Feed Snowflake Data into FineReport



How to set Snowflake data as a JDBC data source in FineReport.

The CData JDBC Driver for Snowflake fully implements the JDBC standard and can provide Snowflake data connectivity to a wide variety of BI, reporting, and ETL tools and custom applications. In this article, we explain how to set Snowflake data as JDBC data source in FineReport and view Snowflake data as a table in the Report Designer.

About Snowflake Data Integration

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

  • Reads and write Snowflake data quickly and efficiently.
  • Dynamically obtain metadata for the specified Warehouse, Database, and Schema.
  • Authenticate in a variety of ways, including OAuth, OKTA, Azure AD, Azure Managed Service Identity, PingFederate, private key, and more.

Many CData users use CData solutions to access Snowflake from their preferred tools and applications, and replicate data from their disparate systems into Snowflake for comprehensive warehousing and analytics.

For more information on integrating Snowflake with CData solutions, refer to our blog: https://www.cdata.com/blog/snowflake-integrations.


Getting Started


Set Up a JDBC Data Source of Snowflake Data

Follow the instruction below to set Snowflake data as a FineReport database connection.

  1. Copy the cdata.jdbc.snowflake.jar file from the lib folder in the CData JDBC Driver for Snowflake installation directory to the lib folder of the FineReport installation directory. You will need to copy the cdata.jdbc.snowflake.lic file as well.
  2. From the Server tab, select Define Data Connection, click to add a new connection, and click JDBC.

Next we will set up the data connection definition in the window.

  1. Database: Others
  2. JDBC Driver: cdata.jdbc.snowflake.SnowflakeDriver
  3. URL: A standard JDBC connection string using semicolon-separated connection properties.

    To connect to Snowflake:

    1. Set User and Password to your Snowflake credentials and set the AuthScheme property to PASSWORD or OKTA.
    2. Set URL to the URL of the Snowflake instance (i.e.: https://myaccount.snowflakecomputing.com).
    3. Set Warehouse to the Snowflake warehouse.
    4. (Optional) Set Account to your Snowflake account if your URL does not conform to the format above.
    5. (Optional) Set Database and Schema to restrict the tables and views exposed.

    See the Getting Started guide in the CData driver documentation for more information.

    Built-in Connection String Designer

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

    java -jar cdata.jdbc.snowflake.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.

    A typical JDBC URL is below:

    jdbc:snowflake:User=Admin;Password=test123;Server=localhost;Database=Northwind;Warehouse=TestWarehouse;Account=Tester1;
  4. Click Connection pool attributes and set Test before getting connections to No.

Click Test connection to ensure you have configured the connection properly. With the connection to Snowflake set up, you can use it as FineReport data source.

Select Snowflake Data in the Report Designer.

  1. Click to add a new template data set and select DB query to open the database query window.
  2. Choose the JDBC connection that you created from the dropdown list.
  3. The Snowflake entities will appear as tables on the left pane.
  4. Write a SELECT statement for the Snowflake data tables and columns that you want to load.
  5. Click preview and data is shown as table.

With these simple steps, Snowflake can be used as a JDBC data source in FineReport.

Ready to get started?

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