Access Adobe Target Data in Mule Applications Using the CData JDBC Driver

The CData JDBC Driver for Adobe Target connects Adobe Target data to Mule applications enabling read functionality with familiar SQL queries. The JDBC Driver allows users to easily create Mule applications to backup, transform, report, and analyze Adobe Target data.

This article demonstrates how to use the CData JDBC Driver for Adobe Target inside of a Mule project to create a Web interface for Adobe Target data. The application created allows you to request Adobe Target data using an HTTP request and have the results returned as JSON. The exact same procedure outlined below can be used with any CData JDBC Driver to create a Web interface for the hundreds of available data sources.

1. Create a new Mule Project in Anypoint Studio.
2. Add an HTTP Connector to the Message Flow.
3. Configure the address for the HTTP Connector. 👁 Add and Configure the HTTP Connector
   
4. Add a Database Select Connector to the same flow, after the HTTP Connector.
5. Create a new Connection (or edit an existing one) and configure the properties.
   • Set Connection to "Generic Connection"
   • Select the CData JDBC Driver JAR file in the Required Libraries section (e.g. cdata.jdbc.adobetarget.jar). 👁 Adding the JAR file (Salesforce is shown).
     
   • Set the URL to the connection string for Adobe Target

     To connect to Adobe Target, you must provide the Tenant property along with OAuth connection properties mentioned below. Note that while other connection properties can influence processing behavior, they do not affect the ability to connect.

     To determine your Tenant name:

     1. Log in to Adobe Experience. The URL will look similar to: "https://experience.adobe.com/#/@mycompanyname/preferences/general-section".
     2. Extract the value after the "/#/@". In this example, it is "mycompanyname".
     3. Set the Tenant connection property to that value.

     User Accounts (OAuth)

     You must set AuthScheme to OAuthClient for all user account flows.

     Note: Adobe authentication via OAuth requires updating your token every two weeks.

     All Applications

     CData provides an embedded OAuth application that simplifies OAuth authentication. Alternatively, you can create a custom OAuth application. Review Creating a Custom OAuth App in the Help documentation for more information.

     Obtaining the OAuth Access Token

     Set the following properties to connect:

     • InitiateOAuth: Set to GETANDREFRESH to automatically perform the OAuth exchange and refresh the OAuthAccessToken as needed.
     • OAuthClientId : Set to the client Id assigned when you registered your app.
     • OAuthClientSecret : Set to the client secret assigned when you registered your app.
     • CallbackURL : Set to the redirect URI defined when you registered your app. For example: https://localhost:3333

     With these settings, the provider obtains an access token from Adobe Target, which it uses to request data. The OAuth values are stored in the location specified by OAuthSettingsLocation, ensuring they persist across connections.

     Built-in Connection String Designer

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

     		java -jar cdata.jdbc.adobetarget.jar
     		

     Fill in the connection properties and copy the connection string to the clipboard.

   • Set the Driver class name to cdata.jdbc.adobetarget.AdobeTargetDriver. 👁 A configured Database Connection (Salesforce is shown).
     
   • Click Test Connection.
6. Set the SQL Query Text to a SQL query to request Adobe Target data. For example:

   SELECT Id, Name FROM Activities WHERE Type = 'AB'

   👁 Configure the Select object (Salesforce is Shown)
   
7. Add a Transform Message Component to the flow.
8. Set the Output script to the following to convert the payload to JSON:

   %dw 2.0
   output application/json
   ---
   payload
    

   👁 Add the Transform Message Component to the Flow
   
9. To view your Adobe Target data, navigate to the address you configured for the HTTP Connector (localhost:8081 by default): http://localhost:8081. The Adobe Target data is available as JSON in your Web browser and any other tools capable of consuming JSON endpoints.

At this point, you have a simple Web interface for working with Adobe Target data (as JSON data) in custom apps and a wide variety of BI, reporting, and ETL tools. Download a free, 30 day trial of the JDBC Driver for Adobe Target and see the CData difference in your Mule Applications today.