Connect to Facebook Data from PowerBuilder via ODBC

The CData ODBC Driver for Facebook can be used from any platform or development technology that supports ODBC, including PowerBuilder. This article shows how to connect to Facebook data and execute queries from the Database Painter and controls such as the DataWindow.

Connect to Facebook as an ODBC Data Source

If you have not already, first specify connection properties in an ODBC DSN (data source name). This is the last step of the driver installation. You can use the Microsoft ODBC Data Source Administrator to create and configure ODBC DSNs.

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.

Create a Profile for the ODBC Driver for Facebook

Follow the steps below to use the Database Painter tool to create a database profile based on an ODBC DSN (data source name) for Facebook. In the Database Painter, you can use wizards and the UI to work with Facebook data.

1. In PowerBuilder, click Tools -> Database Painter.
2. In the Objects window in the Database Painter, right-click the ODBC node and click New Profile.
3. On the Connection tab, enter a name for the profile and select the Facebook DSN in the Data Source menu. 👁 The ODBC DSN, required to create the Database Profile. (Salesforce is shown.)
   
4. To view and modify a table, right-click a table and then click Edit Data -> Grid.

Using Facebook Data with PowerBuilder Controls

You can use standard PowerBuilder objects to connect to ODBC data sources and execute queries. The following example shows how to retrieve Facebook data into a DataWindow. You can add the following code to the open method:

SQLCA.DBMS = "ODBC"
SQLCA.DBParm = "ConnectString='DSN=CData Facebook Source'"
CONNECT USING SQLCA;
dw_posts.SetTransObject(SQLCA);
dw_posts.Retrieve();