Connect to SuiteCRM Data in RapidMiner

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

Connect to SuiteCRM in RapidMiner as a JDBC Data Source

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

1. Add a new database driver for SuiteCRM: 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:suitecrm:
4. Enter the path to the cdata.jdbc.suitecrm.jar file, located in the lib subfolder of the installation directory.
5. Enter the driver class: cdata.jdbc.suitecrm.SuiteCRMDriver
6. Create a new SuiteCRM connection: Click Connections -> Manage Database Connections.
7. Enter a name for your connection.
8. For Database System, select the SuiteCRM driver you configured previously.
9. Enter your connection string in the Host box.

   The User and Password properties must be set to valid SuiteCRM user credentials. Additionally, specify the URL to the SuiteCRM application, for example http://suite.crm.com.

   Note that retrieving SuiteCRM metadata can be expensive. It is advised that you store the metadata locally as described in the Caching Metadata section of the data provider help documentation.

   Built-in Connection String Designer

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

   java -jar cdata.jdbc.suitecrm.jar

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

   A typical connection string is below:

   URL=http://mySuiteCRM.com;User=myUser;Password=myPassword;
10. Enter your username and password if necessary.

You can now use your SuiteCRM connection with the various RapidMiner operators in your process. To retrieve SuiteCRM 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 SuiteCRM data.