Import Real-Time Spotify Data via JDBC in ColdFusion to Build Applications

Dibyendu Datta
Lead Technology Evangelist

Use CData JDBC drivers to import and use Spotify data in ColdFusion.

Adobe ColdFusion is a web and mobile application development platform. It uses its own scripting language, ColdFusion Markup Language (CFML), to create data-driven websites as well as generate remote services, such as REST.

When ColdFusion is paired with the CData API Driver for JDBC, you can link your ColdFusion web and mobile applications to operational Spotify data. This allows for your applications to be more robust and complete. This article details how to use the JDBC driver to create a table populated with Spotify data from within a ColdFusion markup file.

With built-in optimized data processing, the CData JDBC Driver offers unmatched performance for interacting with live Spotify data. When you issue complex SQL queries to Spotify, the driver pushes supported SQL operations, like filters and aggregations, directly to Spotify and utilizes the embedded SQL engine to process unsupported operations client-side (often SQL functions and JOIN operations). Its built-in dynamic metadata querying allows you to work with and analyze Spotify data using native data types.

Configuring the Connection to Spotify

You will need a JDBC connection string to establish a connection between Coldfusion and Spotify.

Using OAuth Authentication

Spotify uses OAuth 2.0 for authentication. You will need to create an application in the Spotify Developer Dashboard to obtain your client credentials.

Setting Up Your Spotify Application

Visit the Spotify Developer Dashboard.
Log in with your Spotify account and click Create app.
Provide an app name, description, and set a Redirect URI (e.g.,
```
http://localhost:33333
```
for desktop applications).
Copy your Client ID and Client Secret from the app settings.

Connection Properties

After setting the following connection properties, you are ready to connect:

AuthScheme: Set this to OAuth.
InitiateOAuth: Set this to GETANDREFRESH. You can use InitiateOAuth to manage the process to obtain the OAuthAccessToken.
OAuthClientId: Set this to your Spotify application's Client ID.
OAuthClientSecret: Set this to your Spotify application's Client Secret.
Scope: Set this to the required OAuth scopes (space-separated). The default includes all read scopes needed for the tables in this profile.
CallbackURL: Set this to the Redirect URI configured in your Spotify application (e.g., http://localhost:33333).

Example Connection String

Profile=C:\profiles\Spotify.apip;AuthScheme=OAuth;InitiateOAuth=GETANDREFRESH;OAuthClientId=your_client_id;OAuthClientSecret=your_client_secret;CallbackURL=http://localhost:33333;

Available OAuth Scopes

user-read-private: Read access to user's subscription details and explicit content settings.
user-read-email: Read access to user's email address.
user-library-read: Read access to a user's saved tracks, albums, episodes, shows, and audiobooks.
playlist-read-private: Read access to user's private playlists.
playlist-read-collaborative: Read access to collaborative playlists the user follows.
user-follow-read: Read access to the list of artists the current user follows.
user-read-playback-state: Read access to a user's player state (device, current track, progress).
user-read-currently-playing: Read access to a user's currently playing content.
user-read-playback-history: Read access to a user's recently played tracks.
user-top-read: Read access to a user's top artists and tracks.

Built-in Connection String Designer

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

java -jar cdata.jdbc.api.jar

Using the built-in connection string designer to generate a JDBC URL (spotify is shown.)

Adding a Data Source and Creating a Table

After configuring the connection, follow the steps below to add the CData JDBC Driver to ColdFusion's lib directory, add a new data source, test the connection, create a ColdFusion markup file, and, finally, make a real-time connection with Spotify data and display it in a table written in the ColdFusion Markup Language, or CFML:

Copy the JDBC Driver for Spotify and lic file from "C:\Program Files\CData[product_name]\lib" to "C:\ColdFusion2021\cfusion\wwwroot\WEB-INF\lib".
```
            cdata.jdbc.api.jar
            cdata.jdbc.api.lic
        
```
Note: If you do not copy the .lic file with the jar, you will see a licensing error that indicates you do not have a valid license installed. This is true for both the trial and full versions.
From the ColdFusion administrator interface, choose Data & Services.
Here, we can "Add New Data Source". The data source name can be any name, provided it conforms to the ColdFusion variable naming conventions. For our JDBC driver, choose "other", then click the "Add" button.
Next, populate the driver properties.
- JDBC URL will need to be in the format: jdbc:api:|connectionString|.
- A typical connection string looks like this:
  
  jdbc:api:Profile=C:\profiles\Spotify.apip;AuthScheme=OAuth;InitiateOAuth=GETANDREFRESH;OAuthClientId=your_client_id;OAuthClientSecret=your_client_secret;CallbackURL=http://localhost:33333;
- The Driver Class is: cdata.jdbc.api.APIDriver
- The Driver Name is arbitrary and simply used to recognize the data source in the ColdFusion administration console.
Now, test the connection by clicking the check mark to the left of the CDataSpotifyJDBC data source you just created. When the data source reports an "OK" status, it is ready for use.

Next, create a new ColdFusion Markup file (.cfm) and place it in the wwwroot directory ("C:\ColdFusion2021\cfusion\wwwroot") for ColdFusion.

The following code queries the data source:

            
        <cfquery name="SpotifyQuery" dataSource="CDataSpotifyJDBC"> 
          SELECT * FROM Albums 
        </cfquery>

And a CFTable can be used to quickly output the table in HTML:

            
          <cftable  
          query = "SpotifyQuery" 
          border = "1" 
          colHeaders 
          colSpacing = "2" 
          headerLines = "2" 
          HTMLTable 
          maxRows = "500" 
          startRow = "1"> 

          <cfcol header="<b></b>" align="Left" width=2 text=""/> 

          <cfcol header="<b></b>" align="Left" width=15 text=""/> 

          ...

        </cftable>

Full code, including the HTML portion is available below:

            
        <html> 
        <head><title>CData Software | Spotify Albums Table Demo </title></head> 
        <body> 
        <cfoutput>#ucase("Spotify Albums Table Demo")#</cfoutput> 
        <cfquery name="SpotifyQuery" dataSource="CDataSpotifyJDBC"> 

          SELECT * FROM Albums 

        </cfquery> 
        <cftable  
          query = "SpotifyQuery" 
          border = "1" 
          colHeaders 
          colSpacing = "2" 
          headerLines = "2" 
          HTMLTable 
          maxRows = "500" 
          startRow = "1"> 
          <cfcol header="<b></b>" align="Left" width=2 text=""/> 

          <cfcol header="<b></b>" align="Left" width=15 text=""/> 

          ...

        </cftable> 
        </body> 

        </html>

Finally, run the code locally in a browser at the default port of 8500. It produces a table populated with Spotify data!

As a note, the CData JDBC Drivers also support parameterized queries using the cfqueryparam element. For example:

SELECT * FROM Account WHERE name =

Get Started Today

Download a free, 30-day trial of the CData JDBC Driver for Spotify and start building Spotify-connected applications with Adobe ColdFusion. Reach out to our Support Team if you have any questions.

Ready to get started?

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