Import Real-Time Facebook Ads Data via ODBC in ColdFusion to Build Applications

Dibyendu Datta
Lead Technology Evangelist

Use CData ODBC drivers to import and use Facebook Ads data in ColdFusion.

Adobe ColdFusion is a web and mobile application development platform. It uses its own scripting language, ColdFusion Markup Language (CFML), to create data-driven websites as well as generate remote services, such as REST. When ColdFusion is paired with the CData ODBC Driver for Facebook Ads, you can link your ColdFusion web and mobile applications to operational Facebook Ads data. This allows for your applications to be more robust and complete. This article details how to use the ODBC driver to create a table populated with Facebook Ads data from within a ColdFusion markup file.

To follow along with this tutorial, you need to install the CData ODBC Driver for Facebook Ads and Adobe ColdFusion.

Configuring the Connection

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 process. 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.

Adding a Data Source and Creating a Table

After creating a DSN, follow the steps below to add a new data source, test our connection to it, create a ColdFusion markup file, and, finally, import Facebook Ads Data and display it in a table in ColdFusion:

From the ColdFusion administrator interface, choose Data & Services. 👁 Selecting Data & Services
Here, click "Add New Data Source". The data source name can be any name, provided it conforms to the ColdFusion variable naming conventions. For our ODBC driver, choose "ODBC Socket", then click the "Add" button. 👁 Adding Data Source Name
From the ODBC DSN Dropdown menu select CData Facebook Ads Sys. Under the Advanced Settings section, leave the Connection String blank. Note that any properties specified in this input field will override the ones specified in the DSN Configuration. 👁 Populating driver properties
Now, test the connection by pressing the check mark to the left of the CDataFacebook AdsODBC data source you just created. When the data source reports an "OK" status, it is ready for use. 👁 Testing the connection

Next, create a new ColdFusion Markup file (.cfm) and place it in the wwwroot directory ("C:\ColdFusion2021\cfusion\wwwroot") for ColdFusion.

The following code queries the data source:

 
 <cfquery name="Facebook AdsQuery" dataSource="CDataFacebook AdsODBC"> 
 SELECT * FROM AdAccounts 
 </cfquery>

And a CFTable can be used to quickly output the table in HTML:

 
 <cftable 
 query = "Facebook AdsQuery" 
 border = "1" 
 colHeaders 
 colSpacing = "2" 
 headerLines = "2" 
 HTMLTable 
 maxRows = "500" 
 startRow = "1"> 

 <cfcol header="<b>AccountId</b>" align="Left" width=2 text="AccountId"/> 

 <cfcol header="<b>Name</b>" align="Left" width=15 text="Name"/> 

 ...

 </cftable>

Full code, including the HTML portion is available below:

 
 <html> 
 <head><title>CData Software | Facebook Ads AdAccounts Table Demo </title></head> 
 <body> 
 <cfoutput>#ucase("Facebook Ads AdAccounts Table Demo")#</cfoutput> 
 <cfquery name="Facebook AdsQuery" dataSource="CDataFacebook AdsODBC"> 

 SELECT * FROM AdAccounts 

 </cfquery> 
 <cftable 
 query = "Facebook AdsQuery" 
 border = "1" 
 colHeaders 
 colSpacing = "2" 
 headerLines = "2" 
 HTMLTable 
 maxRows = "500" 
 startRow = "1"> 
 <cfcol header="<b>AccountId</b>" align="Left" width=2 text="AccountId"/> 

 <cfcol header="<b>Name</b>" align="Left" width=15 text="Name"/> 

 ...

 </cftable> 
 </body> 

 </html>

Finally, run the code in a browser. It produces a table populated with Facebook Ads data! 👁 Running the code

As a note, the CData ODBC Drivers also support parameterized queries using the cfqueryparam element. For example:

SELECT * FROM Account WHERE name =

Get Started Today

Download a free, 30-day trial of the CData ODBC Driver for Facebook Ads and start building Facebook Ads-connected applications with Adobe ColdFusion. Reach out to our Support Team if you have any questions.

Ready to get started?

Download a free trial of the Facebook Ads ODBC Driver to get started:

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Learn more:

👁 Facebook Ads Icon
Facebook Ads ODBC Driver

The Facebook Ads ODBC Driver is a powerful tool that allows you to connect with live data from Facebook Ads, directly from any applications that support ODBC connectivity.

Access Facebook Ads data like you would a database - read, write, and update Facebook Ads Comments, Groups, Pages, Insights, etc. through a standard ODBC Driver interface.

URL: https://www.cdata.com/kb/tech/facebookads-odbc-coldfusion.rst