Manage Discourse Data in DBArtisan as a JDBC Source

The CData JDBC Driver for Discourse seamlessly integrates Discourse data into database management tools like DBArtisan by enabling you to access Discourse data as a database. This article shows how to create a JDBC source for Discourse in DBArtisan. You can then edit data visually and execute standard SQL.

Integrate Discourse Data into DBArtisan Projects

Follow the steps below to register Discourse data as a database instance in your project:

1. In DBArtisan, click Data Source -> Register Datasource.
2. Select Generic JDBC.
3. Click Manage.
4. In the resulting dialog, click New. Enter a name for the driver and click Add. In the resulting dialog, navigate to the driver JAR. The driver JAR is located in the lib subfolder of the installation directory. 👁 The JDBC driver definition in the Register Datasource wizard. (Salesforce is shown.)
   
5. In the Connection URL box, enter credentials and other required connection properties in the JDBC URL.

   The Discourse API uses API Key authentication.

   Using API Key Authentication

   Discourse requires API Key and Username for authentication. API Keys are generated in the Discourse Admin panel under the API section. You can create user-specific API keys or all-users API keys. Once you have obtained the API Key, set it along with the Domain and Username in the ProfileSettings connection property.

   Example Connection string

   Profile=C:\profiles\Discourse.apip;ProfileSettings='Domain=forum.example.com;APIKey=your_api_key;Username=your_username;'AuthScheme=APIKey;
   

   Built-in Connection String Designer

   For assistance in constructing the JDBC URL, use the connection string designer built into the Discourse 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.

   👁 Required JDBC connection properties in the Register Datasource wizard. (Salesforce is shown.)
   

   Below is a typical connection string:

   jdbc:api:Profile=C:\profiles\Discourse.apip;ProfileSettings='Domain=forum.example.com;APIKey=your_api_key;Username=your_username;'AuthScheme=APIKey;

6. Finish the wizard to connect to Discourse data. Discourse entities are displayed in the Datasource Explorer.

You can now work with Discourse data as you work with any other database. See the driver help documentation for more information on the queries supported by the Discourse API.