Feed Act CRM Data into FineReport

The CData JDBC Driver for Act CRM fully implements the JDBC standard and can provide Act CRM data connectivity to a wide variety of BI, reporting, and ETL tools and custom applications. In this article, we explain how to set Act CRM data as JDBC data source in FineReport and view Act CRM data as a table in the Report Designer.

Set Up a JDBC Data Source of Act CRM Data

Follow the instruction below to set Act CRM data as a FineReport database connection.

1. Copy the cdata.jdbc.actcrm.jar file from the lib folder in the CData JDBC Driver for Act CRM installation directory to the lib folder of the FineReport installation directory. You will need to copy the cdata.jdbc.actcrm.lic file as well.
2. From the Server tab, select Define Data Connection, click to add a new connection, and click JDBC.

Next we will set up the data connection definition in the window.

1. Database: Others
2. JDBC Driver: cdata.jdbc.actcrm.ActCRMDriver
3. URL: A standard JDBC connection string using semicolon-separated connection properties.

   The User and Password properties, under the Authentication section, must be set to valid Act! user credentials. In addition to the authentication values, see the following:

   • Connecting to Act! Premium

     In addition to the authentication values, the URL to Act! is also required; for example https://eup1-iis-04.eu.hosted.act.com/.

     Additionally, you must specify the ActDatabase you will connect to. This is found by going to the About Act! Premium menu of your account, at the top right of the page, in the ? menu. Use the Database Name in the window that appears.

   • Connecting to Act! Premium Cloud

     To connect to your Act! Premium Cloud account, you also need to specify the ActCloudName property. This property is found in the URL address of the Cloud account; for example https://eup1-iis-04.eu.hosted.act.com/ActCloudName/.

   Note that retrieving ActCRM metadata can be expensive. It is advised that you set the CacheMetadata property to store the metadata locally.

   Built-in Connection String Designer

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

   java -jar cdata.jdbc.actcrm.jar

   Fill in the connection properties and copy the connection string to the clipboard.

   When you configure the JDBC URL, you may also want to set the Max Rows connection property. This will limit the number of rows returned, which is especially helpful for improving performance when designing reports and visualizations.

   A typical JDBC URL is below:

   jdbc:actcrm:URL=https://myActCRMserver.com;User=myUser;Password=myPassword;ActDatabase=MyDB;
4. Click Connection pool attributes and set Test before getting connections to No.

Click Test connection to ensure you have configured the connection properly. With the connection to Act CRM set up, you can use it as FineReport data source.

Select Act CRM Data in the Report Designer.

1. Click to add a new template data set and select DB query to open the database query window.
2. Choose the JDBC connection that you created from the dropdown list.
3. The Act CRM entities will appear as tables on the left pane.
4. Write a SELECT statement for the Act CRM data tables and columns that you want to load.
5. Click preview and data is shown as table.

With these simple steps, Act CRM can be used as a JDBC data source in FineReport.