Integrate FTP Data in the Pentaho Report Designer

The CData JDBC Driver for FTP data enables access to live data from dashboards and reports. This article shows how to connect to FTP data as a JDBC data source and publish reports based on FTP data in Pentaho.

Connect and Create a Report

1. Copy the JAR file of the driver, located in the lib subfolder of the installation directory, to the \Report-Designer\lib\jdbc\ folder in the Pentaho directory.
2. Run the report-designer.bat file in the \Report-Designer\ folder to open the Report-Designer UI.

3. Create a new data source with the driver by clicking Data -> Add Data Source -> Advanced -> JDBC (Custom) and then creating a new FTP connection. In the resulting dialog, configure the connection properties as shown below.

   • Custom Connection URL property: Enter the JDBC URL. This starts with jdbc:ftp: and is followed by a semicolon-separated list of connection properties.

     To connect to FTP or SFTP servers, specify at least RemoteHost and FileProtocol. Specify the port with RemotePort.

     Set User and Password to perform Basic authentication. Set SSHAuthMode to use SSH authentication. See the Getting Started section of the data provider help documentation for more information on authenticating via SSH.

     Set SSLMode and SSLServerCert to secure connections with SSL.

     The data provider lists the tables based on the available folders in your FTP server. Set the following connection properties to control the relational view of the file system:

     • RemotePath: Set this to the current working directory.
     • TableDepth: Set this to control the depth of folders to list as views.
     • FileRetrievalDepth: Set this to retrieve and list files recursively from the root table.

     Stored Procedures are available to download files, upload files, and send protocol commands. See the Data Model chapter of the FTP data provider documentation for more information.

     Built-in Connection String Designer

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

     java -jar cdata.jdbc.ftp.jar

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

     When you configure the JDBC URL, you may also want to set the Max Rows connection property. This will limit the number of rows returned, which is especially helpful for improving performance when designing reports and visualizations.

     Below is a typical JDBC URL:

     jdbc:ftp:RemoteHost=MyFTPServer;
   • Custom Driver Class Name: Enter cdata.jdbc.ftp.FTPDriver.
   • User Name: The username to authenticate with.
   • Password: The password to authenticate with.

Add FTP Data to a Report

You are now ready to create a report with FTP data.

1. Add the FTP source to your report: Click Data -> Add Data Source -> JDBC and select the data source.

2. Configure the query. This article uses the one below:

   SELECT Filesize, Filename FROM MyDirectory
3. Drag a chart onto your report and double-click it to edit the chart. Run the report to display the chart. You can use the results of this query to create a simple chart for the MyDirectory table.
4. Finally, run the report to see the chart.