Access Scrapfly Data in Mule Applications Using the CData JDBC Driver

The CData API Driver for JDBC connects Scrapfly data to Mule applications enabling read functionality with familiar SQL queries. The JDBC Driver allows users to easily create Mule applications to backup, transform, report, and analyze Scrapfly data.

This article demonstrates how to use the CData API Driver for JDBC inside of a Mule project to create a Web interface for Scrapfly data. The application created allows you to request Scrapfly data using an HTTP request and have the results returned as JSON. The exact same procedure outlined below can be used with any CData JDBC Driver to create a Web interface for the hundreds of available data sources.

1. Create a new Mule Project in Anypoint Studio.
2. Add an HTTP Connector to the Message Flow.
3. Configure the address for the HTTP Connector.
4. Add a Database Select Connector to the same flow, after the HTTP Connector.
5. Create a new Connection (or edit an existing one) and configure the properties.
   • Set Connection to "Generic Connection"
   • Select the CData JDBC Driver JAR file in the Required Libraries section (e.g. cdata.jdbc.api.jar).
   • Set the URL to the connection string for Scrapfly

     The Scrapfly API uses API Key authentication. The API key is passed as the key query parameter on every request.

     Using API Key Authentication

     Your Scrapfly API key is required to create a connection. To obtain your API key:

     1. Log into your Scrapfly account at scrapfly.io.
     2. Navigate to Dashboard and select API Keys.
     3. Copy your API key (begins with scp-live- for production or scp-test- for the test environment).

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

     • AuthScheme: Set this to APIKey.
     • APIKey: Set this to your Scrapfly API key.

     Example connection string:

     Profile=C:\profiles\Scrapfly.apip;AuthScheme=APIKey;ProfileSettings='APIKey=your_api_key';
     

     Built-in Connection String Designer

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

   • Set the Driver class name to cdata.jdbc.api.APIDriver.
   • Click Test Connection.
6. Set the SQL Query Text to a SQL query to request Scrapfly data. For example:

   SELECT ,  FROM Account WHERE  = ''

   
7. Add a Transform Message Component to the flow.
8. Set the Output script to the following to convert the payload to JSON:

   %dw 2.0
   output application/json
   ---
   payload
           

   
9. To view your Scrapfly data, navigate to the address you configured for the HTTP Connector (localhost:8081 by default): http://localhost:8081. The Scrapfly data is available as JSON in your Web browser and any other tools capable of consuming JSON endpoints.

At this point, you have a simple Web interface for working with Scrapfly data (as JSON data) in custom apps and a wide variety of BI, reporting, and ETL tools. Download a free, 30 day trial of the JDBC Driver for Scrapfly and see the CData difference in your Mule Applications today.