Access SAP Ariba Procurement Data in Mule Applications Using the CData JDBC Driver

The CData JDBC Driver for SAP Ariba Procurement connects SAP Ariba Procurement data to Mule applications enabling read functionality with familiar SQL queries. The JDBC Driver allows users to easily create Mule applications to backup, transform, report, and analyze SAP Ariba Procurement data.

This article demonstrates how to use the CData JDBC Driver for SAP Ariba Procurement inside of a Mule project to create a Web interface for SAP Ariba Procurement data. The application created allows you to request SAP Ariba Procurement data using an HTTP request and have the results returned as JSON. The exact same procedure outlined below can be used with any CData JDBC Driver to create a Web interface for the hundreds of available data sources.

1. Create a new Mule Project in Anypoint Studio.
2. Add an HTTP Connector to the Message Flow.
3. Configure the address for the HTTP Connector. 👁 Add and Configure the HTTP Connector
   
4. Add a Database Select Connector to the same flow, after the HTTP Connector.
5. Create a new Connection (or edit an existing one) and configure the properties.
   • Set Connection to "Generic Connection"
   • Select the CData JDBC Driver JAR file in the Required Libraries section (e.g. cdata.jdbc.saparibaprocurement.jar). 👁 Adding the JAR file (Salesforce is shown).
     
   • Set the URL to the connection string for SAP Ariba Procurement

     In order to connect with SAP Ariba Procurement, set the following:

     • ANID: Your Ariba Network ID.
     • ANID: Specify which API you would like the provider to retrieve SAP Ariba data from. Select the Buyer or Supplier API based on your business role (possible values are PurchaseOrdersBuyerAPIV1 or PurchaseOrdersSupplierAPIV1).
     • Environment: Indicate whether you are connecting to a test or production environment (possible values are TEST or PRODUCTION).

     Authenticating with OAuth

     After setting connection properties, you need to configure OAuth connectivity to authenticate.

     • Set AuthScheme to OAuthClient.
     • Register an application with the service to obtain the APIKey, OAuthClientId and OAuthClientSecret.

       For more information on creating an OAuth application, refer to the Help documentation.

     Automatic OAuth

     After setting the following, you are ready to connect:

     APIKey: The Application key in your app settings. OAuthClientId: The OAuth Client Id in your app settings. OAuthClientSecret: The OAuth Secret in your app settings.

     When you connect, the provider automatically completes the OAuth process:

     1. The provider obtains an access token from SAP Ariba and uses it to request data.
     2. The provider refreshes the access token automatically when it expires.
     3. The OAuth values are saved in memory relative to the location specified in OAuthSettingsLocation.

     Built-in Connection String Designer

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

     		java -jar cdata.jdbc.saparibaprocurement.jar
     		

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

   • Set the Driver class name to cdata.jdbc.saparibaprocurement.SAPAribaProcurementDriver. 👁 A configured Database Connection (Salesforce is shown).
     
   • Click Test Connection.
6. Set the SQL Query Text to a SQL query to request SAP Ariba Procurement data. For example:

   SELECT DocumentNumber, Revision FROM Orders WHERE OrderStatus = 'CHANGED'

   👁 Configure the Select object (Salesforce is Shown)
   
7. Add a Transform Message Component to the flow.
8. Set the Output script to the following to convert the payload to JSON:

   %dw 2.0
   output application/json
   ---
   payload
    

   👁 Add the Transform Message Component to the Flow
   
9. To view your SAP Ariba Procurement data, navigate to the address you configured for the HTTP Connector (localhost:8081 by default): http://localhost:8081. The SAP Ariba Procurement data is available as JSON in your Web browser and any other tools capable of consuming JSON endpoints.

At this point, you have a simple Web interface for working with SAP Ariba Procurement data (as JSON data) in custom apps and a wide variety of BI, reporting, and ETL tools. Download a free, 30 day trial of the JDBC Driver for SAP Ariba Procurement and see the CData difference in your Mule Applications today.