Access Live Instagram Data in TIBCO Data Virtualization

TIBCO Data Virtualization (TDV) is an enterprise data virtualization solution that orchestrates access to multiple and varied data sources. When paired with the CData TIBCO DV Adapter for Instagram, you get federated access to live Instagram data directly within TIBCO Data Virtualization. This article walks through deploying an adapter and creating a new data source based on Instagram.

With built-in optimized data processing, the CData TIBCO DV Adapter offers unmatched performance for interacting with live Instagram data. When you issue complex SQL queries to Instagram, the adapter pushes supported SQL operations, like filters and aggregations, directly to Instagram. Its built-in dynamic metadata querying allows you to work with and analyze Instagram data using native data types.

Deploy the Instagram TIBCO DV Adapter

1. In a console, navigate to the bin folder in the TDV Server installation directory. If there is a current version of the adapter installed, you will need to undeploy it.

   .\server_util.bat -server localhost -user admin -password ******** -undeploy -version 1 -name Instagram
   

2. Extract the CData TIBCO DV Adapter to a local folder and deploy the JAR file (tdv.instagram.jar) to the server from the extract location.

   .\server_util.bat -server localhost -user admin -password ******** -deploy -package /PATH/TO/tdv.instagram.jar
   

You may need to restart the server to ensure the new JAR file is loaded properly, which can be accomplished by running the composite.bat script located at: C:\Program Files\TIBCO\TDV Server <version>\bin. Note that reauthenticating to the TDV Studio is required after restarting the server.

Sample Restart Call

.\composite.bat monitor restart

Authenticate with Instagram Using OAuth

Since Instagram authenticates using the OAuth protocol and TDV Studio does not support browser-based authentication internally, you will need to create and run a simple Java application to retrieve the OAuth tokens. Once retrieved, the tokens are used to connect to Instagram directly from the adapter.

The following code sample shows how to authenticate with Instagram. You will simply need to execute the Java application with the tdv.instagram.jar file in the class path.

InstagramOAuth oauth = new InstagramOAuth();  
oauth.generateOAuthSettingsFile("InitiateOAuth=GETANDREFRESH;" + 
                                  "OAuthClientId=MyOAuthClientId;OAuthClientSecret=MyOAuthClientSecret;CallbackURL=http://localhost:portNumber;" + 
                                  "OAuthSettingsLocation=C:\instagram\OAuthSettings.txt;");

Once you deploy the adapter and authenticate, you can create a new data source for Instagram in TDV Studio.

Create a Instagram Data Source in TDV Studio

With the CData TIBCO DV Adapter for Instagram, you can easily create a data source for Instagram and introspect the data source to add resources to TDV.

Create the Data Source

1. Right-click on the folder you wish to add the data source to and select New -> New Data Source.
2. Scroll until you find the adapter (e.g. Instagram) and click Next.
3. Name the data source (e.g. CData Instagram Source).

4. Fill in the required connection properties.

   Instagram uses the OAuth 2 authentication standard. You will need to obtain the OAuthClientId, OAuthClientSecret, and CallbackURL by registering an app with Instagram. See the help documentation for a guide.

   NOTE: Set the OAuthSettingsLocation property in the DV Adapter to the same value you used when performing the OAuth authentication (see above).

5. Click Create & Close.

Introspect the Data Source

Once the data source is created, you can introspect the data source by right-clicking and selecting Open. In the dashboard, click Add/Remove Resources and select the Tables, Views, and Stored Procedures to include as part of the data source. Click Next and Finish to add the selected Instagram tables, views, and stored procedures as resources.

After creating and introspecting the data source, you are ready to work with Instagram data in TIBCO Data Virtualization just like you would any other relational data source. You can create views, query using SQL, publish the data source, and more.