Link IBM Cloud Object Storage with FileMaker Pro

This article shows how to use the CData JDBC Driver for IBM Cloud Object Storage to integrate with the External SQL Sources (ESS) feature in FileMaker Pro, which allows you to link records in FileMaker Pro with related records in your other operational data stores.

You will use the MySQL Remoting feature to access IBM Cloud Object Storage as a remote MySQL database. The CData JDBC Driver for IBM Cloud Object Storage implements both the JDBC and MySQL standards to integrate with applications like FileMaker Pro that support connections to traditional databases like MySQL but not generic JDBC connections.

Selecting a FileMaker Pro Integration

There are two data access modes in FileMaker Pro:

• Data Import: IBM Cloud Object Storage data is copied into a FileMaker Pro database and can be refreshed on demand. To streamline this solution, use the CData ODBC driver, as FileMaker Pro supports ODBC natively, but it does not support JDBC. To use this approach, see ODBC IBM Cloud Object Storage Integration in FileMaker Pro.
• ESS: Instead of working with a local copy of the data, you can use the JDBC driver to create an external SQL source. The remote data can be modified in FileMaker Pro and tables can be used in the relationships graph like standard FileMaker Pro tables.

Outlining the ESS Setup

The JDBC driver is part of a data access chain. Compared to a native ODBC integration, FileMaker Pro integrations that use MySQL remoting have several additional components. This article shows how to link each of the following components with FileMaker Pro:

1. The CData JDBC driver.
2. The CData MySQL Remoting daemon (included with the driver).
3. An ODBC driver for MySQL.

   On Windows, FileMaker Pro requires the official MySQL driver, the MySQL Connector\ODBC (currently, the best option is Connector\ODBC 8.0.11).

   On macOS, FileMaker Pro requires the Actual Technologies Open Databases ODBC driver.

4. An ODBC driver manager.

   On Windows, the driver manager is built in. On macOS, you will need to install a driver manager before installing the ODBC driver; install the iODBC driver manager.

Start the Remoting Daemon

Follow the steps below to enable the MySQL Remoting feature:

1. Open Terminal and change to the lib subfolder in the installation folder.

   $ cd "/Applications/CData/CData JDBC Driver for IBM Cloud Object Storage/lib"
2. Edit the configuration file (cdata.jdbc.ibmcloudobjectstorage.remoting.ini by default):
   • Update the [databases] section with the JDBC Connection URL for IBM Cloud Object Storage: ibmcloudobjectstorage = "ApiKey=myApiKey;CloudObjectStorageCRN=MyInstanceCRN;Region=myRegion;OAuthClientId=MyOAuthClientId;OAuthClientSecret=myOAuthClientSecret;"

     Register a New Instance of Cloud Object Storage

     If you do not already have Cloud Object Storage in your IBM Cloud account, follow the procedure below to install an instance of SQL Query in your account:

     1. Log in to your IBM Cloud account.
     2. Navigate to the page, choose a name for your instance and click Create. You will be redirected to the instance of Cloud Object Storage you just created.

     Connecting using OAuth Authentication

     There are certain connection properties you need to set before you can connect. You can obtain these as follows:

     API Key

     To connect with IBM Cloud Object Storage, you need an API Key. You can obtain this as follows:

     1. Log in to your IBM Cloud account.
     2. Navigate to the Platform API Keys page.
     3. On the middle-right corner click "Create an IBM Cloud API Key" to create a new API Key.
     4. In the pop-up window, specify the API Key name and click "Create". Note the API Key as you can never access it again from the dashboard.

     Cloud Object Storage CRN

     If you have multiple accounts, you will need to specify the CloudObjectStorageCRN explicitly. To find the appropriate value, you can:

     • Query the Services view. This will list your IBM Cloud Object Storage instances along with the CRN for each.
     • Locate the CRN directly in IBM Cloud. To do so, navigate to your IBM Cloud Dashboard. In the Resource List, Under Storage, select your Cloud Object Storage resource to get its CRN.

     Connecting to Data

     You can now set the following to connect to data:

     • InitiateOAuth: Set this to GETANDREFRESH. You can use InitiateOAuth to avoid repeating the OAuth exchange and manually setting the OAuthAccessToken.
     • ApiKey: Set this to your API key which was noted during setup.
     • CloudObjectStorageCRN (Optional): Set this to the cloud object storage CRN you want to work with. While the connector attempts to retrieve this automatically, specifying this explicitly is recommended if you have more than Cloud Object Storage account.

     When you connect, the connector completes the OAuth process.

     1. Extracts the access token and authenticates requests.
     2. Saves OAuth values in OAuthSettingsLocation to be persisted across connections.

     See the help documentation for more information about the available connection properties and other configuration options for remoting.

3. Start the MySQL daemon by specifying the configuration file or settings on the command line. The example below uses the included sample configuration file.

   $ java -jar cdata.jdbc.ibmcloudobjectstorage.jar -f "cdata.jdbc.ibmcloudobjectstorage.remoting.ini"

Create the DSN

After connecting successfully to IBM Cloud Object Storage and starting the MySQL daemon, create a MySQL ODBC data source. When working with ODBC data sources, you specify connection properties in a DSN (data source name).

If you have not already obtained an ODBC driver and driver manager, refer to "Outlining the ESS Setup" to determine the components supported for your platform.

macOS

Follow the steps below to use the iODBC graphical administrator tool:

1. Open iODBC by searching in the launchpad.
2. On the System DSN tab, click Add and select Actual Open Source Databases.
3. Provide the following information to complete the wizard:
   • Name: Enter the DSN.
   • Server: Enter 127.0.0.1 or the address of the machine where the MySQL daemon is running.
   • Port: Enter the port that the daemon is listening on. For example, 3306.
   • Database: Enter the name of a database specified in the config file for the daemon. For example, IBMCloudObjectStorage.
   • In the Metadata tab, check the boxes for:
     • "Ignore schema in column specifications"
     • "Don't use INFORMATION_SCHEMA for metadata"
4. Click Test Connection and enter your credentials in the dialog.

Windows

You can use the built-in Microsoft ODBC Data Source Administrator to create the ODBC DSN.

1. From the Control Panel, select Set Up Data Sources (ODBC). The ODBC Data Source Administrator is displayed.
2. On the System DSN tab, click Add and select the MySQL ODBC driver.
3. Provide the following information to complete the wizard:
   • Name: Enter the DSN.
   • Server: Enter 127.0.0.1 or the address of the machine where the MySQL daemon is running.
   • Port: Enter the port that the daemon is listening on. For example, 3306.
   • Database: Enter the name of a database specified in the config file for the daemon. For example, IBMCloudObjectStorage.
   • In the Metadata tab, check the boxes for:
     • "Ignore schema in column specifications"
     • "Don't use INFORMATION_SCHEMA for metadata"
4. Click Test Connection and enter your credentials in the dialog.

Create IBM Cloud Object Storage Shadow Tables

Shadow tables exist in an external SQL source but can be used in much the same way as other tables in your FileMaker database; you can add them in the relationships graph, browse data, and create layouts on them.

1. Click File -> Manage -> Database.
2. On the Relationships tab of the resulting dialog, click the Add a Table button in the Table/Relationships section.
3. In the Data Source menu, select Add ODBC Data Source and then select the DSN you created in the previous section.

After specifying the username and password for the DSN, you can add IBM Cloud Object Storage tables to the relationships graph. You can now scroll through, sort, and summarize IBM Cloud Object Storage data by clicking View -> Browse Mode, just as you would a remote MySQL database.