Connect to MailChimp Data in RapidMiner

This article shows how you can easily integrate the CData JDBC driver for MailChimp into your processes in RapidMiner. This article uses the CData JDBC Driver for MailChimp to transfer MailChimp data to a process in RapidMiner.

Connect to MailChimp in RapidMiner as a JDBC Data Source

You can follow the procedure below to establish a JDBC connection to MailChimp:

1. Add a new database driver for MailChimp: Click Connections -> Manage Database Drivers.
2. In the resulting wizard, click the Add button and enter a name for the connection.
3. Enter the prefix for the JDBC URL: jdbc:mailchimp:
4. Enter the path to the cdata.jdbc.mailchimp.jar file, located in the lib subfolder of the installation directory.
5. Enter the driver class: cdata.jdbc.mailchimp.MailChimpDriver
6. Create a new MailChimp connection: Click Connections -> Manage Database Connections.
7. Enter a name for your connection.
8. For Database System, select the MailChimp driver you configured previously.
9. Enter your connection string in the Host box.

   You can set the APIKey to the key you generate in your account settings, or, instead of providing your APIKey, you can use the OAuth standard to authenticate the application. OAuth can be used to enable other users to access their own data. To authenticate using OAuth, you will need to obtain the OAuthClientId, OAuthClientSecret, and CallbackURL by registering an app with MailChimp.

   See the "Getting Started" chapter in the help documentation for a guide to using OAuth.

   Built-in Connection String Designer

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

   java -jar cdata.jdbc.mailchimp.jar

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

   A typical connection string is below:

   APIKey=myAPIKey;
10. Enter your username and password if necessary.

You can now use your MailChimp connection with the various RapidMiner operators in your process. To retrieve MailChimp data, drag the Retrieve operator from the Operators view. With the Retrieve operator selected, you can then define which table to retrieve in the Parameters view by clicking the folder icon next to the "repository entry." In the resulting Repository Browser, you can expand your connection node to select the desired example set.

Finally, wire the output to the Retrieve process to a result, and run the process to see the MailChimp data.