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

Connect to Scrapfly Data as a JDBC Data Source

To connect to Scrapfly 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.api.APIDriver
  

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

  The Scrapfly API uses API Key authentication. The API key is passed as the key query parameter on every request.

  Using API Key Authentication

  Your Scrapfly API key is required to create a connection. To obtain your API key:

  1. Log into your Scrapfly account at scrapfly.io.
  2. Navigate to Dashboard and select API Keys.
  3. Copy your API key (begins with scp-live- for production or scp-test- for the test environment).

  After obtaining your API key, set the following connection properties:

  • AuthScheme: Set this to APIKey.
  • APIKey: Set this to your Scrapfly API key.

  Example connection string:

  Profile=C:\profiles\Scrapfly.apip;AuthScheme=APIKey;ProfileSettings='APIKey=your_api_key';
  

  Built-in Connection String Designer

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

  java -jar cdata.jdbc.api.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:api:Profile=C:\profiles\Scrapfly.apip;AuthScheme=APIKey;ProfileSettings='APIKey=your_api_key';
  

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 Scrapfly Data as a PostgreSQL Database

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

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

   CREATE EXTENSION jdbc2_fdw;
   

3. Create a server object for Scrapfly:

   CREATE SERVER API 
   FOREIGN DATA WRAPPER jdbc2_fdw OPTIONS (
   drivername 'cdata.jdbc.api.APIDriver',
   url 'jdbc:api:Profile=C:\profiles\Scrapfly.apip;AuthScheme=APIKey;ProfileSettings='APIKey=your_api_key';',
   querytimeout '15',
   jarfile '/home/MyUser/CData/CData\ JDBC\ Driver\ for\ Salesforce MyDriverEdition/lib/cdata.jdbc.api.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 API OPTIONS (
   username 'admin', 
   password 'test');
   

5. Create a foreign table in your local database:

   postgres=# CREATE FOREIGN TABLE account (
   account_id text,
   account_ text,
   account_ numeric) 
   SERVER API OPTIONS (
   table_name 'account');
   

You can now execute SELECT commands to Scrapfly:

postgres=# SELECT * FROM account;