Integrate NASA Data in the Pentaho Report Designer

The CData JDBC driver for NASA data enables access to live data from dashboards and reports. This article shows how to connect to NASA data as a JDBC data source and publish reports based on NASA data in Pentaho.

Connect and Create a Report

1. Copy the JAR file of the driver, located in the lib subfolder of the installation directory, to the \Report-Designer\lib\jdbc\ folder in the Pentaho directory.
2. Run the report-designer.bat file in the \Report-Designer\ folder to open the Report-Designer UI.

3. Create a new data source with the driver by clicking Data -> Add Data Source -> Advanced -> JDBC (Custom) and then creating a new NASA connection. In the resulting dialog, configure the connection properties as shown below.

   • Custom Connection URL property: Enter the JDBC URL. This starts with jdbc:api: and is followed by a semicolon-separated list of connection properties.

     Using API Key Authentication

     Most NASA API endpoints (APOD, NeoWS, DONKI, TechTransfer) require a NASA API key. Register for a free key at https://api.nasa.gov. The default DEMO_KEY provides limited access (30 requests/hour, 50 requests/day); a registered key allows 1,000 requests/hour.

     The following endpoints do not require an API key and work without authentication: EONET (Earth Observatory Natural Event Tracker), EPIC (Earth Polychromatic Imaging Camera), NASA Image and Video Library, and TechPort.

     After obtaining your API key, set the following connection properties:

     • AuthScheme: Set this to APIKey.
     • APIKey: Set this to your NASA API key. Use DEMO_KEY for limited testing.

     Example Connection String

     Profile=C:\profiles\NASA.apip;AuthScheme=APIKey;APIKey=YOUR_NASA_API_KEY
     

     Connecting to NASA

     Once the authentication is configured, you can connect to NASA and query data from any of the available tables such as AstronomyPictureOfDay, NearEarthObjectFeed, EonetEvents, and NasaImageLibrary.

     Built-in Connection String Designer

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

     java -jar cdata.jdbc.api.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.)
     

     When you configure the JDBC URL, you may also want to set the Max Rows connection property. This will limit the number of rows returned, which is especially helpful for improving performance when designing reports and visualizations.

     Below is a typical JDBC URL:

     jdbc:api:Profile=C:\profiles\NASA.apip;AuthScheme=APIKey;APIKey=YOUR_NASA_API_KEY

   • Custom Driver Class Name: Enter cdata.jdbc.api.APIDriver.
   • User Name: The username to authenticate with.
   • Password: The password to authenticate with.
   👁 Required connection properties defined in the JDBC URL. (Salesforce is shown.)
   

Add NASA Data to a Report

You are now ready to create a report with NASA data.

1. Add the NASA source to your report: Click Data -> Add Data Source -> JDBC and select the data source.

2. Configure the query. This article uses the one below:

   SELECT , FROM AstronomyPictureOfDay WHERE StartDate = '2024-01-01'

   👁 The query to retrieve data, specified in the JDBC data source configuration wizard. (Salesforce is shown.)
   
3. Drag a chart onto your report and double-click it to edit the chart. Run the report to display the chart. You can use the results of this query to create a simple chart for the AstronomyPictureOfDay table.
4. Finally, run the report to see the chart.