Access DB2 Data in Mule Applications Using the CData JDBC Driver

The CData JDBC Driver for IBM DB2 connects DB2 data to Mule applications enabling read , write, update, and delete functionality with familiar SQL queries. The JDBC Driver allows users to easily create Mule applications to backup, transform, report, and analyze DB2 data.

This article demonstrates how to use the CData JDBC Driver for IBM DB2 inside of a Mule project to create a Web interface for DB2 data. The application created allows you to request DB2 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.db2.jar). 👁 Adding the JAR file (Salesforce is shown).
     
   • Set the URL to the connection string for DB2

     Set the following properties to connect to DB2:

     • Server: Set this to the name of the server running DB2.
     • Port: Set this to the port the DB2 server is listening on.
     • Database: Set this to the name of the DB2 database.
     • User: Set this to the username of a user allowed to access the database.
     • Password: Set this to the password of a user allowed to access the database.

     You will also need to install the corresponding DB2 driver:

     • Windows: Install the IBM Data Server Provider for .NET.

       On Windows, installing the IBM Data Server Provider is sufficient, as the installation registers it in the machine.config.

     • Java: Install the IBM Data Server Driver for JDBC.

       In the Java version, place the IBM Data Server Driver JAR in the www\WEB-INF\lib\ folder for this application.

     Built-in Connection String Designer

     For assistance in constructing the JDBC URL, use the connection string designer built into the DB2 JDBC Driver. Either double-click the JAR file or execute the jar file from the command-line.

     		java -jar cdata.jdbc.db2.jar
     		

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

   • Set the Driver class name to cdata.jdbc.db2.DB2Driver. 👁 A configured Database Connection (Salesforce is shown).
     
   • Click Test Connection.
6. Set the SQL Query Text to a SQL query to request DB2 data. For example:

   SELECT Orders.Freight, Customers.ContactName FROM Customers INNER JOIN Orders ON Customers.CustomerId=Orders.CustomerId

   👁 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 DB2 data, navigate to the address you configured for the HTTP Connector (localhost:8081 by default): http://localhost:8081. The DB2 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 DB2 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 DB2 and see the CData difference in your Mule Applications today.