Create a Data Access Object for LinkedIn Ads Data using JDBI

JDBI is a SQL convenience library for Java that exposes two different style APIs, a fluent style and a SQL object style. The CData JDBC Driver for LinkedIn Ads integrates connectivity to live LinkedIn Ads data in Java applications. By pairing these technologies, you gain simple, programmatic access to LinkedIn Ads data. This article explains how to build a basic Data Access Object (DAO) and the accompanying code to read LinkedIn Ads data.

Create a DAO for the LinkedIn Ads Analytics Entity

The interface below declares the desired behavior for the SQL object to create a single method for each SQL statement to be implemented.

public interface MyAnalyticsDAO {
 //request specific data from LinkedIn Ads (String type is used for simplicity)
 @SqlQuery("SELECT Comment FROM Analytics WHERE EntityId = :entityId")
 String findCommentByEntityId(@Bind("entityId") String entityId);

 /*
 * close with no args is used to close the connection
 */
 void close();
}

Open a Connection to LinkedIn Ads

Collect the necessary connection properties and construct the appropriate JDBC URL for connecting to LinkedIn Ads.

LinkedIn Ads uses the OAuth authentication standard. OAuth requires the authenticating user to interact with LinkedIn using the browser. See the OAuth section in the Help documentation for a guide.

Built-in Connection String Designer

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

java -jar cdata.jdbc.linkedinads.jar

Fill in the connection properties and copy the connection string to the clipboard.

A connection string for LinkedIn Ads will typically look like the following:

jdbc:linkedinads:OAuthClientId=MyOAuthClientId;OAuthClientSecret=MyOAuthClientSecret;CallbackURL=http://localhost:portNumber;InitiateOAuth=GETANDREFRESH;

Use the configured JDBC URL to obtain an instance of the DAO interface. The particular method shown below will open a handle bound to the instance, so the instance needs to be closed explicitly to release the handle and the bound JDBC connection.

DBI dbi = new DBI("jdbc:linkedinads:OAuthClientId=MyOAuthClientId;OAuthClientSecret=MyOAuthClientSecret;CallbackURL=http://localhost:portNumber;InitiateOAuth=GETANDREFRESH;");
MyAnalyticsDAO dao = dbi.open(MyAnalyticsDAO.class);

//do stuff with the DAO

dao.close();

Read LinkedIn Ads Data

With the connection open to LinkedIn Ads, simply call the previously defined method to retrieve data from the Analytics entity in LinkedIn Ads.

//disply the result of our 'find' method
String comment = dao.findCommentByEntityId("238");
System.out.println(comment);

Since the JDBI library is able to work with JDBC connections, you can easily produce a SQL Object API for LinkedIn Ads by integrating with the CData JDBC Driver for LinkedIn Ads. Download a free trial and work with live LinkedIn Ads data in custom Java applications today.