Create a Data Access Object for ScrapingBee Data using JDBI

JDBI is a SQL convenience library for Java that exposes two different style APIs, a fluent style and a SQL object style. The CData JDBC Driver for ScrapingBee integrates connectivity to live ScrapingBee data in Java applications. By pairing these technologies, you gain simple, programmatic access to ScrapingBee data. This article explains how to build a basic Data Access Object (DAO) and the accompanying code to read ScrapingBee data.

Create a DAO for the ScrapingBee GoogleSearchResults Entity

The interface below declares the desired behavior for the SQL object to create a single method for each SQL statement to be implemented.

public interface MyGoogleSearchResultsDAO {
  //request specific data from ScrapingBee (String type is used for simplicity)
  @SqlQuery("SELECT  FROM GoogleSearchResults WHERE SearchQuery = :searchQuery")
  String findBySearchQuery(@Bind("searchQuery") String searchQuery);

  /*
   * close with no args is used to close the connection
   */
  void close();
}

Open a Connection to ScrapingBee

Collect the necessary connection properties and construct the appropriate JDBC URL for connecting to ScrapingBee.

Using API Key Authentication

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

1. Sign in to your ScrapingBee account at https://app.scrapingbee.com
2. Navigate to the Dashboard and locate your API key in the top section.
3. Copy the API key for use in the connection string.

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

• AuthScheme: Set this to APIKey.

• APIKey: Set this to your ScrapingBee API key.

Example Connection String

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

Connecting to ScrapingBee

Once the authentication is configured, you can connect to ScrapingBee and query data from any of the available tables. All tables require at least one input parameter (such as a search query or product ID) to retrieve data.

Built-in Connection String Designer

For assistance in constructing the JDBC URL, use the connection string designer built into the ScrapingBee 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 connection string for ScrapingBee will typically look like the following:

jdbc:api:Profile=C:\profiles\ScrapingBee.apip;AuthScheme=APIKey;ProfileSettings="APIKey=your_api_key";

Use the configured JDBC URL to obtain an instance of the DAO interface. The particular method shown below will open a handle bound to the instance, so the instance needs to be closed explicitly to release the handle and the bound JDBC connection.

DBI dbi = new DBI("jdbc:api:Profile=C:\profiles\ScrapingBee.apip;AuthScheme=APIKey;ProfileSettings="APIKey=your_api_key";");
MyGoogleSearchResultsDAO dao = dbi.open(MyGoogleSearchResultsDAO.class);

//do stuff with the DAO

dao.close();

Read ScrapingBee Data

With the connection open to ScrapingBee, simply call the previously defined method to retrieve data from the GoogleSearchResults entity in ScrapingBee.

//disply the result of our 'find' method
String  = dao.findBySearchQuery("cdata drivers");
System.out.println();

Since the JDBI library is able to work with JDBC connections, you can easily produce a SQL Object API for ScrapingBee by integrating with the CData JDBC Driver for ScrapingBee. Download a free trial and work with live ScrapingBee data in custom Java applications today.