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Connect to live data from Clio with the API Driver

Connect to Clio

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Create a Data Access Object for Clio Data using JDBI


A brief overview of creating a SQL Object API for Clio 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 Clio integrates connectivity to live Clio data in Java applications. By pairing these technologies, you gain simple, programmatic access to Clio data. This article walks through building a basic Data Access Object (DAO) and the accompanying code to read Clio data.

Create a DAO for the Clio Bills 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 MyBillsDAO { //request specific data from Clio (String type is used for simplicity) @SqlQuery("SELECT Total FROM Bills WHERE State = :state") String findTotalByState(@Bind("state") String state); /* * close with no args is used to close the connection */ void close(); }

Open a Connection to Clio

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

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

Clio API Profile Settings

Clio uses OAuth-based authentication.

First, register an OAuth application with Clio. You can do so by logging to your Developer Account and clicking the Add button. Enter details and select the scope of your application here - these details will be shown to Clio users when they're asked to authorize your application. Your Oauth application will be assigned a client id (key) and a client secret (secret). Additionally you will need to set the Region in ProfileSettings connection property.

After setting the following connection properties, you are ready to connect:

  • AuthScheme: Set this to OAuth.
  • InitiateOAuth: Set this to GETANDREFRESH. You can use InitiateOAuth to manage the process to obtain the OAuthAccessToken.
  • OAuthClientId: Set this to the client_id that is specified in you app settings.
  • OAuthClientSecret: Set this to the client_secret that is specified in you app settings.
  • CallbackURL: Set this to the Redirect URI that is specified in your app settings.
  • Region: Set this in ProfileSettings to your Clio geographic region. Defaults to app.clio.com.

Built-in Connection String Designer

For assistance in constructing the JDBC URL, use the connection string designer built into the Clio 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 Clio will typically look like the following:

jdbc:api:Profile=C:\profiles\Clio.apip;ProfileSettings='Region=your_region';Authscheme=OAuth;OAuthClientId=your_client_id;OAuthClientSecret=your_client_secret;CallbackUrl=your_callback_url;

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\Clio.apip;ProfileSettings='Region=your_region';Authscheme=OAuth;OAuthClientId=your_client_id;OAuthClientSecret=your_client_secret;CallbackUrl=your_callback_url;"); MyBillsDAO dao = dbi.open(MyBillsDAO.class); //do stuff with the DAO dao.close();

Read Clio Data

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

//disply the result of our 'find' method String total = dao.findTotalByState("awaiting_payment"); System.out.println(total);

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