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

Connect to YouTube Analytics Data as a JDBC Data Source

To connect to YouTube Analytics 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.youtubeanalytics.YouTubeAnalyticsDriver
  

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

  YouTube Analytics uses the OAuth authentication standard. You can use the embedded CData OAuth credentials or you can register an application with Google to obtain your own.

  In addition to the OAuth values, to access YouTube Analytics data set ChannelId to the Id of a YouTube channel. You can obtain the channel Id in the advanced account settings for your channel. If not specified, the channel of the currently authenticated user will be used.

  If you want to generate content owner reports, specify the ContentOwnerId property. This is the Id of the copyright holder for content in YouTube's rights management system. The content owner is the person or organization that claims videos and sets their monetization policy.

  Built-in Connection String Designer

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

  java -jar cdata.jdbc.youtubeanalytics.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:youtubeanalytics:ContentOwnerId=MyContentOwnerId;ChannelId=MyChannelId;InitiateOAuth=GETANDREFRESH;
  

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 YouTube Analytics Data as a PostgreSQL Database

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

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

   CREATE EXTENSION jdbc2_fdw;
   

3. Create a server object for YouTube Analytics:

   CREATE SERVER YouTubeAnalytics 
   FOREIGN DATA WRAPPER jdbc2_fdw OPTIONS (
   drivername 'cdata.jdbc.youtubeanalytics.YouTubeAnalyticsDriver',
   url 'jdbc:youtubeanalytics:ContentOwnerId=MyContentOwnerId;ChannelId=MyChannelId;InitiateOAuth=GETANDREFRESH;',
   querytimeout '15',
   jarfile '/home/MyUser/CData/CData\ JDBC\ Driver\ for\ Salesforce MyDriverEdition/lib/cdata.jdbc.youtubeanalytics.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 YouTubeAnalytics OPTIONS (
   username 'admin', 
   password 'test');
   

5. Create a foreign table in your local database:

   postgres=# CREATE FOREIGN TABLE groups (
   groups_id text,
   groups_Snippet_Title text,
   groups_ContentDetails_ItemCount numeric) 
   SERVER YouTubeAnalytics OPTIONS (
   table_name 'groups');
   

You can now execute read/write commands to YouTube Analytics:

postgres=# SELECT * FROM groups;