Connect to Act CRM Data in RapidMiner

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

Connect to Act CRM in RapidMiner as a JDBC Data Source

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

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

   The User and Password properties, under the Authentication section, must be set to valid Act! user credentials. In addition to the authentication values, see the following:

   • Connecting to Act! Premium

     In addition to the authentication values, the URL to Act! is also required; for example https://eup1-iis-04.eu.hosted.act.com/.

     Additionally, you must specify the ActDatabase you will connect to. This is found by going to the About Act! Premium menu of your account, at the top right of the page, in the ? menu. Use the Database Name in the window that appears.

   • Connecting to Act! Premium Cloud

     To connect to your Act! Premium Cloud account, you also need to specify the ActCloudName property. This property is found in the URL address of the Cloud account; for example https://eup1-iis-04.eu.hosted.act.com/ActCloudName/.

   Note that retrieving ActCRM metadata can be expensive. It is advised that you set the CacheMetadata property to store the metadata locally.

   Built-in Connection String Designer

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

   java -jar cdata.jdbc.actcrm.jar

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

   A typical connection string is below:

   URL=https://myActCRMserver.com;User=myUser;Password=myPassword;ActDatabase=MyDB;
10. Enter your username and password if necessary.

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