How to connect to Twitter Data from IntelliJ

The CData JDBC Driver for Twitter enables you to access Twitter as a JDBC data source, providing integration with rapid development tools in IDEs. This article shows how to use the data source configuration wizard to connect to Twitter data in IntelliJ.

Create a JBDC Data Source for Twitter

Follow the steps below to add the driver JAR and define connection properties required to connect to Twitter data.

1. In the Data Sources window, right-click and then click Add Data Source -> DB Data Source.

2. In the Data Source Properties dialog that appears, the following properties are required:

   • JDBC Driver Files: Click the button next to this menu to add the JDBC Driver file cdata.jdbc.twitter.jar, located in the installation directory.
   • JDBC Driver Class: In this menu, select cdata.jdbc.twitter.TwitterDriver from the list.

   • Database URL: Enter the connection URL in the JDBC URL property. The URL must start with jdbc:twitter: and includes connection properties separated with semicolons.

     All tables require authentication. You can connect using your User and Password or OAuth. To authenticate using OAuth, you can use the embedded OAuthClientId, OAuthClientSecret, and CallbackURL or you can register an app to obtain your own.

     If you intend to communicate with Twitter only as the currently authenticated user, then you can obtain the OAuthAccessToken and OAuthAccessTokenSecret directly by registering an app.

     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 Twitter JDBC Driver. Either double-click the JAR file or execute the jar file from the command-line.

     java -jar cdata.jdbc.twitter.jar

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

     A typical JDBC URL is the following:

     jdbc:twitter:InitiateOAuth=GETANDREFRESH

Edit and Save Twitter Data

To discover schema information, right-click the data source you just created and click Refresh Tables. To query a table, right-click it and then click Open Tables Editor. You can also modify records in the Table Editor.