PowerShell Scripting to Replicate Bing Search Results to MySQL

The CData Cmdlets for Bing Search offer live access to Bing Search results from within PowerShell. Using PowerShell scripts, you can easily automate regular tasks like data replication. This article will walk through using the CData Cmdlets for Bing Search and the CData Cmdlets for MySQL in PowerShell to replicate Bing Search results to a MySQL database.

After obtaining the needed connection properties, accessing Bing Search results in PowerShell and preparing for replication consists of four basic steps.

To connect to Bing, set the ApiKey connection property. To obtain the API key, sign into Microsoft Cognitive Services and register for the Bing Search APIs.

Two API keys are then generated; select either one.

When querying tables, the SearchTerms parameter must be supplied in the WHERE clause.

Collecting Bing Search Results

1. Install the module:

   Install-Module BingCmdlets

2. Connect to Bing Search:

   $bing = Connect-Bing -APIKey $APIKey

3. Retrieve the data from a specific resource:

   $data = Select-Bing -Connection $bing -Table "VideoSearch"

   You can also use the Invoke-Bing cmdlet to execute pure SQL-92 statements:

   $data = Invoke-Bing -Connection $bing -Query 'SELECT * FROM VideoSearch WHERE SearchTerms = @SearchTerms' -Params @{'@SearchTerms'='WayneTech'}

4. Save a list of the column names from the returned data.

   $columns = ($data | Get-Member -MemberType NoteProperty | Select-Object -Property Name).Name

Inserting Bing Search Results into the MySQL Database

With the data and column names collected, you are ready to replicate the data into a MySQL database.

1. Install the module:

   Install-Module MySQLCmdlets

2. Connect to MySQL, using the server address and port of the MySQL server, valid user credentials, and a specific database with the table in which the data will be replicated:

   $mysql = Connect-MySQL -User $User -Password $Password -Database $Database -Server $Server -Port $Port

3. Loop through the Bing Search results, store the values, and use the Add-MySQL cmdlet to insert the data into the MySQL database, one row at a time. In this example, the table will need to have the same name as the Bing Search resource (VideoSearch) and to exist in the database.

   $data | % { $row = $_ $values = @() $columns | % { $col = $_ $values += $row.$($col) } Add-MySQL -Connection $mysql -Table "VideoSearch" -Columns $columns -Values $values }

You have now replicated your Bing Search results to a MySQL database. This gives you freedom to work with Bing Search results in the same way that you work with other MySQL tables, whether that is performing analytics, building reports, or other business functions.

Notes

• Once you have connected to Bing Search and MySQL in PowerShell, you can pipe command results to perform the replication in a single line:

  Select-Bing -Connection $bing -Table "VideoSearch" | % { $row = $_ $values = @() $columns | % { $col = $_ $values += $row.$($col) } Add-MySQL -Connection $mysql -Table "VideoSearch" -Columns $columns -Values $values }

• If you wish to replicate the Bing Search results to another database using another PowerShell module, you will want to exclude the Columns, Connection, and Table columns from the data returned by the Select-Bing cmdlet since those columns are used to help pipe data from one CData cmdlet to another:

  $columns = ($data | Get-Member -MemberType NoteProperty | Select-Object -Property Name).Name | ? {$_ -NotIn @('Columns','Connection','Table')}