Build a PostgreSQL Interface for ScrapingBee Data using the CData JDBC Driver

There are a vast number of PostgreSQL clients available on the Internet. From standard Drivers to BI and Analytics tools, PostgreSQL is a popular interface for data access. Using our JDBC Drivers, you can now create PostgreSQL entry-points that you can connect to from any standard client.

To access ScrapingBee data as a PostgreSQL database, use the CData JDBC Driver for ScrapingBee and a JDBC foreign data wrapper (FDW). In this article, we compile the FDW, install it, and query ScrapingBee data from PostgreSQL Server.

Connect to ScrapingBee Data as a JDBC Data Source

To connect to ScrapingBee as a JDBC data source, you will need the following:

• Driver JAR path: The JAR is located in the lib subfolder of the installation directory.

• Driver class:

  cdata.jdbc.api.APIDriver
  

• JDBC URL: The URL must start with "jdbc:api:" and can include any of the connection properties in name-value pairs separated with semicolons.

  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.
  Set the following in the ProfileSettings connection property:
  • 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 typical JDBC URL is below:

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

Build the JDBC Foreign Data Wrapper

The Foreign Data Wrapper can be installed as an extension to PostgreSQL, without recompiling PostgreSQL. The jdbc2_fdw extension is used as an example (downloadable here).

1. Add a symlink from the shared object for your version of the JRE to /usr/lib/libjvm.so. For example:

   ln -s /usr/lib/jvm/java-6-openjdk/jre/lib/amd64/server/libjvm.so /usr/lib/libjvm.so
   

2. Start the build:

   make install USE_PGXS=1
   

Query ScrapingBee Data as a PostgreSQL Database

After you have installed the extension, follow the steps below to start executing queries to ScrapingBee data:

1. Log into your database.
2. Load the extension for the database:

   CREATE EXTENSION jdbc2_fdw;
   

3. Create a server object for ScrapingBee:

   CREATE SERVER API 
   FOREIGN DATA WRAPPER jdbc2_fdw OPTIONS (
   drivername 'cdata.jdbc.api.APIDriver',
   url 'jdbc:api:Profile=C:\profiles\ScrapingBee.apip;AuthScheme=APIKey;ProfileSettings="APIKey=your_api_key";',
   querytimeout '15',
   jarfile '/home/MyUser/CData/CData\ JDBC\ Driver\ for\ Salesforce MyDriverEdition/lib/cdata.jdbc.api.jar'); 
   

4. Create a user mapping for the username and password of a user known to the MySQL daemon.

   CREATE USER MAPPING for postgres SERVER API OPTIONS (
   username 'admin', 
   password 'test');
   

5. Create a foreign table in your local database:

   postgres=# CREATE FOREIGN TABLE googlesearchresults (
   googlesearchresults_id text,
   googlesearchresults_ text,
   googlesearchresults_ numeric) 
   SERVER API OPTIONS (
   table_name 'googlesearchresults');
   

postgres=# SELECT * FROM googlesearchresults;