Connect to FHIR Data from PowerBuilder via JDBC

The CData JDBC driver for FHIR is a standards-based control that can be used from any platform or development technology that supports JDBC, including PowerBuilder. This article shows how to use the CData JDBC Driver for FHIR in PowerBuilder.

This article shows how to create a basic PowerBuilder application that uses the CData JDBC Driver for FHIR to retrieve data.

Connect to FHIR Data from PowerBuilder

Follow the steps below to use the Database Painter tool to create a database profile based on an JDBC URL for FHIR. You can use a database profile to save connection properties. In the Database Painter, you can graphically manipulate data as well as execute SQL queries.

1. Add the driver JAR to the PowerBuilder classpath. Set the CLASSPATH system environment variable to the path to the driver JAR, located in the lib subfolder of the installation directory.

   Note: If you are using PowerBuilder Classic, you can also add the path to the driver JAR by clicking Tools -> System Options -> Java.

2. Click Tools -> Database Painter.
3. Right-click the JDBC node and click New Profile.
4. In the Database Profile Setup dialog, enter the following:
   • Profile Name: Enter a user-friendly name for the profile.
   • Driver Name: Enter the class name of the driver, cdata.jdbc.fhir.FHIRDriver
   • URL: Enter the JDBC URL.

     Set URL to the Service Base URL of the FHIR server. This is the address where the resources are defined in the FHIR server you would like to connect to. Set ConnectionType to a supported connection type. Set ContentType to the format of your documents. Set AuthScheme based on the authentication requirements for your FHIR server.

     Generic, Azure-based, AWS-based, and Google-based FHIR server implementations are supported.

     Sample Service Base URLs

     • Generic: http://my_fhir_server/r4b/
     • Azure: https://MY_AZURE_FHIR.azurehealthcareapis.com/
     • AWS: https://healthlake.REGION.amazonaws.com/datastore/DATASTORE_ID/r4/
     • Google: https://healthcare.googleapis.com/v1/projects/PROJECT_ID/locations/LOCATION/datasets/DATASET_ID/fhirStores/FHIR_STORE_ID/fhir/

     Generic FHIR Instances

     The product supports connections to custom instances of FHIR. Authentication to custom FHIR servers is handled via OAuth (read more about OAuth in the Help documentation. Before you can connect to custom FHIR instances, you must set ConnectionType to Generic.

     Built-in Connection String Designer

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

     java -jar cdata.jdbc.fhir.jar
     

     Fill in the connection properties and copy the connection string to the clipboard. A typical JDBC URL is below:

     jdbc:fhir:URL=http://test.fhir.org/r4b/;ConnectionType=Generic;ContentType=JSON;AuthScheme=None;

   👁 The JDBC data source defined in the Database Profile Setup dialog. (Salesforce is shown.)
   
5. To view and modify a table, right-click a table and then click Edit Data -> Grid.

Using FHIR Data with PowerBuilder Controls

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

SQLCA.DBMS = "JDBC"
SQLCA.AutoCommit = False
SQLCA.DBParm = "Driver='cdata.jdbc.fhir.FHIRDriver',URL='jdbc:fhir:URL=http://test.fhir.org/r4b/;ConnectionType=Generic;ContentType=JSON;AuthScheme=None;";
CONNECT USING SQLCA;
dw_patient.SetTransObject(SQLCA);
dw_patient.Retrieve();