Query Azure Data Lake Storage Data in ColdFusion

The CData JDBC Driver for Azure Data Lake Storage seamlessly integrates connectivity to Azure Data Lake Storage data with the rapid development tools in ColdFusion. This article shows how to connect to Azure Data Lake Storage data in ColdFusion and query Azure Data Lake Storage tables.

Create a JDBC Data Source for Azure Data Lake Storage in ColdFusion

The JDBC data source enables you to execute SQL from standard ColdFusion tags like cfquery and CFScript like executeQuery.

1. Copy the driver JAR and .lic file from the installation directory onto the ColdFusion classpath. For example, copy the files into C:\MyColdFusionDirectory\cfusion\wwwroot\WEB-INF\lib. Or, open the Java and JVM page in the ColdFusion Administrator and enter the path to the files in the ColdFusion Class Path box.

   The JAR and license for the driver are located in the lib subfolder of the installation directory.

   Restart the server after this step.

2. Add the driver as a data source:

   From the ColdFusion administrator interface, expand the Data & Services node and click Data Sources. In the Add New Data Source section, enter a name for the data source and select Other in the Driver menu.

3. Populate the driver properties:

   • JDBC URL: Enter connection properties in the JDBC URL. The JDBC URL begins with jdbc:adls: and is followed by the connection properties in a semicolon-separated list of name=value pairs.

     Authenticating to a Gen 1 DataLakeStore Account

     Gen 1 uses OAuth 2.0 in Azure AD for authentication.

     For this, an Active Directory web application is required. You can create one as follows:

     1. Sign in to your Azure Account through the .
     2. Select "Azure Active Directory".
     3. Select "App registrations".
     4. Select "New application registration".
     5. Provide a name and URL for the application. Select Web app for the type of application you want to create.
     6. Select "Required permissions" and change the required permissions for this app. At a minimum, "Azure Data Lake" and "Windows Azure Service Management API" are required.
     7. Select "Key" and generate a new key. Add a description, a duration, and take note of the generated key. You won't be able to see it again.

     To authenticate against a Gen 1 DataLakeStore account, the following properties are required:

     • Schema: Set this to ADLSGen1.
     • Account: Set this to the name of the account.
     • OAuthClientId: Set this to the application Id of the app you created.
     • OAuthClientSecret: Set this to the key generated for the app you created.
     • TenantId: Set this to the tenant Id. See the property for more information on how to acquire this.
     • Directory: Set this to the path which will be used to store the replicated file. If not specified, the root directory will be used.

     Authenticating to a Gen 2 DataLakeStore Account

     To authenticate against a Gen 2 DataLakeStore account, the following properties are required:

     • Schema: Set this to ADLSGen2.
     • Account: Set this to the name of the account.
     • FileSystem: Set this to the file system which will be used for this account.
     • AccessKey: Set this to the access key which will be used to authenticate the calls to the API. See the property for more information on how to acquire this.
     • Directory: Set this to the path which will be used to store the replicated file. If not specified, the root directory will be used.

     Built-in Connection String Designer

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

     java -jar cdata.jdbc.adls.jar

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

     A typical JDBC URL is below:

     jdbc:adls:Schema=ADLSGen2;Account=myAccount;FileSystem=myFileSystem;AccessKey=myAccessKey;InitiateOAuth=GETANDREFRESH
   • Driver Class: Enter the driver class. The driver class is cdata.jdbc.adls.ADLSDriver.
   • Driver Name: Enter a user-defined name for the driver.
   • Username: Enter the username used to authenticate.
   • Password: Enter the password used to authenticate.

You can now test the connection by enabling the CData Azure Data Lake Storage data source in the Actions column. After reporting a status of OK, the Azure Data Lake Storage data source is ready for use.

Execute Queries

The cfquery tag can pass SQL statements to Azure Data Lake Storage. Use the cfqueryparam tag to create parameterized queries and prevent SQL injection through the query string.

Note: To use the cfquery and cfscript, create a .cfm file. Inside the .cfm file, write the code to execute the query (see below). Place the file directly in the root directory of your web server (e.g., wwwroot in Adobe ColdFusion). Restart the service after placing the file for the changes to take effect.

Below is the equivalent in CFScript:

<cfscript>
result = queryExecute(
  "SELECT * FROM Resources WHERE Type = ?", 
  [
    { value="FILE", cfsqltype="cf_sql_varchar" }
  ],
  { datasource="CDataADLS" }
);

writeDump( var= result );
</cfscript> 

You can then make requests to your .cfm like the following: