Feed Salesforce Data into FineReport

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

Set Up a JDBC Data Source of Salesforce Data

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

1. Copy the cdata.jdbc.salesforce.jar file from the lib folder in the CData JDBC Driver for Salesforce installation directory to the lib folder of the FineReport installation directory. You will need to copy the cdata.jdbc.salesforce.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.salesforce.SalesforceDriver
3. URL: A standard JDBC connection string using semicolon-separated connection properties.

   There are several authentication methods available for connecting to Salesforce: Login, OAuth, and SSO. The Login method requires you to have the username, password, and security token of the user.

   If you do not have access to the username and password or do not wish to require them, you can use OAuth authentication.

   SSO (single sign-on) can be used by setting the SSOProperties, SSOLoginUrl, and TokenUrl connection properties, which allow you to authenticate to an identity provider. See the "Getting Started" chapter in the help documentation for more information.

   Built-in Connection String Designer

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

   java -jar cdata.jdbc.salesforce.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:salesforce:User=username;Password=password;SecurityToken=Your_Security_Token;
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 Salesforce set up, you can use it as FineReport data source.

Select Salesforce 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 Salesforce entities will appear as tables on the left pane.
4. Write a SELECT statement for the Salesforce data tables and columns that you want to load.
5. Click preview and data is shown as table.

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