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URL: https://www.cdata.com/kb/tech/elasticsearch-odata-powerbuilder.rst

⇱ Consume Elasticsearch OData Feeds in PowerBuilder

Consume Elasticsearch OData Feeds in PowerBuilder

👁 Jerod Johnson
Jerod Johnson
Director, Technology Evangelism
This article demonstrates how to consume Elasticsearch data as OData feeds from PowerBuilder using the API Server.

The CData API Server produces secure feeds of Elasticsearch data that you can consume in PowerBuilder DataWindows. The API Server supports the major Web services, including OData, Atom, JSON, HTML, CSV, TSV, and RSS. It also supports the major authentication schemes and SSL.

This article shows how to create a DataWindow that uses the CData API Server to execute reads and writes.

About Elasticsearch Data Integration

Accessing and integrating live data from Elasticsearch has never been easier with CData. Customers rely on CData connectivity to:

  • Access both the SQL endpoints and REST endpoints, optimizing connectivity and offering more options when it comes to reading and writing Elasticsearch data.
  • Connect to virtually every Elasticsearch instance starting with v2.2 and Open Source Elasticsearch subscriptions.
  • Always receive a relevance score for the query results without explicitly requiring the SCORE() function, simplifying access from 3rd party tools and easily seeing how the query results rank in text relevance.
  • Search through multiple indices, relying on Elasticsearch to manage and process the query and results instead of the client machine.

Users frequently integrate Elasticsearch data with analytics tools such as Crystal Reports, Power BI, and Excel, and leverage our tools to enable a single, federated access layer to all of their data sources, including Elasticsearch.

For more information on CData's Elasticsearch solutions, check out our Knowledge Base article: CData Elasticsearch Driver Features & Differentiators.


Getting Started


Set Up the API Server

Follow the steps below to begin producing secure Elasticsearch OData services:

Deploy

The API Server runs on your own server. On Windows, you can deploy using the stand-alone server or IIS. On a Java servlet container, drop in the API Server WAR file. See the help documentation for more information and how-tos.

The API Server is also easy to deploy on Microsoft Azure, Amazon EC2, and Heroku.

Connect to Elasticsearch

After you deploy the API Server, provide authentication values and other connection properties needed to connect to Elasticsearch by clicking Settings -> Connections and adding a new connection in the API Server administration console.

Set the Server and Port connection properties to connect. To authenticate, set the User and Password properties, PKI (public key infrastructure) properties, or both. To use PKI, set the SSLClientCert, SSLClientCertType, SSLClientCertSubject, and SSLClientCertPassword properties.

The data provider uses X-Pack Security for TLS/SSL and authentication. To connect over TLS/SSL, prefix the Server value with 'https://'. Note: TLS/SSL and client authentication must be enabled on X-Pack to use PKI.

Once the data provider is connected, X-Pack will then perform user authentication and grant role permissions based on the realms you have configured.

You can then choose the Elasticsearch entities you want to allow the API Server access to by clicking Settings -> Resources.

Additionally, click Settings -> Server and change the following settings for compatibility with PowerBuilder:

  • Default Format: Select XML (Atom) in the menu.
  • Default Version: Select 2.0 in the menu.

Authorize API Server Users

After determining the OData services you want to produce, authorize users by clicking Settings -> Users. The API Server uses authtoken-based authentication and supports the major authentication schemes. Access can also be restricted based on IP address; by default, only connections to the local machine are allowed. You can authenticate as well as encrypt connections with SSL.

Create a Profile for Elasticsearch

Follow the steps below to use the Database Painter tool to create a database profile for the OData API of the API Server. In the Database Painter, you can graphically manipulate data as well as execute SQL queries.

  1. Click Tools -> Database Painter.
  2. Right-click the OData node and click New Profile.
  3. In the Database Profile Setup dialog, enter the following:
    • Profile Name: Enter a user-friendly name for the profile.
    • URI: Enter the URL to the OData endpoint of the API Server. This URL will resemble the one below: 
      http://MyServer:8080/api.rsc
    • Supply User Id and Password: Click this option to use HTTP Basic authentication. Note that the API Server also supports Windows authentication.
    • User Id: Enter the name of an user in the API Server.
    • Password: Enter the authtoken of an user in the API Server.
    👁 The profile for the OData feed. (Salesforce is shown.)
  4. To view and modify a table, right-click a table and then click Edit Data -> Grid.
👁 Modify database objects in the Database Painter. (Salesforce is shown.)

Using Elasticsearch Data with PowerBuilder Controls

You can use standard PowerBuilder objects to connect to OData feeds and execute queries. The following example shows how to retrieve Elasticsearch data into a DataWindow.

You can add the following code to the open method:

SQLCA.DBMS = "ODT"
SQLCA.DBParm = "ConnectString='URI=http://MyServer:8080/api.rsc;UID=MyAPIUser;PWD=MyAuthtoken'";
CONNECT USING SQLCA;
dw_orders.SetTransObject(SQLCA);
dw_orders.Retrieve();