Connect to SerpApi Data in RapidMiner

This article shows how you can easily integrate the CData JDBC driver for SerpApi into your processes in RapidMiner. This article uses the CData JDBC Driver for SerpApi to transfer SerpApi data to a process in RapidMiner.

Connect to SerpApi in RapidMiner as a JDBC Data Source

You can follow the procedure below to establish a JDBC connection to SerpApi:

1. Add a new database driver for SerpApi: Click Connections -> Manage Database Drivers.
2. In the resulting wizard, click the Add button and enter a name for the connection.
3. Enter the prefix for the JDBC URL:

   
   jdbc:api:
   

4. Enter the path to the cdata.jdbc.api.jar file, located in the lib subfolder of the installation directory.
5. Enter the driver class:

   
   cdata.jdbc.api.APIDriver
   

   
6. Create a new SerpApi connection: Click Connections -> Manage Database Connections.
7. Enter a name for your connection.
8. For Database System, select the SerpApi driver you configured previously.
9. Enter your connection string in the Host box.

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

   SerpAPI API Profile Settings

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

   1. Sign in to your SerpAPI account at https://serpapi.com
   2. Navigate to the API Key page at https://serpapi.com/manage-api-key
   3. Copy your private API key

   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 SerpAPI private API key.

   Built-in Connection String Designer

   For assistance in constructing the JDBC URL, use the connection string designer built into the SerpApi 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 connection string is below:

   
   Profile=C:\profiles\SerpAPI.apip;AuthScheme=APIKey;ProfileSettings='APIKey=your_api_key_here';
   

10. Enter your username and password if necessary.

You can now use your SerpApi connection with the various RapidMiner operators in your process. To retrieve SerpApi data, drag the Retrieve operator from the Operators view. With the Retrieve operator selected, you can then define which table to retrieve in the Parameters view by clicking the folder icon next to the "repository entry." In the resulting Repository Browser, you can expand your connection node to select the desired example set.

Finally, wire the output to the Retrieve process to a result, and run the process to see the SerpApi data.