Introduction

CData Connectors are JDBC drivers that enable connecting different applications through their APIs. These connectors are available for a monthly subscription fee in addition to your existing modules.

The key advantage is that you don't need to set up HTTP requests independently, Instead, you can pass them to the connector in the form of SQL commands. The connector then converts these requests into HTTP requests, handles the API call, and returns the data in tabular form. This simplifies complex API calls and time-consuming authentication.

Access in the Update Center

Downloading the new connector

Upon successful activation of your connector subscription, our licensing team will send you an email confirming the activation of your license. The connector will then be accessible to you in the Update Center.

In the Updated Connectors section (bottom left tile), you will find all the connectors that have been activated for your license. To download them, simply click on Download all Connectors. Once the connector is downloaded, it will be placed in the ./extlib directory. Note: Restart the Integration Server to activate the connectors.

Downloading presets

To simplify the configuration of a Connector, we provide a preset for each one. To ensure that you have the most up-to-date presets, please check the Update Center for a downloadable presets.xml file located in the top right-hand corner under Preset settings. Simply click on presets.xml and the new presets will be loaded and imported.

Connector setup

To configure the connection, go to Administration and select Databases/connectors after loading the connector and presets and restarting the Integration Server.

To create a new connection, click on the symbol in the bottom right-hand corner, or right-click and select New connection from the context menu. The presets can be found under Select template → Presets.

To connect to the desired service, simply click on the entry and a wizard will open. This wizard will prompt you for the most important connector parameters. Example:

Tooltips describing each parameter are displayed when the mouse pointer is moved over the corresponding field. These tooltips are taken from the CData documentation and are always in English.

Important note: Parameter Logfile, found in line Absolute path for the Logfile, must be an absolute path.

Examples:

Windows: C:\Lobster\logs\CData\BigQuery.log → Manually create a folder named CData in the ./logs directory.

Linux: / opt/Lobster/logs/CData/BigQuery.log →Manually create a folder named CData in the ./logs directory.

The wizard does not query certain parameters that are automatically created in the background as JDBC properties.

These parameters include Verbosity with a value of 1 and Max Log File Size with a value of 10MB. For more information, refer to the Troubleshooting section below.

Additional parameters may be preset depending on the connector. These parameters can be found under the JDBC Properties tab.

For example, the AuthScheme, InitiateOAuth and OAuthJWTCertType parameters have been added to this connector. In addition, the Verbosity level was manually set to 5.

Important note: Our presets utilize parameters based on the CData documentation. It is important to ensure that all necessary parameters are included in the JDBC properties and that any unnecessary parameters are removed. Additionally, it is crucial to refer to the documentation of the relevant application, as it may be necessary to set authorizations, create applications, and copy various access tokens.

Under the Settings tab, the connection string is created in the Database field, which typically contains one parameter. While it is theoretically possible to specify other parameters here, doing so can make the string unclear. Therefore, we recommend always using the JDBC properties for parameters.

The path to the driver class should be entered in the Driver field. Please do not modify this value.

When entering a user and password for a connector, always input them under the designated fields labeled User and Password, rather than in the connection string or the JDBC properties.

The Catalog Name is automatically filled in and has no impact.

Example:

Click on Apply after setting all parameters. An entry in file ./etc/database.xml will automatically be created and a connection via the connector will be established immediately. Restarting the Integration Server is not required.

CData documentation

If you are unsure about the information needed, refer to the CData documentation for the relevant connector. To access it, click on the Business Connector button under Databases/connectors, select the desired entry from the list (or use the search function at the bottom left), and click on the first link in the description.

The documentation for the JDBC version of the connector can be found on the CData website. To access it, select the desired connector and then click on Docs in the top right corner of the page. From there, select the online documentation.

Testing the connection

A connection test can be done using the plugin SQL console.

Select the alias you created and click on Tables/Procedures. This will send a query to the connector in the background and it will check if tables are available in the connected system.

Immediately after creation, it may happen that no tables are displayed, only procedures. Clicking the button again should then lead to success. This is because the connector needs to cache the data first. Sometimes it is also necessary to restart the Integration Server to refresh the connector's cache.

If a window with tables and procedures does not appear after clicking the button, an error has occurred during retrieval. In this case, check the connector settings again. Please refer to the Troubleshooting section below.

Now try to perform a select on the found tables and check if data is returned. Note the required syntax according to the CData documentation for the respective connector.

In the case of bigquery, the following select returns data. If you receive data, the installation is complete!

Troubleshooting

If errors occur when testing the connection, increase the verbosity level of the corresponding connector to 5 in the connector settings (Administration → Databases/connectors). Important note: Be sure to reset this to 1 after fixing the error.

Clicking on Apply will disconnect and reconnect the connector. Then run the test again. You will now find everything the connector does in the log, including errors reported by the API. The log can provide information about forgotten or incorrect parameters.

If you need help, please send us the log (in this case, please clear the current log, reconnect to the connector by opening the entry in Databases/connectors and closing it with Apply, and repeat the test) and a short but meaningful description of the problem to support@lobster.de. We will try to help and contact CData Support if necessary. However, if CData Support is involved, you should expect a response time of up to several days. It is also possible that CData has to correct an error, which can also lead to a longer processing time.

Features

CData has not always implemented all features of an API in its connectors. If you would like access to a feature that is not yet implemented, we will be happy to forward your request to CData and ask them to implement it. However, we cannot promise that CData will implement it, nor can we say how long it will take CData to implement it. From experience, CData always tries to implement feature requests and a waiting time of about 3 weeks can be expected. However, much longer waiting times are possible.

Updates

If CData provides a bug fix or a new feature, we will make the connector available via the Update Center. After downloading and restarting the Integration Server, the new version of the connector will be active.

We recommend that you make a backup of the old connector before updating, as it will be overwritten. In case of an error in the new connector, you can quickly restore the functioning old version.

We will provide new versions of the connectors from time to time if an update is required.