Feed Kafka Data into FineReport

The CData JDBC Driver for Kafka fully implements the JDBC standard and can provide Kafka data connectivity to a wide variety of BI, reporting, and ETL tools and custom applications. In this article, we explain how to set Kafka data as JDBC data source in FineReport and view Kafka data as a table in the Report Designer.

Set Up a JDBC Data Source of Kafka Data

Follow the instruction below to set Kafka data as a FineReport database connection.

1. Copy the cdata.jdbc.apachekafka.jar file from the lib folder in the CData JDBC Driver for Kafka installation directory to the lib folder of the FineReport installation directory. You will need to copy the cdata.jdbc.apachekafka.lic file as well.
2. From the Server tab, select Define Data Connection, click to add a new connection, and click JDBC.

Next we will set up the data connection definition in the window.

1. Database: Others
2. JDBC Driver: cdata.jdbc.apachekafka.ApacheKafkaDriver
3. URL: A standard JDBC connection string using semicolon-separated connection properties.

   Set BootstrapServers and the Topic properties to specify the address of your Apache Kafka server, as well as the topic you would like to interact with.

   Authorization Mechanisms

   • SASL Plain: The User and Password properties should be specified. AuthScheme should be set to 'Plain'.
   • SASL SSL: The User and Password properties should be specified. AuthScheme should be set to 'Scram'. UseSSL should be set to true.
   • SSL: The SSLCert and SSLCertPassword properties should be specified. UseSSL should be set to true.
   • Kerberos: The User and Password properties should be specified. AuthScheme should be set to 'Kerberos'.

   You may be required to trust the server certificate. In such cases, specify the TrustStorePath and the TrustStorePassword if necessary.

   Built-in Connection String Designer

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

   java -jar cdata.jdbc.apachekafka.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.

   A typical JDBC URL is below:

   jdbc:apachekafka:User=admin;Password=pass;BootStrapServers=https://localhost:9091;Topic=MyTopic;
4. Click Connection pool attributes and set Test before getting connections to No.

Click Test connection to ensure you have configured the connection properly. With the connection to Kafka set up, you can use it as FineReport data source.

Select Kafka Data in the Report Designer.

1. Click to add a new template data set and select DB query to open the database query window.
2. Choose the JDBC connection that you created from the dropdown list.
3. The Kafka entities will appear as tables on the left pane.
4. Write a SELECT statement for the Kafka data tables and columns that you want to load.
5. Click preview and data is shown as table.

With these simple steps, Kafka can be used as a JDBC data source in FineReport.