Access Adobe Analytics Data in Mule Applications Using the CData JDBC Driver

The CData JDBC Driver for Adobe Analytics connects Adobe Analytics data to Mule applications enabling read functionality with familiar SQL queries. The JDBC Driver allows users to easily create Mule applications to backup, transform, report, and analyze Adobe Analytics data.

This article demonstrates how to use the CData JDBC Driver for Adobe Analytics inside of a Mule project to create a Web interface for Adobe Analytics data. The application created allows you to request Adobe Analytics data using an HTTP request and have the results returned as JSON. The exact same procedure outlined below can be used with any CData JDBC Driver to create a Web interface for the 200+ available data sources.

1. Create a new Mule Project in Anypoint Studio.
2. Add an HTTP Connector to the Message Flow.
3. Configure the address for the HTTP Connector.
4. Add a Database Select Connector to the same flow, after the HTTP Connector.
5. Create a new Connection (or edit an existing one) and configure the properties.
   • Set Connection to "Generic Connection"
   • Select the CData JDBC Driver JAR file in the Required Libraries section (e.g. cdata.jdbc.adobeanalytics.jar).
   • Set the URL to the connection string for Adobe Analytics

     Adobe Analytics uses the OAuth authentication standard. To authenticate using OAuth, you will need to create an app to obtain the OAuthClientId, OAuthClientSecret, and CallbackURL connection properties. See the "Getting Started" section of the help documentation for a guide.

     Retrieving GlobalCompanyId

     GlobalCompanyId is a required connection property. If you do not know your Global Company ID, you can find it in the request URL for the users/me endpoint on the Swagger UI. After logging into the Swagger UI Url, expand the users endpoint and then click the GET users/me button. Click the Try it out and Execute buttons. Note your Global Company ID shown in the Request URL immediately preceding the users/me endpoint.

     Retrieving Report Suite Id

     Report Suite ID (RSID) is also a required connection property. In the Adobe Analytics UI, navigate to Admin -> Report Suites and you will get a list of your report suites along with their identifiers next to the name.

     After setting the GlobalCompanyId, RSID and OAuth connection properties, you are ready to connect to Adobe Analytics.

     Built-in Connection String Designer

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

     java -jar cdata.jdbc.adobeanalytics.jar

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

   • Set the Driver class name to cdata.jdbc.adobeanalytics.AdobeAnalyticsDriver.
   • Click Test Connection.
6. Set the SQL Query Text to a SQL query to request Adobe Analytics data. For example: SELECT Page, PageViews FROM AdsReport WHERE City = 'Chapel Hill'
7. Add a Transform Message Component to the flow.
8. Set the Output script to the following to convert the payload to JSON:

   %dw 2.0
   output application/json
   ---
   payload
           

9. To view your Adobe Analytics data, navigate to the address you configured for the HTTP Connector (localhost:8081 by default): http://localhost:8081. The Adobe Analytics data is available as JSON in your Web browser and any other tools capable of consuming JSON endpoints.

At this point, you have a simple Web interface for working with Adobe Analytics data (as JSON data) in custom apps and a wide variety of BI, reporting, and ETL tools. Download a free, 30 day trial of the JDBC Driver for Adobe Analytics and see the CData difference in your Mule Applications today.