Import Real-Time Snowflake Data via ODBC in ColdFusion to Build Applications

Dibyendu Datta
Lead Technology Evangelist

Use CData ODBC drivers to import and use Snowflake data in ColdFusion.

Adobe ColdFusion is a web and mobile application development platform. It uses its own scripting language, ColdFusion Markup Language (CFML), to create data-driven websites as well as generate remote services, such as REST. When ColdFusion is paired with the CData ODBC Driver for Snowflake, you can link your ColdFusion web and mobile applications to operational Snowflake data. This allows for your applications to be more robust and complete. This article details how to use the ODBC driver to create a table populated with Snowflake data from within a ColdFusion markup file.

About Snowflake Data Integration

CData simplifies access and integration of live Snowflake data. Our customers leverage CData connectivity to:

Reads and write Snowflake data quickly and efficiently.
Dynamically obtain metadata for the specified Warehouse, Database, and Schema.
Authenticate in a variety of ways, including OAuth, OKTA, Azure AD, Azure Managed Service Identity, PingFederate, private key, and more.

Many CData users use CData solutions to access Snowflake from their preferred tools and applications, and replicate data from their disparate systems into Snowflake for comprehensive warehousing and analytics.

For more information on integrating Snowflake with CData solutions, refer to our blog: https://www.cdata.com/blog/snowflake-integrations.

Getting Started

To follow along with this tutorial, you need to install the CData ODBC Driver for Snowflake and Adobe ColdFusion.

Configuring the Connection

If you have not already, first specify connection properties in an ODBC DSN (Data Source Name). This is the last step of the driver installation process. You can use the Microsoft ODBC Data Source Administrator to create and configure ODBC DSNs.

To connect to Snowflake:

Set User and Password to your Snowflake credentials and set the AuthScheme property to PASSWORD or OKTA.
Set URL to the URL of the Snowflake instance (i.e.: https://myaccount.snowflakecomputing.com).
Set Warehouse to the Snowflake warehouse.
(Optional) Set Account to your Snowflake account if your URL does not conform to the format above.
(Optional) Set Database and Schema to restrict the tables and views exposed.
(Optional) If MFA is enabled on your Snowflake account (via Duo Security), set MFACode to the passcode generated by your Duo authenticator app.

See the Getting Started guide in the CData driver documentation for more information.

Adding a Data Source and Creating a Table

After creating a DSN, follow the steps below to add a new data source, test our connection to it, create a ColdFusion markup file, and, finally, import Snowflake Data and display it in a table in ColdFusion:

From the ColdFusion administrator interface, choose Data & Services. 👁 Selecting Data & Services
Here, click "Add New Data Source". The data source name can be any name, provided it conforms to the ColdFusion variable naming conventions. For our ODBC driver, choose "ODBC Socket", then click the "Add" button. 👁 Adding Data Source Name
From the ODBC DSN Dropdown menu select CData Snowflake Sys. Under the Advanced Settings section, leave the Connection String blank. Note that any properties specified in this input field will override the ones specified in the DSN Configuration. 👁 Populating driver properties
Now, test the connection by pressing the check mark to the left of the CDataSnowflakeODBC data source you just created. When the data source reports an "OK" status, it is ready for use. 👁 Testing the connection

Next, create a new ColdFusion Markup file (.cfm) and place it in the wwwroot directory ("C:\ColdFusion2021\cfusion\wwwroot") for ColdFusion.

The following code queries the data source:

 
 <cfquery name="SnowflakeQuery" dataSource="CDataSnowflakeODBC"> 
 SELECT * FROM Products 
 </cfquery>

And a CFTable can be used to quickly output the table in HTML:

 
 <cftable 
 query = "SnowflakeQuery" 
 border = "1" 
 colHeaders 
 colSpacing = "2" 
 headerLines = "2" 
 HTMLTable 
 maxRows = "500" 
 startRow = "1"> 

 <cfcol header="<b>Id</b>" align="Left" width=2 text="Id"/> 

 <cfcol header="<b>ProductName</b>" align="Left" width=15 text="ProductName"/> 

 ...

 </cftable>

Full code, including the HTML portion is available below:

 
 <html> 
 <head><title>CData Software | Snowflake Products Table Demo </title></head> 
 <body> 
 <cfoutput>#ucase("Snowflake Products Table Demo")#</cfoutput> 
 <cfquery name="SnowflakeQuery" dataSource="CDataSnowflakeODBC"> 

 SELECT * FROM Products 

 </cfquery> 
 <cftable 
 query = "SnowflakeQuery" 
 border = "1" 
 colHeaders 
 colSpacing = "2" 
 headerLines = "2" 
 HTMLTable 
 maxRows = "500" 
 startRow = "1"> 
 <cfcol header="<b>Id</b>" align="Left" width=2 text="Id"/> 

 <cfcol header="<b>ProductName</b>" align="Left" width=15 text="ProductName"/> 

 ...

 </cftable> 
 </body> 

 </html>

Finally, run the code in a browser. It produces a table populated with Snowflake data! 👁 Running the code

As a note, the CData ODBC Drivers also support parameterized queries using the cfqueryparam element. For example:

SELECT * FROM Account WHERE name =

Get Started Today

Download a free, 30-day trial of the CData ODBC Driver for Snowflake and start building Snowflake-connected applications with Adobe ColdFusion. Reach out to our Support Team if you have any questions.

Ready to get started?

Download a free trial of the Snowflake ODBC Driver to get started:

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Learn more:

👁 Snowflake Enterprise Data Warehouse Icon
Snowflake ODBC Driver

The Snowflake ODBC Driver is a powerful tool that allows you to connect with live Snowflake data warehouse, directly from any applications that support ODBC connectivity.

Access Snowflake like you would a database - read, write, and update through a standard ODBC Driver interface.

URL: https://www.cdata.com/kb/tech/snowflake-odbc-coldfusion.rst