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Create a Data Access Object for JotForm Data using JDBI


A brief overview of creating a SQL Object API for JotForm data in JDBI.

JDBI is a SQL convenience library for Java that exposes two different style APIs, a fluent style and a SQL object style. The CData JDBC Driver for JotForm integrates connectivity to live JotForm data in Java applications. By pairing these technologies, you gain simple, programmatic access to JotForm data. This article walks through building a basic Data Access Object (DAO) and the accompanying code to read JotForm data.

Create a DAO for the JotForm Forms Entity

The interface below declares the desired behavior for the SQL object to create a single method for each SQL statement to be implemented.

public interface MyFormsDAO { //request specific data from JotForm (String type is used for simplicity) @SqlQuery("SELECT Title FROM Forms WHERE Status = :status") String findTitleByStatus(@Bind("status") String status); /* * close with no args is used to close the connection */ void close(); }

Open a Connection to JotForm

Collect the necessary connection properties and construct the appropriate JDBC URL for connecting to JotForm.

Start by setting the Profile connection property to the location of the JotForm Profile on disk (e.g. C:\profiles\JotForm.apip). Next, set the ProfileSettings connection property to the connection string for JotForm (see below).

JotForm API Profile Settings

You will need to find your JotForm API Key in order to authenticate. To obtain an API Key, go to 'My Account' > 'API Section' > 'Create a New API Key'. Once you've created your new API Key, you can set it in the ProfileSettings connection property.

Custom Enterprise API Domains

Enterprise customers of JotForm are given custom API domains to connect to, rather than the default 'api.jotform.com' domain. If you are an enterprise JotForm customer, then set Domain to you custom API hostname, such as 'your-domain.com' or 'subdomain.jotform.com', inside the ProfileSettings connection property. Conversely, if you do not have a custom domain and still need to connect to 'api.jotform.com', then leave Domain undefined and set only APIKey.

Built-in Connection String Designer

For assistance in constructing the JDBC URL, use the connection string designer built into the JotForm 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.

A connection string for JotForm will typically look like the following:

jdbc:api:Profile=C:\profiles\JotForm.apip;ProfileSettings='APIKey=my_api_key;Domain=my_custom_domain';

Use the configured JDBC URL to obtain an instance of the DAO interface. The particular method shown below will open a handle bound to the instance, so the instance needs to be closed explicitly to release the handle and the bound JDBC connection.

DBI dbi = new DBI("jdbc:api:Profile=C:\profiles\JotForm.apip;ProfileSettings='APIKey=my_api_key;Domain=my_custom_domain';"); MyFormsDAO dao = dbi.open(MyFormsDAO.class); //do stuff with the DAO dao.close();

Read JotForm Data

With the connection open to JotForm, simply call the previously defined method to retrieve data from the Forms entity in JotForm.

//disply the result of our 'find' method String title = dao.findTitleByStatus("ENABLED"); System.out.println(title);

Since the JDBI library is able to work with JDBC connections, you can easily produce a SQL Object API for JotForm by integrating with the CData JDBC Driver for JotForm. Download a free trial and work with live JotForm data in custom Java applications today.

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