Create a Data Access Object for Zoho Recruit Data using JDBI

JDBI is a SQL convenience library for Java that exposes two different style APIs, a fluent style and a SQL object style. The CData JDBC Driver for Zoho Recruit integrates connectivity to live Zoho Recruit data in Java applications. By pairing these technologies, you gain simple, programmatic access to Zoho Recruit data. This article explains how to build a basic Data Access Object (DAO) and the accompanying code to read Zoho Recruit data.

Create a DAO for the Zoho Recruit Attachments Entity

The interface below declares the desired behavior for the SQL object to create a single method for each SQL statement to be implemented.

public interface MyAttachmentsDAO {
  //request specific data from Zoho Recruit (String type is used for simplicity)
  @SqlQuery("SELECT  FROM Attachments WHERE Module = :module")
  String findByModule(@Bind("module") String module);

  /*
   * close with no args is used to close the connection
   */
  void close();
}

Open a Connection to Zoho Recruit

Collect the necessary connection properties and construct the appropriate JDBC URL for connecting to Zoho Recruit.

To authenticate to ZohoRecruit, 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

First, you will need to register an OAuth application with ZohoRecruit. To do so, go to the Zoho Developer Console, add a new Client (Server-based application) and set a valid OAuth redirect URL. Your OAuth application will be assigned a client id and a client secret. Additionally, you will need to set the relevant Domain (.com, .eu, .in, .com.cn, or .jp), which defaults to .com.

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 that is specified in your app settings.
• OAuthClientSecret: Set this to the client_secret that is specified in your app settings.
• CallbackURL: Set this to the Redirect URI that is specified in your app settings.
• Domain: Set this in ProfileSettings to your ZohoRecruit account domain (e.g. .com, .eu, .in, .com.cn, .jp).

Example connection string:

Profile=C:\profiles\ZohoRecruit.apip;ProfileSettings='Domain=.com';AuthScheme=OAuth;InitiateOAuth=GETANDREFRESH;OAuthClientId=your_client_id;OAuthClientSecret=your_client_secret;CallbackUrl=your_callback_url;

Built-in Connection String Designer

For assistance in constructing the JDBC URL, use the connection string designer built into the Zoho Recruit 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 connection string for Zoho Recruit will typically look like the following:

jdbc:api:Profile=C:\profiles\ZohoRecruit.apip;ProfileSettings='Domain=.com';AuthScheme=OAuth;InitiateOAuth=GETANDREFRESH;OAuthClientId=your_client_id;OAuthClientSecret=your_client_secret;CallbackUrl=your_callback_url;

Use the configured JDBC URL to obtain an instance of the DAO interface. The particular method shown below will open a handle bound to the instance, so the instance needs to be closed explicitly to release the handle and the bound JDBC connection.

DBI dbi = new DBI("jdbc:api:Profile=C:\profiles\ZohoRecruit.apip;ProfileSettings='Domain=.com';AuthScheme=OAuth;InitiateOAuth=GETANDREFRESH;OAuthClientId=your_client_id;OAuthClientSecret=your_client_secret;CallbackUrl=your_callback_url;");
MyAttachmentsDAO dao = dbi.open(MyAttachmentsDAO.class);

//do stuff with the DAO

dao.close();

Read Zoho Recruit Data

With the connection open to Zoho Recruit, simply call the previously defined method to retrieve data from the Attachments entity in Zoho Recruit.

//disply the result of our 'find' method
String  = dao.findByModule("Candidates");
System.out.println();

Since the JDBI library is able to work with JDBC connections, you can easily produce a SQL Object API for Zoho Recruit by integrating with the CData JDBC Driver for Zoho Recruit. Download a free trial and work with live Zoho Recruit data in custom Java applications today.