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

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 JDBC Driver for Talkdesk, you can link your ColdFusion web and mobile applications to operational Talkdesk 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 Talkdesk data from within a ColdFusion markup file.

With built-in optimized data processing, the CData JDBC Driver offers unmatched performance for interacting with live Talkdesk data. When you issue complex SQL queries to Talkdesk, the driver pushes supported SQL operations, like filters and aggregations, directly to Talkdesk 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 Talkdesk data using native data types.

Configuring the Connection to Talkdesk

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

Talkdesk uses the OAuth 2.0 Client Credentials grant. There is no browser-based authorization step and no callback URL.

Set the following connection properties:

• AccountName: The name of your Talkdesk account.
• Region: The region where your Talkdesk instance is deployed. Supported values are US (default), EU, CA, AU, UK, and FedRamp.
• OAuthClientId: The Client Id assigned when you registered your custom OAuth application.
• OAuthClientSecret: The Client Secret assigned to your custom OAuth application.

Creating a Custom OAuth Application

1. Log in to your Talkdesk account and select OAuth Clients from the navigation menu.
2. Click Create OAuth Client and give the client a descriptive name.
3. Set Grant Type to Client Credentials.
4. Click Add scopes and select the scopes for the data you want to access.
5. Click Create and copy the Client Id and Client Secret.

When you connect, the driver automatically requests an access token from Talkdesk, caches it, and refreshes it when it expires. Make sure the scopes selected for the application match the views you plan to query, or the token request can fail.

Built-in Connection String Designer

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

java -jar cdata.jdbc.talkdesk.jar

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 Talkdesk data and display it in a table written in the ColdFusion Markup Language, or CFML:

1. Copy the JDBC Driver for Talkdesk and lic file from "C:\Program Files\CData\CData JDBC Driver for Talkdesk\lib" to "C:\ColdFusion2021\cfusion\wwwroot\WEB-INF\lib".

   
               cdata.jdbc.talkdesk.jar
               cdata.jdbc.talkdesk.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.

2. From the ColdFusion administrator interface, choose Data & Services.
3. 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.
4. Next, populate the driver properties.
   • JDBC URL will need to be in the format: jdbc:talkdesk:|connectionString|.
   • A typical connection string looks like this:

     jdbc:talkdesk:AccountName=myAccount;Region=US;OAuthClientId=myClientId;OAuthClientSecret=myClientSecret;

   • The Driver Class is: cdata.jdbc.talkdesk.TalkdeskDriver
   • The Driver Name is arbitrary and simply used to recognize the data source in the ColdFusion administration console.
   
5. Now, test the connection by clicking the check mark to the left of the CDataTalkdeskJDBC data source you just created. When the data source reports an "OK" status, it is ready for use.
6. 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="TalkdeskQuery" dataSource="CDataTalkdeskJDBC"> 
             SELECT * FROM Users 
           </cfquery> 
       

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

               
             <cftable  
             query = "TalkdeskQuery" 
             border = "1" 
             colHeaders 
             colSpacing = "2" 
             headerLines = "2" 
             HTMLTable 
             maxRows = "500" 
             startRow = "1"> 
   
             <cfcol header="<b>Id</b>" align="Left" width=2 text="Id"/> 
   
             <cfcol header="<b>Name</b>" align="Left" width=15 text="Name"/> 
   
             ...
   
           </cftable> 
       

   Full code, including the HTML portion is available below:

               
           <html> 
           <head><title>CData Software | Talkdesk Users Table Demo </title></head> 
           <body> 
           <cfoutput>#ucase("Talkdesk Users Table Demo")#</cfoutput> 
           <cfquery name="TalkdeskQuery" dataSource="CDataTalkdeskJDBC"> 
   
             SELECT * FROM Users 
   
           </cfquery> 
           <cftable  
             query = "TalkdeskQuery" 
             border = "1" 
             colHeaders 
             colSpacing = "2" 
             headerLines = "2" 
             HTMLTable 
             maxRows = "500" 
             startRow = "1"> 
             <cfcol header="<b>Id</b>" align="Left" width=2 text="Id"/> 
   
             <cfcol header="<b>Name</b>" align="Left" width=15 text="Name"/> 
   
             ...
   
           </cftable> 
           </body> 
   
           </html>  
       

7. Finally, run the code locally in a browser at the default port of 8500. It produces a table populated with Talkdesk 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 Talkdesk and start building Talkdesk-connected applications with Adobe ColdFusion. Reach out to our Support Team if you have any questions.