Create a Data Access Object for Dynamics CRM 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 Dynamics CRM integrates connectivity to live Dynamics CRM data in Java applications. By pairing these technologies, you gain simple, programmatic access to Dynamics CRM data. This article explains how to build a basic Data Access Object (DAO) and the accompanying code to read and write Dynamics CRM data.

Getting Started

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Create a DAO for the Dynamics CRM Account 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 MyAccountDAO {
 //insert new data into Dynamics CRM
 @SqlUpdate("INSERT INTO Account (FirstName, NumberOfEmployees) values (:firstName, :numberOfEmployees)")
 void insert(@Bind("firstName") String firstName, @Bind("numberOfEmployees") String numberOfEmployees);

 //request specific data from Dynamics CRM (String type is used for simplicity)
 @SqlQuery("SELECT NumberOfEmployees FROM Account WHERE FirstName = :firstName")
 String findNumberOfEmployeesByFirstName(@Bind("firstName") String firstName);

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

Open a Connection to Dynamics CRM

Collect the necessary connection properties and construct the appropriate JDBC URL for connecting to Dynamics CRM.

The connection string options meet the authentication and connection requirements of different Dynamics CRM instances. To connect to your instance, set the User and Password properties, under the Authentication section, to valid Dynamics CRM user credentials and set the Url to a valid Dynamics CRM server organization root. Additionally, set the CRMVersion property to 'CRM2011+' or 'CRMOnline'. IFD configurations are supported as well; set InternetFacingDeployment to true.

Additionally, you can provide the security token service (STS) or AD FS endpoint in the STSURL property. This value can be retrieved with the GetSTSUrl stored procedure. Office 365 users can connect to the default STS URL by simply setting CRMVersion.

Built-in Connection String Designer

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

java -jar cdata.jdbc.dynamicscrm.jar

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

👁 Using the built-in connection string designer to generate a JDBC URL (Salesforce is shown.)

A connection string for Dynamics CRM will typically look like the following:

jdbc:dynamicscrm:User=myuseraccount;Password=mypassword;URL=https://myOrg.crm.dynamics.com/;CRM Version=CRM Online;

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:dynamicscrm:User=myuseraccount;Password=mypassword;URL=https://myOrg.crm.dynamics.com/;CRM Version=CRM Online;");
MyAccountDAO dao = dbi.open(MyAccountDAO.class);

//do stuff with the DAO

dao.close();

Read Dynamics CRM Data

With the connection open to Dynamics CRM, simply call the previously defined method to retrieve data from the Account entity in Dynamics CRM.

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

Write Dynamics CRM Data

It is also simple to write data to Dynamics CRM, using the previously defined method.

//add a new entry to the Account entity
dao.insert(newFirstName, newNumberOfEmployees);

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