PowerShell Scripting to Replicate JotForm Data to MySQL

The CData Cmdlets for JotForm offer live access to JotForm data 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 JotForm and the CData Cmdlets for MySQL in PowerShell to replicate JotForm data to a MySQL database.

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

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

JotForm API Profile Settings

You will need to find your JotForm API Key in order to authenticate. To obtain an API Key, go to 'My Account' > 'API Section' > 'Create a New API Key'. Once you've created your new API Key, you can set it in the ProfileSettings connection property.

Custom Enterprise API Domains

Enterprise customers of JotForm are given custom API domains to connect to, rather than the default 'api.jotform.com' domain. If you are an enterprise JotForm customer, then set Domain to you custom API hostname, such as 'your-domain.com' or 'subdomain.jotform.com', inside the ProfileSettings connection property. Conversely, if you do not have a custom domain and still need to connect to 'api.jotform.com', then leave Domain undefined and set only APIKey.

Collecting JotForm Data

1. Install the module:

   Install-Module APICmdlets

2. Connect to JotForm:

   $api = Connect-API -Profile $Profile -ProfileSettings $ProfileSettings -Domain $Domain

3. Retrieve the data from a specific resource:

   $data = Select-API -Connection $api -Table "Forms"

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

   $data = Invoke-API -Connection $api -Query 'SELECT * FROM Forms WHERE Status = @Status' -Params @{'@Status'='ENABLED'}

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

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

Inserting JotForm Data 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 JotForm data, 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 JotForm resource (Forms) and to exist in the database.

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

You have now replicated your JotForm data to a MySQL database. This gives you freedom to work with JotForm data 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 JotForm and MySQL in PowerShell, you can pipe command results to perform the replication in a single line:

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

• If you wish to replicate the JotForm data 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-API 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')}