Access Strava Data in Mule Applications Using the CData JDBC Driver

Jerod Johnson
Jerod Johnson
Director, Technology Evangelism
Create a simple Mule Application that uses HTTP and SQL with CData JDBC drivers to create a JSON endpoint for Strava data.

The CData API Driver for JDBC connects Strava data to Mule applications enabling read functionality with familiar SQL queries. The JDBC Driver allows users to easily create Mule applications to backup, transform, report, and analyze Strava data.

This article demonstrates how to use the CData API Driver for JDBC inside of a Mule project to create a Web interface for Strava data. The application created allows you to request Strava data using an HTTP request and have the results returned as JSON. The exact same procedure outlined below can be used with any CData JDBC Driver to create a Web interface for the hundreds of available data sources.

  1. Create a new Mule Project in Anypoint Studio.
  2. Add an HTTP Connector to the Message Flow.
  3. Configure the address for the HTTP Connector.
  4. Add a Database Select Connector to the same flow, after the HTTP Connector.
  5. Create a new Connection (or edit an existing one) and configure the properties.
    • Set Connection to "Generic Connection"
    • Select the CData JDBC Driver JAR file in the Required Libraries section (e.g. cdata.jdbc.api.jar).
    • Set the URL to the connection string for Strava

      To authenticate to Strava, and connect to your own data or to allow other users to connect to their data, you can use the OAuth standard.

      Using OAuth Authentication

      You must create a custom OAuth application to connect to Strava. To create a custom OAuth application:

      1. Log into the Strava API Settings page
      2. Create a new application or select an existing application
      3. Set the "Authorization Callback Domain" to your callback URL domain (e.g. localhost)
      4. Note down the Client ID and Client Secret

      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 the Client ID from your Strava API application.
      • OAuthClientSecret: Set this to the Client Secret from your Strava API application.
      • CallbackURL: Set this to the redirect URI matching your application's callback domain.

      Example connection string:

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

      Built-in Connection String Designer

      For assistance in constructing the JDBC URL, use the connection string designer built into the Strava 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.

    • Set the Driver class name to cdata.jdbc.api.APIDriver.
    • Click Test Connection.
  6. Set the SQL Query Text to a SQL query to request Strava data. For example:
    SELECT ,  FROM Athlete WHERE  = ''
  7. Add a Transform Message Component to the flow.
  8. Set the Output script to the following to convert the payload to JSON:
    %dw 2.0
    output application/json
    ---
    payload
            
  9. To view your Strava data, navigate to the address you configured for the HTTP Connector (localhost:8081 by default): http://localhost:8081. The Strava data is available as JSON in your Web browser and any other tools capable of consuming JSON endpoints.

At this point, you have a simple Web interface for working with Strava data (as JSON data) in custom apps and a wide variety of BI, reporting, and ETL tools. Download a free, 30 day trial of the JDBC Driver for Strava and see the CData difference in your Mule Applications today.

Ready to get started?

Connect to live data from Strava with the API Driver

Connect to Strava