Query Okta Data in ColdFusion

The CData JDBC driver for Okta seamlessly integrates connectivity to Okta data with the rapid development tools in ColdFusion. This article shows how to connect to Okta data in ColdFusion and query Okta tables.

Create a JDBC Data Source for Okta in ColdFusion

The JDBC data source enables you to execute SQL from standard ColdFusion tags like cfquery and CFScript like executeQuery.

1. Copy the driver JAR and .lic file from the installation directory onto the ColdFusion classpath. For example, copy the files into C:\MyColdFusionDirectory\cfusion\wwwroot\WEB-INF\lib. Or, open the Java and JVM page in the ColdFusion Administrator and enter the path to the files in the ColdFusion Class Path box.

   The JAR and license for the driver are located in the lib subfolder of the installation directory.

   Restart the server after this step.

2. Add the driver as a data source:

   From the ColdFusion administrator interface, expand the Data & Services node and click Data Sources. In the Add New Data Source section, enter a name for the data source and select Other in the Driver menu.

3. Populate the driver properties:

   • JDBC URL: Enter connection properties in the JDBC URL. The JDBC URL begins with jdbc:okta: and is followed by the connection properties in a semicolon-separated list of name=value pairs.

     To connect to Okta, set the Domain connection string property to your Okta domain.

     You will use OAuth to authenticate with Okta, so you need to create a custom OAuth application.

     Creating a Custom OAuth Application

     From your Okta account:

     1. Sign in to your Okta developer edition organization with your administrator account.
     2. In the Admin Console, go to Applications > Applications.
     3. Click Create App Integration.
     4. For the Sign-in method, select OIDC - OpenID Connect.
     5. For Application type, choose Web Application.
     6. Enter a name for your custom application.
     7. Set the Grant Type to Authorization Code. If you want the token to be automatically refreshed, also check Refresh Token.
     8. Set the callback URL:
        • For desktop applications and headless machines, use http://localhost:33333 or another port number of your choice. The URI you set here becomes the CallbackURL property.
        • For web applications, set the callback URL to a trusted redirect URL. This URL is the web location the user returns to with the token that verifies that your application has been granted access.
     9. In the Assignments section, either select Limit access to selected groups and add a group, or skip group assignment for now.
     10. Save the OAuth application.
     11. The application's Client Id and Client Secret are displayed on the application's General tab. Record these for future use. You will use the Client Id to set the OAuthClientId and the Client Secret to set the OAuthClientSecret.
     12. Check the Assignments tab to confirm that all users who must access the application are assigned to the application.
     13. On the Okta API Scopes tab, select the scopes you wish to grant to the OAuth application. These scopes determine the data that the app has permission to read, so a scope for a particular view must be granted for the driver to have permission to query that view. To confirm the scopes required for each view, see the view-specific pages in Data Model < Views in the Help documentation.

     Built-in Connection String Designer

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

     java -jar cdata.jdbc.okta.jar

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

     A typical JDBC URL is below:

     jdbc:okta:Domain=dev-44876464.okta.com;InitiateOAuth=GETANDREFRESH
   • Driver Class: Enter the driver class. The driver class is cdata.jdbc.okta.OktaDriver.
   • Driver Name: Enter a user-defined name for the driver.
   • Username: Enter the username used to authenticate.
   • Password: Enter the password used to authenticate.

You can now test the connection by enabling the CData Okta data source in the Actions column. After reporting a status of OK, the Okta data source is ready for use.

Execute Queries

The cfquery tag can pass SQL statements to Okta. Use the cfqueryparam tag to create parameterized queries and prevent SQL injection through the query string.

Note: To use the cfquery and cfscript, create a .cfm file. Inside the .cfm file, write the code to execute the query (see below). Place the file directly in the root directory of your web server (e.g., wwwroot in Adobe ColdFusion). Restart the service after placing the file for the changes to take effect.

Below is the equivalent in CFScript:

<cfscript>
result = queryExecute(
  "SELECT * FROM Users WHERE Status = ?", 
  [
    { value="Active", cfsqltype="cf_sql_varchar" }
  ],
  { datasource="CDataOkta" }
);

writeDump( var= result );
</cfscript> 

You can then make requests to your .cfm like the following: