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

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

This article demonstrates how to use the CData JDBC Driver for SAP Ariba Source inside of a Mule project to create a Web interface for SAP Ariba Source data. The application created allows you to request SAP Ariba Source 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.saparibasource.jar). 👁 Adding the JAR file (Salesforce is shown).
     
   • Set the URL to the connection string for SAP Ariba Source

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

     • API: Specify which API you would like the provider to retrieve SAP Ariba data from. Select the Supplier, Sourcing Project Management, or Contract API based on your business role (possible values are SupplierDataAPIWithPaginationV4, SourcingProjectManagementAPIV2, or ContractAPIV1).
     • DataCenter: The data center where your account's data is hosted.
     • Realm: The name of the site you want to access.
     • Environment: Indicate whether you are connecting to a test or production environment (possible values are TEST or PRODUCTION).

     If you are connecting to the Supplier Data API or the Contract API, additionally set the following:

     • User: Id of the user on whose behalf API calls are invoked.
     • PasswordAdapter: The password associated with the authenticating User.

     If you're connecting to the Supplier API, set ProjectId to the Id of the sourcing project you want to retrieve data from.

     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 Source JDBC Driver. Either double-click the JAR file or execute the jar file from the command-line.

     		java -jar cdata.jdbc.saparibasource.jar
     		

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

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

   SELECT SMVendorID, Category FROM Vendors WHERE Region = 'USA'

   👁 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 Source data, navigate to the address you configured for the HTTP Connector (localhost:8081 by default): http://localhost:8081. The SAP Ariba Source 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 Source 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 Source and see the CData difference in your Mule Applications today.