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Get the Report →Object-Relational Mapping (ORM) with Smartsheet Data Entities in Java
Object-relational mapping (ORM) techniques make it easier to work with relational data sources and can bridge your logical business model with your physical storage model. Follow this tutorial to integrate connectivity to Smartsheet data into a Java-based ORM framework, Hibernate.
You can use Hibernate to map object-oriented domain models to a traditional relational database. The tutorial below shows how to use the CData JDBC Driver for Smartsheet to generate an ORM of your Smartsheet repository with Hibernate.
Though Eclipse is the IDE of choice for this article, the CData JDBC Driver for Smartsheet works in any product that supports the Java Runtime Environment. In the Knowledge Base you will find tutorials to connect to Smartsheet data from IntelliJ IDEA and NetBeans.
About Smartsheet Data Integration
CData provides the easiest way to access and integrate live data from Smartsheet. Customers use CData connectivity to:
- Read and write attachments, columns, comments and discussions.
- View the data in individuals cells, report on cell history, and more.
- Perform Smartsheet-specific actions like deleting or downloading attachments, creating, copying, deleting, or moving sheets, and moving or copying rows to another sheet.
Users frequently integrate Smartsheet with analytics tools such as Tableau, Crystal Reports, and Excel. Others leverage our tools to replicate Smartsheet data to databases or data warehouses.
Getting Started
Install Hibernate
Follow the steps below to install the Hibernate plug-in in Eclipse.
- In Eclipse, navigate to Help -> Install New Software.
- Enter "http://download.jboss.org/jbosstools/neon/stable/updates/" in the Work With box.
- Enter "Hibernate" into the filter box.
- Select Hibernate Tools.

Start A New Project
Follow the steps below to add the driver JARs in a new project.
- Create a new project. Select Java Project as your project type and click Next. Enter a project name and click Finish.
- Right-click the project and click Properties. Click Java Build Path and then open the Libraries tab.
- Click Add External JARs to add the cdata.jdbc.smartsheet.jar library, located in the lib subfolder of the installation directory.
Add a Hibernate Configuration File
Follow the steps below to configure connection properties to Smartsheet data.
- Right-click on the new project and select New -> Hibernate -> Hibernate Configuration File (cfg.xml).
- Select src as the parent folder and click Next.
Input the following values:
- Hibernate version:: 5.2
- Database dialect: Derby
- Driver class: cdata.jdbc.smartsheet.SmartsheetDriver
Connection URL: A JDBC URL, starting with jdbc:smartsheet: and followed by a semicolon-separated list of connection properties.
Smartsheet uses the OAuth authentication standard. To authenticate using OAuth, you will need to register an app to obtain the OAuthClientId, OAuthClientSecret, and CallbackURL connection properties.
However, for testing purposes you can instead use the Personal Access Token you get when you create an application; set this to the OAuthAccessToken connection property.
Built-in Connection String Designer
For assistance in constructing the JDBC URL, use the connection string designer built into the Smartsheet JDBC Driver. Either double-click the JAR file or execute the jar file from the command-line.
java -jar cdata.jdbc.smartsheet.jar
Fill in the connection properties and copy the connection string to the clipboard.
A typical JDBC URL is below:
jdbc:smartsheet:OAuthClientId=MyOauthClientId;OAuthClientSecret=MyOAuthClientSecret;CallbackURL=http://localhost:33333;InitiateOAuth=GETANDREFRESH
Connect Hibernate to Smartsheet Data
Follow the steps below to select the configuration you created in the previous step.
- Switch to the Hibernate Configurations perspective: Window -> Open Perspective -> Hibernate.
- Right-click on the Hibernate Configurations panel and click Add Configuration.
- Set the Hibernate version to 5.2.
- Click the Browse button and select the project.
- For the Configuration file field, click Setup -> Use Existing and select the location of the hibernate.cfg.xml file (inside src folder in this demo).
- In the Classpath tab, if there is nothing under User Entries, click Add External JARS and add the driver jar once more. Click OK once the configuration is done.
- Expand the Database node of the newly created Hibernate configurations file.

Reverse Engineer Smartsheet Data
Follow the steps below to generate the reveng.xml configuration file. You will specify the tables you want to access as objects.
- Switch back to the Package Explorer.
- Right-click your project, select New -> Hibernate -> Hibernate Reverse Engineering File (reveng.xml). Click Next.
- Select src as the parent folder and click Next.
- In the Console configuration drop-down menu, select the Hibernate configuration file you created above and click Refresh.
- Expand the node and choose the tables you want to reverse engineer. Click Finish when you are done.

Configure Hibernate to Run
Follow the steps below to generate plain old Java objects (POJO) for the Smartsheet tables.
- From the menu bar, click Run -> Hibernate Code Generation -> Hibernate Code Generation Configurations.
- In the Console configuration drop-down menu, select the Hibernate configuration file you created in the previous section. Click Browse by Output directory and select src.
- Enable the Reverse Engineer from JDBC Connection checkbox. Click the Setup button, click Use Existing, and select the location of the hibernate.reveng.xml file (inside src folder in this demo).
- In the Exporters tab, check Domain code (.java) and Hibernate XML Mappings (hbm.xml).
- Click Run.
One or more POJOs are created based on the reverse-engineering setting in the previous step.
Insert Mapping Tags
For each mapping you have generated, you will need to create a mapping tag in hibernate.cfg.xml to point Hibernate to your mapping resource. Open hibernate.cfg.xml and insert the mapping tags as so:
cdata.smartsheet.SmartsheetDriver
jdbc:smartsheet:OAuthClientId=MyOauthClientId;OAuthClientSecret=MyOAuthClientSecret;CallbackURL=http://localhost:33333;InitiateOAuth=GETANDREFRESH
org.hibernate.dialect.SQLServerDialect
Execute SQL
Using the entity you created from the last step, you can now search and modify Smartsheet data:
import java.util.*;
import org.hibernate.Session;
import org.hibernate.cfg.Configuration;
import org.hibernate.query.Query;
public class App {
public static void main(final String[] args) {
Session session = new
Configuration().configure().buildSessionFactory().openSession();
String SELECT = "FROM Sheet_Event_Plan_Budget S WHERE Assigned = :Assigned";
Query q = session.createQuery(SELECT, Sheet_Event_Plan_Budget.class);
q.setParameter("Assigned","Ana Trujilo");
List<Sheet_Event_Plan_Budget> resultList = (List<Sheet_Event_Plan_Budget>) q.list();
for(Sheet_Event_Plan_Budget s: resultList){
System.out.println(s.getTaskName());
System.out.println(s.getProgress());
}
}
}