Create a Data Access Object for Quickbase 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 Quickbase integrates connectivity to live Quickbase data in Java applications. By pairing these technologies, you gain simple, programmatic access to Quickbase data. This article explains how to build a basic Data Access Object (DAO) and the accompanying code to read and write Quickbase data.

Create a DAO for the Quickbase SampleTable_1 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 MySampleTable_1DAO {
 //insert new data into Quickbase
 @SqlUpdate("INSERT INTO SampleTable_1 (Column2, Column1) values (:column2, :column1)")
 void insert(@Bind("column2") String column2, @Bind("column1") String column1);

 //request specific data from Quickbase (String type is used for simplicity)
 @SqlQuery("SELECT Column1 FROM SampleTable_1 WHERE Column2 = :column2")
 String findColumn1ByColumn2(@Bind("column2") String column2);

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

Open a Connection to Quickbase

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

User Authentication Method

To authenticate with user credentials, specify the following connection properties:

1. Set the User and Password.
2. If your application requires an ApplicationToken;, you must provide it otherwise an error will be thrown. You can find the ApplicationToken under SpecificApp > Settings > App management > App properties > Advanced settings > Security options > Manage Application Token.

User Token Authentication

To authenticate with a user token, specify the following connection properties:

1. Set UserToken and you are ready to connect. You can find the UserToken under Quick Base > My Preferences > My User Information > Manage User Tokens.

Built-in Connection String Designer

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

java -jar cdata.jdbc.quickbase.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.)

A connection string for Quickbase will typically look like the following:

jdbc:quickbase:[email protected];Password=password;Domain=myinstance.quickbase.com;ApplicationToken=bwkxrb5da2wn57bzfh9xn24

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:quickbase:[email protected];Password=password;Domain=myinstance.quickbase.com;ApplicationToken=bwkxrb5da2wn57bzfh9xn24");
MySampleTable_1DAO dao = dbi.open(MySampleTable_1DAO.class);

//do stuff with the DAO

dao.close();

Read Quickbase Data

With the connection open to Quickbase, simply call the previously defined method to retrieve data from the SampleTable_1 entity in Quickbase.

//disply the result of our 'find' method
String column1 = dao.findColumn1ByColumn2("100");
System.out.println(column1);

Write Quickbase Data

It is also simple to write data to Quickbase, using the previously defined method.

//add a new entry to the SampleTable_1 entity
dao.insert(newColumn2, newColumn1);

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