Query REST Data as a MySQL Database in Node.js

You can use the SQL Gateway from the ODBC Driver for REST to query REST data through a MySQL interface. Follow the procedure below to start the MySQL remoting service of the SQL Gateway and start querying using Node.js.

Connect to REST Data

If you have not already done so, provide values for the required connection properties in the data source name (DSN). You can use the built-in Microsoft ODBC Data Source Administrator to configure the DSN. This is also the last step of the driver installation. See the "Getting Started" chapter in the help documentation for a guide to using the Microsoft ODBC Data Source Administrator to create and configure a DSN.

See the Getting Started chapter in the data provider documentation to authenticate to your data source: The data provider models REST APIs as bidirectional database tables and XML/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 Format to "XML" or "JSON" and 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 REST 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 REST 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.

Configure the SQL Gateway

See the SQL Gateway Overview to set up connectivity to REST data as a virtual MySQL database. You will configure a MySQL remoting service that listens for MySQL requests from clients. The service can be configured in the SQL Gateway UI.

Query REST from Node.js

The following example shows how to define a connection and execute queries to REST with the mysql module. You will need the following information:

• Host name or address, and port: The machine and port where the MySQL remoting service is listening for MySQL connections.
• Username and password: The username and password of a user you authorized on the Users tab of the SQL Gateway.
• Database name: The DSN you configured for the MySQL remoting service.

Connect to REST data and start executing queries with the code below:

var mysql      = require('mysql');
var connection = mysql.createConnection({
  host     : 'localhost',
  database : 'CData REST Sys',
  port	   : '3306',
  user     : 'mysql_user',
  password : 'test'
});
connection.connect();
connection.query('SELECT * FROM people', function(err, rows, fields) {
  if (err) throw err;
  console.log(rows);
});

connection.end();