Integrate Strava Data in Pentaho Data Integration

Jerod Johnson
Jerod Johnson
Director, Technology Evangelism
Build ETL pipelines based on Strava data in the Pentaho Data Integration tool.

The CData API Driver for JDBC enables access to live data from data pipelines. Pentaho Data Integration is an Extraction, Transformation, and Loading (ETL) engine that data, cleanses the data, and stores data using a uniform format that is accessible.This article shows how to connect to Strava data as a JDBC data source and build jobs and transformations based on Strava data in Pentaho Data Integration.

Configure to Strava Connectivity

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.

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

Save your connection string for use in Pentaho Data Integration.

Connect to Strava from Pentaho DI

Open Pentaho Data Integration and select "Database Connection" to configure a connection to the CData API Driver for JDBC

  1. Click "General"
  2. Set Connection name (e.g. Strava Connection)
  3. Set Connection type to "Generic database"
  4. Set Access to "Native (JDBC)"
  5. Set Custom connection URL to your Strava connection string (e.g.
    jdbc:api:Profile=C:\profiles\Strava.apip;AuthScheme=OAuth;InitiateOAuth=GETANDREFRESH;OAuthClientId=your_client_id;OAuthClientSecret=your_client_secret;CallbackURL=http://localhost:33333;
  6. Set Custom driver class name to "cdata.jdbc.api.APIDriver"
  7. Test the connection and click "OK" to save.

Create a Data Pipeline for Strava

Once the connection to Strava is configured using the CData JDBC Driver, you are ready to create a new transformation or job.

  1. Click "File" >> "New" >> "Transformation/job"
  2. Drag a "Table input" object into the workflow panel and select your Strava connection.
  3. Click "Get SQL select statement" and use the Database Explorer to view the available tables and views.
  4. Select a table and optionally preview the data for verification.

At this point, you can continue your transformation or jb by selecting a suitable destination and adding any transformations to modify, filter, or otherwise alter the data during replication.

Free Trial & More Information

Download a free, 30-day trial of the CData API Driver for JDBC and start working with your live Strava data in Pentaho Data Integration today.

Ready to get started?

Connect to live data from Strava with the API Driver

Connect to Strava