Create Informatica Mappings From/To a JDBC Data Source for Superchat

Jerod Johnson
Jerod Johnson
Director, Technology Evangelism
Create Superchat data objects in Informatica using the standard JDBC connection process: Copy the JAR and then connect.

Informatica provides a powerful, elegant means of transporting and transforming your data. By utilizing the CData JDBC Driver for Superchat, you are gaining access to a driver based on industry-proven standards that integrates seamlessly with Informatica's powerful data transportation and manipulation features. This tutorial shows how to transfer and browse Superchat data in Informatica PowerCenter.

Deploy the Driver

To deploy the driver to the Informatica PowerCenter server, copy the CData JAR and .lic file, located in the lib subfolder in the installation directory, to the following folder: Informatica-installation-directory\services\shared\jars\thirdparty.

To work with Superchat data in the Developer tool, you will need to copy the CData JAR and .lic file, located in the lib subfolder in the installation directory, into the following folders:

  • Informatica-installation-directory\client\externaljdbcjars
  • Informatica-installation-directory\externaljdbcjars

Create the JDBC Connection

Follow the steps below to connect from Informatica Developer:

  1. In the Connection Explorer pane, right-click your domain and click Create a Connection.
  2. In the New Database Connection wizard that is displayed, enter a name and Id for the connection and in the Type menu select JDBC.
  3. In the JDBC Driver Class Name property, enter:
    cdata.jdbc.api.APIDriver
  4. In the Connection String property, enter the JDBC URL, using the connection properties for Superchat.

    Superchat uses API Key authentication. The API key is passed via the X-API-KEY request header on every call.

    Authentication

    To authenticate to Superchat, you need to obtain your API key from the Superchat workspace settings.

    Using API Key Authentication

    You can obtain your API key from Settings > Integrations > API Key in your Superchat workspace.

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

    • AuthScheme: Set this to APIKey.
    • APIKey: Set this to your Superchat API key.

    Example connection string:

    Profile=C:\profiles\Superchat.apip;AuthScheme=APIKey;ProfileSettings='APIKey=your_api_key';
    

    Built-in Connection String Designer

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

    A typical connection string is below:

    jdbc:api:Profile=C:\profiles\Superchat.apip;AuthScheme=APIKey;ProfileSettings='APIKey=your_api_key';

Browse Superchat Tables

After you have added the driver JAR to the classpath and created a JDBC connection, you can now access Superchat entities in Informatica. Follow the steps below to connect to Superchat and browse Superchat tables:

  1. Connect to your repository.
  2. In the Connection Explorer, right-click the connection and click Connect.
  3. Clear the Show Default Schema Only option.

You can now browse Superchat tables in the Data Viewer: Right-click the node for the table and then click Open. On the Data Viewer view, click Run.

Create Superchat Data Objects

Follow the steps below to add Superchat tables to your project:

  1. Select tables in Superchat, then right-click a table in Superchat, and click Add to Project.
  2. In the resulting dialog, select the option to create a data object for each resource.
  3. In the Select Location dialog, select your project.

    Create a Mapping

    Follow the steps below to add the Superchat source to a mapping:

    1. In the Object Explorer, right-click your project and then click New -> Mapping.
    2. Expand the node for the Superchat connection and then drag the data object for the table onto the editor.
    3. In the dialog that appears, select the Read option.

    Follow the steps below to map Superchat columns to a flat file:

    1. In the Object Explorer, right-click your project and then click New -> Data Object.
    2. Select Flat File Data Object -> Create as Empty -> Fixed Width.
    3. In the properties for the Superchat object, select the rows you want, right-click, and then click copy. Paste the rows into the flat file properties.
    4. Drag the flat file data object onto the mapping. In the dialog that appears, select the Write option.
    5. Click and drag to connect columns.

    To transfer Superchat data, right-click in the workspace and then click Run Mapping.

Ready to get started?

Connect to live data from Superchat with the API Driver

Connect to Superchat