Connect to Facebook Data in CloverDX (formerly CloverETL)

The CData JDBC Driver for Facebook enables you to use the data transformation components in CloverDX (formerly CloverETL) to work with Facebook as sources and destinations. In this article, you will use the JDBC Driver for Facebook to set up a simple transfer into a flat file. The CData JDBC Driver for Facebook enables you to use the data transformation components in CloverDX (formerly CloverETL) to work with Facebook as sources and destinations. In this article, you will use the JDBC Driver for Facebook to set up a simple transfer into a flat file.

Connect to Facebook as a JDBC Data Source

1. Create the connection to Facebook data. In a new CloverDX graph, right-click the Connections node in the Outline pane and click Connections -> Create Connection. The Database Connection wizard is displayed.
2. Click the plus icon to load a driver from a JAR. Browse to the lib subfolder of the installation directory and select the cdata.jdbc.facebook.jar file.
3. Enter the JDBC URL.

   Most tables require user authentication as well as application authentication. Facebook uses the OAuth authentication standard. To authenticate to Facebook, you can use the embedded OAuthClientId, OAuthClientSecret, and CallbackURL or you can obtain your own by registering an app with Facebook.

   See the Getting Started chapter of the help documentation for a guide to using OAuth.

   Built-in Connection String Designer

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

   java -jar cdata.jdbc.facebook.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 typical JDBC URL is below:

   jdbc:facebook:InitiateOAuth=GETANDREFRESH;

Query Facebook Data with the DBInputTable Component

1. Drag a DBInputTable from the Readers selection of the Palette onto the job flow and double-click it to open the configuration editor.
2. In the DB connection property, select the Facebook JDBC data source from the drop-down menu.
3. Enter the SQL query. For example:

   SELECT FromName, LikesCount FROM Posts

Write the Output of the Query to a UniversalDataWriter

1. Drag a UniversalDataWriter from the Writers selection onto the jobflow.
2. Double-click the UniversalDataWriter to open the configuration editor and add a file URL.
3. Right-click the DBInputTable and then click Extract Metadata.
4. Connect the output port of the DBInputTable to the UniversalDataWriter.
5. In the resulting Select Metadata menu for the UniversalDataWriter, choose the Posts table. (You can also open this menu by right-clicking the input port for the UniversalDataWriter.)
6. Click Run to write to the file.