Query SAP Netweaver Gateway Data in ColdFusion

The CData JDBC driver for SAP Netweaver Gateway seamlessly integrates connectivity to SAP Netweaver Gateway data with the rapid development tools in ColdFusion. This article shows how to connect to SAP Netweaver Gateway data in ColdFusion and query SAP Netweaver Gateway tables.

Create a JDBC Data Source for SAP Netweaver Gateway in ColdFusion

The JDBC data source enables you to execute SQL from standard ColdFusion tags like cfquery and CFScript like executeQuery.

1. Copy the driver JAR and .lic file from the installation directory onto the ColdFusion classpath. For example, copy the files into C:\MyColdFusionDirectory\cfusion\wwwroot\WEB-INF\lib. Or, open the Java and JVM page in the ColdFusion Administrator and enter the path to the files in the ColdFusion Class Path box.

   The JAR and license for the driver are located in the lib subfolder of the installation directory.

   Restart the server after this step.

2. Add the driver as a data source:

   From the ColdFusion administrator interface, expand the Data & Services node and click Data Sources. In the Add New Data Source section, enter a name for the data source and select Other in the Driver menu.

   👁 Adding a JDBC data source to ColdFusion. (Salesforce is shown.)
   

3. Populate the driver properties:

   • JDBC URL: Enter connection properties in the JDBC URL. The JDBC URL begins with jdbc:sapgateway: and is followed by the connection properties in a semicolon-separated list of name=value pairs.

     SAP Gateway allows both basic and OAuth 2.0 authentication. You can use basic authentication to connect to your own account, or you can use OAuth to enable other users to retrieve data from your service with their accounts. In addition to authenticating, set the following connection properties to access SAP Gateway tables.

     • Url: Set this to the URL of your environment, or to the full URL of the service. For example, the full URL might appear as: https://sapes5.sapdevcenter.com/sap/opu/odata/IWBEP/GWSAMPLE_BASIC/. In this example, the environment URL would just be: https://sapes5.sapdevcenter.com.
     • Namespace: Set the appropriate Service Namespace. In the example above, IWBEP is the namespace. It is optional if the full URL to the service is specified.
     • Service: Set this to the service you want to retrieve data from. In the example above, the service is GWSAMPLE_BASIC. It is not required if the full URL is specified.

     Authenticate via Basic Authentication

     In basic authentication, you use your login credentials to connect. Set the following properties:

     • User: This is the username you use to log in to SAP Gateway.
     • Password: This is the password you use to log in to SAP Gateway.

     Authenticate via OAuth Authentication

     You can connect to SAP Gateway using the embedded OAuth connectivity (without setting any additional authentication connection properties). When you connect, the OAuth endpoint opens in your browser. Log in and grant permissions to complete the OAuth process. See the OAuth section in the online Help documentation for more information on other OAuth authentication flows.

     Built-in Connection String Designer

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

     java -jar cdata.jdbc.sapgateway.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 typical JDBC URL is below:

     jdbc:sapgateway:User=user;Password=password;URL=https://sapes5.sapdevcenter.com/sap/opu/odata/IWBEP/GWSAMPLE_BASIC/;InitiateOAuth=GETANDREFRESH;

   • Driver Class: Enter the driver class. The driver class is cdata.jdbc.sapgateway.SAPGatewayDriver.
   • Driver Name: Enter a user-defined name for the driver.
   • Username: Enter the username used to authenticate.
   • Password: Enter the password used to authenticate.

You can now test the connection by enabling the CData SAP Netweaver Gateway data source in the Actions column. After reporting a status of OK, the SAP Netweaver Gateway data source is ready for use.

Execute Queries

The cfquery tag can pass SQL statements to SAP Netweaver Gateway, including INSERT, UPDATE, and DELETE.. Use the cfqueryparam tag to create parameterized queries and prevent SQL injection through the query string.

Note: To use the cfquery and cfscript, create a .cfm file. Inside the .cfm file, write the code to execute the query (see below). Place the file directly in the root directory of your web server (e.g., wwwroot in Adobe ColdFusion). Restart the service after placing the file for the changes to take effect.

<cfquery name="SAPGatewayQuery" dataSource="CDataSAPGateway">
 SELECT * FROM SalesOrderLineItems WHERE Quantity = <cfqueryparam value="#Quantity#" cfsqltype="cf_sql_varchar">
</cfquery>
<cfdump var="#SAPGatewayQuery#">

Below is the equivalent in CFScript:

<cfscript>
result = queryExecute(
 "SELECT * FROM SalesOrderLineItems WHERE Quantity = ?", 
 [
 { value="15", cfsqltype="cf_sql_varchar" }
 ],
 { datasource="CDataSAPGateway" }
);

writeDump( var= result );
</cfscript> 

You can then make requests to your .cfm like the following:

http://MyServer:8500/query.cfm?Quantity=15