Select Developer under the Integrations section.
  4. Copy the API key displayed on the page.

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 Respond.io API key.

Built-in Connection String Designer

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

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

When you configure the JDBC URL, you may also want to set the Max Rows connection property. This will limit the number of rows returned, which is especially helpful for improving performance when designing reports and visualizations.

Below is a typical JDBC URL:

jdbc:api:Profile=C:\profiles\Respondio.apip;AuthScheme=APIKey;ProfileSettings='APIKey=your_api_key';

Save your connection string for use in Pentaho Data Integration.

Connect to Respond.io from Pentaho DI

Open Pentaho Data Integration and select "Database Connection" to configure a connection to the CData API Driver for JDBC

  1. Click "General"
  2. Set Connection name (e.g. Respond.io Connection)
  3. Set Connection type to "Generic database"
  4. Set Access to "Native (JDBC)"
  5. Set Custom connection URL to your Respond.io connection string (e.g.
    jdbc:api:Profile=C:\profiles\Respondio.apip;AuthScheme=APIKey;ProfileSettings='APIKey=your_api_key';
  6. Set Custom driver class name to "cdata.jdbc.api.APIDriver" Configuring the JDBC Driver connection.
  7. Test the connection and click "OK" to save. Saving the connection.

Create a Data Pipeline for Respond.io

Once the connection to Respond.io is configured using the CData JDBC Driver, you are ready to create a new transformation or job.

  1. Click "File" >> "New" >> "Transformation/job"
  2. Drag a "Table input" object into the workflow panel and select your Respond.io connection. Configuring the Table input object
  3. Click "Get SQL select statement" and use the Database Explorer to view the available tables and views. Selecting data (QuickBooks Online is shown).
  4. Select a table and optionally preview the data for verification. Previewing the data (QuickBooks Online is shown).

At this point, you can continue your transformation or jb by selecting a suitable destination and adding any transformations to modify, filter, or otherwise alter the data during replication.

A completed transformation/job.

Free Trial & More Information

Download a free, 30-day trial of the CData API Driver for JDBC and start working with your live Respond.io data in Pentaho Data Integration today.

Ready to get started?

Connect to live data from Respond.io with the API Driver

Connect to Respond.io