Build a PostgreSQL Interface for SAP SuccessFactors Data using the CData JDBC Driver

There are a vast number of PostgreSQL clients available on the Internet. From standard Drivers to BI and Analytics tools, PostgreSQL is a popular interface for data access. Using our JDBC Drivers, you can now create PostgreSQL entry-points that you can connect to from any standard client.

To access SAP SuccessFactors data as a PostgreSQL database, use the CData JDBC Driver for SAP SuccessFactors and a JDBC foreign data wrapper (FDW). In this article, we compile the FDW, install it, and query SAP SuccessFactors data from PostgreSQL Server.

Connect to SAP SuccessFactors Data as a JDBC Data Source

To connect to SAP SuccessFactors as a JDBC data source, you will need the following:

• Driver JAR path: The JAR is located in the lib subfolder of the installation directory.

• Driver class:

  cdata.jdbc.sapsuccessfactors.SAPSuccessFactorsDriver
  

• JDBC URL: The URL must start with "jdbc:sapsuccessfactors:" and can include any of the connection properties in name-value pairs separated with semicolons.

  You can authenticate to SAP Success Factors using Basic authentication or OAuth with SAML assertion.

  Basic Authentication

  You must provide values for the following properties to successfully authenticate to SAP Success Factors. Note that the provider will reuse the session opened by SAP Success Factors using cookies. Which means that your credentials will be used only on the first request to open the session. After that, cookies returned from SAP Success Factors will be used for authentication.

  • Url: set this to the URL of the server hosting Success Factors. Some of the servers are listed in the SAP support documentation (external link).
  • User: set this to the username of your account.
  • Password: set this to the password of your account.
  • CompanyId: set this to the unique identifier of your company.

  OAuth Authentication

  You must provide values for the following properties, which will be used to get the access token.

  • Url: set this to the URL of the server hosting Success Factors. Some of the servers are listed in the SAP support documentation (external link).
  • User: set this to the username of your account.
  • CompanyId: set this to the unique identifier of your company.
  • OAuthClientId: set this to the API Key that was generated in API Center.
  • OAuthClientSecret: the X.509 private key used to sign SAML assertion. The private key can be found in the certificate you downloaded in Registering your OAuth Client Application.
  • InitiateOAuth: set this to GETANDREFRESH.

  Built-in Connection String Designer

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

  java -jar cdata.jdbc.sapsuccessfactors.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:sapsuccessfactors:User=username;Password=password;CompanyId=CompanyId;Url=https://api4.successfactors.com;
  

Build the JDBC Foreign Data Wrapper

The Foreign Data Wrapper can be installed as an extension to PostgreSQL, without recompiling PostgreSQL. The jdbc2_fdw extension is used as an example (downloadable here).

1. Add a symlink from the shared object for your version of the JRE to /usr/lib/libjvm.so. For example:

   ln -s /usr/lib/jvm/java-6-openjdk/jre/lib/amd64/server/libjvm.so /usr/lib/libjvm.so
   

2. Start the build:

   make install USE_PGXS=1
   

Query SAP SuccessFactors Data as a PostgreSQL Database

After you have installed the extension, follow the steps below to start executing queries to SAP SuccessFactors data:

1. Log into your database.
2. Load the extension for the database:

   CREATE EXTENSION jdbc2_fdw;
   

3. Create a server object for SAP SuccessFactors:

   CREATE SERVER SAPSuccessFactors 
   FOREIGN DATA WRAPPER jdbc2_fdw OPTIONS (
   drivername 'cdata.jdbc.sapsuccessfactors.SAPSuccessFactorsDriver',
   url 'jdbc:sapsuccessfactors:User=username;Password=password;CompanyId=CompanyId;Url=https://api4.successfactors.com;',
   querytimeout '15',
   jarfile '/home/MyUser/CData/CData\ JDBC\ Driver\ for\ Salesforce MyDriverEdition/lib/cdata.jdbc.sapsuccessfactors.jar'); 
   

4. Create a user mapping for the username and password of a user known to the MySQL daemon.

   CREATE USER MAPPING for postgres SERVER SAPSuccessFactors OPTIONS (
   username 'admin', 
   password 'test');
   

5. Create a foreign table in your local database:

   postgres=# CREATE FOREIGN TABLE extaddressinfo (
   extaddressinfo_id text,
   extaddressinfo_address1 text,
   extaddressinfo_zipCode numeric) 
   SERVER SAPSuccessFactors OPTIONS (
   table_name 'extaddressinfo');
   

You can now execute read/write commands to SAP SuccessFactors:

postgres=# SELECT * FROM extaddressinfo;