Access Live Typeform Data in TIBCO Data Virtualization

TIBCO Data Virtualization (TDV) is an enterprise data virtualization solution that orchestrates access to multiple and varied data sources. When paired with the CData TIBCO DV Adapter for Typeform, you get federated access to live Typeform data directly within TIBCO Data Virtualization. This article walks through deploying an adapter and creating a new data source based on Typeform.

With built-in optimized data processing, the CData TIBCO DV Adapter offers unmatched performance for interacting with live Typeform data. When you issue complex SQL queries to Typeform, the adapter pushes supported SQL operations, like filters and aggregations, directly to Typeform. Its built-in dynamic metadata querying allows you to work with and analyze Typeform data using native data types.

Deploy the Typeform TIBCO DV Adapter

1. In a console, navigate to the bin folder in the TDV Server installation directory. If there is a current version of the adapter installed, you will need to undeploy it.

   .\server_util.bat -server localhost -user admin -password ******** -undeploy -version 1 -name API
   

2. Extract the CData TIBCO DV Adapter to a local folder and deploy the JAR file (tdv.api.jar) to the server from the extract location.

   .\server_util.bat -server localhost -user admin -password ******** -deploy -package /PATH/TO/tdv.api.jar
   

You may need to restart the server to ensure the new JAR file is loaded properly, which can be accomplished by running the composite.bat script located at: C:\Program Files\TIBCO\TDV Server <version>\bin. Note that reauthenticating to the TDV Studio is required after restarting the server.

Sample Restart Call

.\composite.bat monitor restart

Authenticate with Typeform Using OAuth

Since Typeform authenticates using the OAuth protocol and TDV Studio does not support browser-based authentication internally, you will need to create and run a simple Java application to retrieve the OAuth tokens. Once retrieved, the tokens are used to connect to Typeform directly from the adapter.

The following code sample shows how to authenticate with Typeform. You will simply need to execute the Java application with the tdv.api.jar file in the class path.

APIOAuth oauth = new APIOAuth();  
oauth.generateOAuthSettingsFile("InitiateOAuth=GETANDREFRESH;" + 
                                  "Profile=C:\profiles\TypeForm.apip;Authscheme=OAuth;OAuthClientId=your_client_id;OAuthClientSecret=your_client_secret;CallbackUrl=your_callback_url;" + 
                                  "OAuthSettingsLocation=C:\api\OAuthSettings.txt;");

Once you deploy the adapter and authenticate, you can create a new data source for Typeform in TDV Studio.

Create a Typeform Data Source in TDV Studio

With the CData TIBCO DV Adapter for Typeform, you can easily create a data source for Typeform and introspect the data source to add resources to TDV.

Create the Data Source

1. Right-click on the folder you wish to add the data source to and select New -> New Data Source.
2. Scroll until you find the adapter (e.g. Typeform) and click Next.
3. Name the data source (e.g. CData Typeform Source).

4. Fill in the required connection properties.

   Start by setting the Profile connection property to the location of the TypeForm Profile on disk (e.g. C:\profiles\TypeForm.apip). Next, set the ProfileSettings connection property to the connection string for TypeForm (see below).

   TypeForm API Profile Settings

   Authentication to TypeForm uses the OAuth standard.

   To authenticate to TypeForm, you must first register and configure an OAuth application with TypeForm here: https://admin.typeform.com/account#/section/tokens. Your app will be assigned a client ID and a client secret which can be set in the connection string. More information on setting up an OAuth application can be found at https://developer.typeform.com/get-started/.

   Note that there are several different use scenarios which all require different redirect URIs:

   • CData Desktop Applications: CData desktop applications (Sync, API Server, ArcESB) accept OAuth tokens at /src/oauthCallback.rst. The host and port is the same as the default port used by the application. For example, if you use http://localhost:8019/ to access CData Sync then the redirect URI will be http://localhost:8019/src/oauthCallback.rst.
   • CData Cloud Applications: CData cloud applications are similar to their desktop counterparts. If you access Connect Cloud at https://1.2.3.4/ then you should use the redirect https://1.2.3.4/src/oauthCallback.rst.
   • Desktop Application: When using a desktop application, the URI https://localhost:33333 is recommended.
   • Web Application: When developing a web application using the driver, use your own URI here such as https://my-website.com/oauth.

   After setting the following connection properties, you are ready to connect:

   • AuthScheme: Set this to OAuth.
   • InitiateOAuth: Set this to GETANDREFRESH. You can use InitiateOAuth to manage the process to obtain the OAuthAccessToken.
   • OAuthClientId: Set this to the Client Id that is specified in your app settings.
   • OAuthClientSecret: Set this to Client Secret that is specified in your app settings.
   • CallbackURL: Set this to the Redirect URI you specified in your app settings.

   NOTE: Set the OAuthSettingsLocation property in the DV Adapter to the same value you used when performing the OAuth authentication (see above).

5. Click Create & Close.

Introspect the Data Source

Once the data source is created, you can introspect the data source by right-clicking and selecting Open. In the dashboard, click Add/Remove Resources and select the Tables, Views, and Stored Procedures to include as part of the data source. Click Next and Finish to add the selected Typeform tables, views, and stored procedures as resources.

After creating and introspecting the data source, you are ready to work with Typeform data in TIBCO Data Virtualization just like you would any other relational data source. You can create views, query using SQL, publish the data source, and more.