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Consume Databricks OData Feeds in PowerBuilder
This article demonstrates how to consume Databricks data as OData feeds from PowerBuilder using the API Server.
The CData API Server, when paired with the ADO.NET Provider for Databricks (or any of 200+ other ADO.NET Providers), produces secure feeds of Databricks data that you can consume in PowerBuilder DataWindows. The API Server supports the major Web services, including OData, Atom, JSON, HTML, CSV, TSV, and RSS. It also supports the major authentication schemes and SSL.
This article shows how to create a DataWindow that uses the CData API Server to execute reads and writes.
About Databricks Data Integration
Accessing and integrating live data from Databricks has never been easier with CData. Customers rely on CData connectivity to:
- Access all versions of Databricks from Runtime Versions 9.1 - 13.X to both the Pro and Classic Databricks SQL versions.
- Leave Databricks in their preferred environment thanks to compatibility with any hosting solution.
- Secure authenticate in a variety of ways, including personal access token, Azure Service Principal, and Azure AD.
- Upload data to Databricks using Databricks File System, Azure Blog Storage, and AWS S3 Storage.
While many customers are using CData's solutions to migrate data from different systems into their Databricks data lakehouse, several customers use our live connectivity solutions to federate connectivity between their databases and Databricks. These customers are using SQL Server Linked Servers or Polybase to get live access to Databricks from within their existing RDBMs.
Read more about common Databricks use-cases and how CData's solutions help solve data problems in our blog: What is Databricks Used For? 6 Use Cases.
Getting Started
Set Up the API Server
Follow the steps below to begin producing secure Databricks OData services:
Deploy
The API Server runs on your own server. On Windows, you can deploy using the stand-alone server or IIS. On a Java servlet container, drop in the API Server WAR file. See the help documentation for more information and how-tos.
The API Server is also easy to deploy on Microsoft Azure, Amazon EC2, and Heroku.
Connect to Databricks
After you deploy the API Server and the ADO.NET Provider for Databricks, provide authentication values and other connection properties needed to connect to Databricks by clicking Settings -> Connections and adding a new connection in the API Server administration console.
To connect to a Databricks cluster, set the properties as described below.
Note: The needed values can be found in your Databricks instance by navigating to Clusters, and selecting the desired cluster, and selecting the JDBC/ODBC tab under Advanced Options.
- Server: Set to the Server Hostname of your Databricks cluster.
- HTTPPath: Set to the HTTP Path of your Databricks cluster.
- Token: Set to your personal access token (this value can be obtained by navigating to the User Settings page of your Databricks instance and selecting the Access Tokens tab).
You can then choose the Databricks entities you want to allow the API Server access to by clicking Settings -> Resources.
Additionally, click Settings -> Server and change the following settings for compatibility with PowerBuilder:
- Default Format: Select XML (Atom) in the menu.
- Default Version: Select 2.0 in the menu.
Authorize API Server Users
After determining the OData services you want to produce, authorize users by clicking Settings -> Users. The API Server uses authtoken-based authentication and supports the major authentication schemes. Access can also be restricted based on IP address; by default, only connections to the local machine are allowed. You can authenticate as well as encrypt connections with SSL.
Create a Profile for Databricks
Follow the steps below to use the Database Painter tool to create a database profile for the OData API of the API Server. In the Database Painter, you can graphically manipulate data as well as execute SQL queries.
- Click Tools -> Database Painter.
- Right-click the OData node and click New Profile.
- In the Database Profile Setup dialog, enter the following:
- Profile Name: Enter a user-friendly name for the profile.
- URI: Enter the URL to the OData endpoint of the API Server. This URL will resemble the one below:
http://MyServer:8032/api.rsc - Supply User Id and Password: Click this option to use HTTP Basic authentication. Note that the API Server also supports Windows authentication.
- User Id: Enter the name of an user in the API Server.
- Password: Enter the authtoken of an user in the API Server.
- To view and modify a table, right-click a table and then click Edit Data -> Grid.
Using Databricks Data with PowerBuilder Controls
You can use standard PowerBuilder objects to connect to OData feeds and execute queries. The following example shows how to retrieve Databricks data into a DataWindow.
You can add the following code to the open method:
SQLCA.DBMS = "ODT"
SQLCA.DBParm = "ConnectString='URI=http://MyServer:8032/api.rsc;UID=MyAPIUser;PWD=MyAuthtoken'";
CONNECT USING SQLCA;
dw_customers.SetTransObject(SQLCA);
dw_customers.Retrieve();
