Integrate with ServiceNow Data in JReport Designer



Create charts and reports based on ServiceNow data in JReport Designer.

The CData JDBC Driver for ServiceNow data enables access to live data from dashboards and reports as if ServiceNow were a relational database, allowing you to query ServiceNow data using familiar SQL queries. This article shows how to connect to ServiceNow data as a JDBC data source and create reports based on ServiceNow data in JReport Designer.

About ServiceNow Data Integration

CData simplifies access and integration of live ServiceNow data. Our customers leverage CData connectivity to:

  • Get optimized performance since CData uses the REST API for data and the SOAP API for schema.
  • Read, write, update, and delete ServiceNow objects like Schedules, Timelines, Questions, Syslogs and more.
  • Use SQL stored procedures for actions like adding items to a cart, submitting orders, and downloading attachments.
  • Securely authenticate with ServiceNow, including basic (username and password), OKTA, ADFS, OneLogin, and PingFederate authentication schemes.

Many users access live ServiceNow data from preferred analytics tools like Tableau, Power BI, and Excel, and use CData solutions to integrate ServiceNow data with their database or data warehouse.


Getting Started


Connect to ServiceNow Data

  1. Edit C:\JReport\Designer\bin\setenv.bat to add the location of the JAR file to the ADDCLASSPATH variable:
    ...
    set ADDCLASSPATH=%JAVAHOME%\lib\tools.jar;C:\Program Files\CData\CData JDBC Driver for ServiceNow 2016\lib\cdata.jdbc.servicenow.jar;
    ...
    
  2. Create a new data source by clicking File New Data Source.
  3. In the resulting dialog, create a name for the data source (CData JDBC Driver for ServiceNow), select JDBC, and click OK.
  4. In the Get JDBC Connection Information dialog you will configure your connection to the JDBC driver:
    • Driver: Be sure that the Driver box is checked and fill in the name of the class for the driver: cdata.jdbc.servicenow.ServiceNowDriver
    • URL: Enter the JDBC URL. This starts with jdbc:servicenow: and is followed by a semicolon-separated list of connection properties.

      ServiceNow uses the OAuth 2.0 authentication standard. To authenticate using OAuth, you will need to register an OAuth app with ServiceNow to obtain the OAuthClientId and OAuthClientSecret connection properties. In addition to the OAuth values, you will need to specify the Instance, Username, and Password connection properties.

      See the "Getting Started" chapter in the help documentation for a guide on connecting to ServiceNow.

      Built-in Connection String Designer

      For assistance in constructing the JDBC URL, use the connection string designer built into the ServiceNow JDBC Driver. Either double-click the JAR file or execute the jar file from the command-line.

      java -jar cdata.jdbc.servicenow.jar

      Fill in the connection properties and copy the connection string to the clipboard.

      When you configure the JDBC URL, you may also want to set the Max Rows connection property. This will limit the number of rows returned, which is especially helpful for improving performance when designing reports and visualizations.

      Below is a typical JDBC URL:

      jdbc:servicenow:OAuthClientId=MyOAuthClientId;OAuthClientSecret=MyOAuthClientSecret;Username=MyUsername;Password=MyPassword;URL=https://myinstance12345.service-now-com;InitiateOAuth=GETANDREFRESH
    • User: The username to authenticate with; typically left blank.
    • Password: The password to authenticate with; typically left blank.
  5. In the Add Table dialog, select the tables you wish to include in your report (or in future reports using this data source) and click Add.

    Click Done once the dialog has completed loading the tables.

  6. In the Catalog Browser, you can create the queries that you will use to populate your reports. You can do this now, or after you create your report. In either case, expand () the data source (CData JDBC Driver for ServiceNow), right-click on Queries, and select Add Query.
  7. In the Add Table/View/Query dialog, expand () the JDBC URL and Tables and select the table(s) you wish to use in the query and click OK.
  8. In the Query Editor dialog, you can select the columns you wish to include or simply click the SQL button and manually input your own query. For example:
    SELECT sys_id, priority FROM incident
    

    With the query built, click OK to close the Query Editor dialog. At this point you are ready to add ServiceNow data to a new or existing report.

    NOTE: Now that the query is built, you can create a Business View based on the query. With a Business View, you can create Web reports or library components based on the query. For more information on this, refer to the JReport tutorials.

Add ServiceNow Data to a Report

You are now ready to create a report with ServiceNow data.

  1. Create a new report (File New Page Report) or open the Chart Wizard for an existing report.
  2. Select the Query (or create a new one; see above).
  3. Assign a Category and Value for the chart from the columns in your Query and click Finish.
  4. Click the View tab for your report to see the chart.

Ready to get started?

Download a free trial of the ServiceNow Driver to get started:

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