Integrate Excel Data in Your Informatica Cloud Instance

Informatica Cloud allows you to perform extract, transform, and load (ETL) tasks in the cloud. With the Cloud Secure Agent and the CData JDBC Driver for Microsoft Excel, you get live access to Excel data, directly within Informatica Cloud. In this article, we will walk through downloading and registering the Cloud Secure Agent, connecting to Excel through the JDBC Driver and generating a mapping that can be used in any Informatica Cloud process.

Informatica Cloud Secure Agent

To work with the Excel data through the JDBC Driver, install the Cloud Secure Agent.

1. Navigate to the Administrator page in Informatica Cloud 👁 Image
   
2. Select the Runtime Environments tab
3. Click "Download Secure Agent" 👁 Image
   
4. Make note of the Install Token 👁 Image
   
5. Run the installer on the client machine and register the Cloud Secure Agent with your username and install token 👁 Image
   

NOTE: It may take some time for all of the Cloud Secure Agent services to get up and running.

Connecting to the Excel JDBC Driver

With the Cloud Secure Agent installed and running, you are ready to connect to Excel through the JDBC Driver.

Adding the JDBC Driver to the Secure Agent Machine

1. Navigate to the following directory on the Secure Agent machine:

   %Secure Agent installation directory%/ext/connectors/thirdparty/

2. Create a folder and add the driver JAR file (cdata.jdbc.excel.jar) based on the type of mapping that you want to configure.

   For mappings, create the following folder and add the driver JAR file:

   informatica.jdbc_v2/common

   For mappings in advanced mode, also create the following folder and add the driver JAR file:

   informatica.jdbc_v2/spark

3. Restart the Secure Agent.

Connecting to Excel in Informatica Cloud

After installing the driver JAR file, you are ready to configure your connection to Excel in Informatica Cloud. Start by clicking the Connections tab and clicking New Connection. Fill in the following properties for the connection:

• Connection Name: Name your connection (i.e.: CData Excel Connection)
• Type: Select "JDBC_V2"
• Runtime Environment: Select the runtime environment where you installed the Secure Agent
• JDBC Driver Class Name: The name of the JDBC driver class: cdata.jdbc.excel.ExcelDriver
• JDBC Connection URL: Set this to the JDBC URL for Excel. Your URL will look similar to the following:
  
  

  jdbc:excel:URI='C:/MyExcelWorkbooks/SampleWorkbook.xlsx';

  Connecting to Local or Cloud-Stored (Box, Google Drive, Amazon S3, SharePoint) Excel Files

  CData Drivers let you work with Excel files stored locally and stored in cloud storage services like Box, Amazon S3, Google Drive, or SharePoint, right where they are.

  Setting connection properties for local files

  Set the URI property to local folder path.

  Setting connection properties for files stored in Amazon S3

  To connect to Excel file(s) within Amazon S3, set the URI property to the URI of the Bucket and Folder where the intended Excel files exist. In addition, at least set these properties:

  • AWSAccessKey: AWS Access Key (username)
  • AWSSecretKey: AWS Secret Key

  Setting connection properties for files stored in Box

  To connect to Excel file(s) within Box, set the URI property to the URI of the folder that includes the intended Excel file(s). Use the OAuth authentication method to connect to Box.

  Dropbox

  To connect to Excel file(s) within Dropbox, set the URI proprerty to the URI of the folder that includes the intended Excel file(s). Use the OAuth authentication method to connect to Dropbox. Either User Account or Service Account can be used to authenticate.

  SharePoint Online (SOAP)

  To connect to Excel file(s) within SharePoint with SOAP Schema, set the URI proprerty to the URI of the document library that includes the intended Excel file. Set User, Password, and StorageBaseURL.

  SharePoint Online REST

  To connect to Excel file(s) within SharePoint with REST Schema, set the URI proprerty to the URI of the document library that includes the intended Excel file. StorageBaseURL is optional. If not set, the driver will use the root drive. OAuth is used to authenticate.

  Google Drive

  To connect to Excel file(s) within Google Drive, set the URI property to the URI of the folder that includes the intended Excel file(s). Use the OAuth authentication method to connect and set InitiateOAuth to GETANDREFRESH.

  Built-In Connection String Designer

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

   java -jar cdata.jdbc.excel.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 (Google Sheets is shown.)
  
• Username: Set this to a placeholder value (since Excel does not require a username)
• Password: Set this to a placeholder value (since Excel does not require a password)

👁 Configuring the Connection (Google Sheets is shown.

Create a Mapping for Excel Data

With the connection to Excel configured, we can now access Excel data in any Informatica process. The steps below walk through creating a mapping for Excel to another data target.

1. Navigate to the Data Integration page 👁 Image
   
2. Click New.. and select Mapping from the Mappings tab 👁 Image
   
3. Click the Source Object and in the Source tab, select the Connection and set the Source Type 👁 Selecting the Source Connection and Source Type
   
4. Click "Select" to choose the table to map 👁 Selecting the Source Object
   
5. In the Fields tab, select the fields from the Excel table to map 👁 Selecting Source Fields to map
   
6. Click the Target object and configure the Target source, table and fields. In the Field Mapping tab, map the source fields to the target fields. 👁 Selecting the Target Field Mappings
   

With the mapping configured, you are ready to start integrating live Excel data with any of the supported connections in Informatica Cloud. Download a free, 30-day trial of the CData JDBC Driver for Microsoft Excel and start working with your live Excel data in Informatica Cloud today.