Import Real-Time Salesforce Data Cloud Data via JDBC in ColdFusion to Build Applications

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 JDBC Driver for Salesforce Data Cloud, you can link your ColdFusion web and mobile applications to operational Salesforce Data Cloud data. This allows for your applications to be more robust and complete. This article details how to use the JDBC driver to create a table populated with Salesforce Data Cloud data from within a ColdFusion markup file.

With built-in optimized data processing, the CData JDBC Driver offers unmatched performance for interacting with live Salesforce Data Cloud data. When you issue complex SQL queries to Salesforce Data Cloud, the driver pushes supported SQL operations, like filters and aggregations, directly to Salesforce Data Cloud and utilizes the embedded SQL engine to process unsupported operations client-side (often SQL functions and JOIN operations). Its built-in dynamic metadata querying allows you to work with and analyze Salesforce Data Cloud data using native data types.

Configuring the Connection to Salesforce Data Cloud

You will need a JDBC connection string to establish a connection between Coldfusion and Salesforce Data Cloud.

Salesforce Data Cloud supports authentication via the OAuth standard.

OAuth

Set to OAuth.

Desktop Applications

CData provides an embedded OAuth application that simplifies authentication at the desktop.

You can also authenticate from the desktop via a custom OAuth application, which you configure and register at the Salesforce Data Cloud console. For further information, see Creating a Custom OAuth App in the Help documentation.

Before you connect, set these properties:

• : GETANDREFRESH. You can use to avoid repeating the OAuth exchange and manually setting the .
• (custom applications only): The Client ID assigned when you registered your custom OAuth application.
• (custom applications only): The Client Secret assigned when you registered your custom OAuth application.

When you connect, the driver opens Salesforce Data Cloud's OAuth endpoint in your default browser. Log in and grant permissions to the application.

The driver then completes the OAuth process as follows:

• Extracts the access token from the callback URL.
• Obtains a new access token when the old one expires.
• Saves OAuth values in so that they persist across connections.

For other OAuth methods, including Web Applications and Headless Machines, refer to the Help documentation.

Built-in Connection String Designer

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

java -jar cdata.jdbc.salesforcedatacloud.jar

👁 Using the built-in connection string designer to generate a JDBC URL (salesforce data cloud is shown.)


Adding a Data Source and Creating a Table

After configuring the connection, follow the steps below to add the CData JDBC Driver to ColdFusion's lib directory, add a new data source, test the connection, create a ColdFusion markup file, and, finally, make a real-time connection with Salesforce Data Cloud data and display it in a table written in the ColdFusion Markup Language, or CFML:

1. Copy the JDBC Driver for Salesforce Data Cloud and lic file from "C:\Program Files\CData[product_name]\lib" to "C:\ColdFusion2021\cfusion\wwwroot\WEB-INF\lib".

    cdata.jdbc.salesforcedatacloud.jar
    cdata.jdbc.salesforcedatacloud.lic
    

   Note: If you do not copy the .lic file with the jar, you will see a licensing error that indicates you do not have a valid license installed. This is true for both the trial and full versions.

2. From the ColdFusion administrator interface, choose Data & Services. 👁 Selecting Data & Services
   
3. Here, we can "Add New Data Source". The data source name can be any name, provided it conforms to the ColdFusion variable naming conventions. For our JDBC driver, choose "other", then click the "Add" button. 👁 Adding Data Source Name
   
4. Next, populate the driver properties.
   • JDBC URL will need to be in the format: jdbc:salesforcedatacloud:|connectionString|.
   • A typical connection string looks like this:

     jdbc:salesforcedatacloud:InitiateOAuth=GETANDREFRESH;

   • The Driver Class is: cdata.jdbc.salesforcedatacloud.SalesforceDataCloudDriver
   • The Driver Name is arbitrary and simply used to recognize the data source in the ColdFusion administration console.
   👁 Populating driver properties
   
5. Now, test the connection by clicking the check mark to the left of the CDataSalesforce Data CloudJDBC data source you just created. When the data source reports an "OK" status, it is ready for use. 👁 Testing the connection
   
6. 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="Salesforce Data CloudQuery" dataSource="CDataSalesforce Data CloudJDBC"> 
    SELECT * FROM Account 
    </cfquery> 
    

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

    
    <cftable 
    query = "Salesforce Data CloudQuery" 
    border = "1" 
    colHeaders 
    colSpacing = "2" 
    headerLines = "2" 
    HTMLTable 
    maxRows = "500" 
    startRow = "1"> 
   
    <cfcol header="<b>[Account ID]</b>" align="Left" width=2 text="[Account ID]"/> 
   
    <cfcol header="<b>[Account Name]</b>" align="Left" width=15 text="[Account Name]"/> 
   
    ...
   
    </cftable> 
    

   Full code, including the HTML portion is available below:

    
    <html> 
    <head><title>CData Software | Salesforce Data Cloud Account Table Demo </title></head> 
    <body> 
    <cfoutput>#ucase("Salesforce Data Cloud Account Table Demo")#</cfoutput> 
    <cfquery name="Salesforce Data CloudQuery" dataSource="CDataSalesforce Data CloudJDBC"> 
   
    SELECT * FROM Account 
   
    </cfquery> 
    <cftable 
    query = "Salesforce Data CloudQuery" 
    border = "1" 
    colHeaders 
    colSpacing = "2" 
    headerLines = "2" 
    HTMLTable 
    maxRows = "500" 
    startRow = "1"> 
    <cfcol header="<b>[Account ID]</b>" align="Left" width=2 text="[Account ID]"/> 
   
    <cfcol header="<b>[Account Name]</b>" align="Left" width=15 text="[Account Name]"/> 
   
    ...
   
    </cftable> 
    </body> 
   
    </html> 
    

7. Finally, run the code locally in a browser at the default port of 8500. It produces a table populated with Salesforce Data Cloud data! 👁 Running the code
   

As a note, the CData JDBC 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 JDBC Driver for Salesforce Data Cloud and start building Salesforce Data Cloud-connected applications with Adobe ColdFusion. Reach out to our Support Team if you have any questions.