Build Elasticsearch-Connected Web Apps with Axios and CData Connect Cloud

Axios is a JavaScript library that allows developers to make HTTP requests to servers from a web browser or Node.js. When paired with CData Connect Cloud, you get access to live Elasticsearch data for your web apps. This article shows how to connect to Elasticsearch and build web apps in Axios with access to live Elasticsearch data.

Getting Started

---

Connect to Elasticsearch from Axios

To work with Elasticsearch in Axios, we need to connect to Elasticsearch from Connect Cloud, provide user access to the connection, and create OData endpoints for the Elasticsearch data.

(Optional) Add a New Connect Cloud User

As needed, create Users to connect to Elasticsearch through Connect Cloud.

1. Navigate to the Users page and click Invite Users
2. Enter the new user's email address and click Send to invite the user
3. You can review and edit users from the Users page

Add a Personal Access Token

If you are connecting from a service, application, platform, or framework that does not support OAuth authentication, you can create a Personal Access Token (PAT) to use for authentication. Best practices would dictate that you create a separate PAT for each service, to maintain granularity of access.

1. Click on your username at the top right of the Connect Cloud app and click User Profile.
2. On the User Profile page, scroll down to the Personal Access Tokens section and click Create PAT.
3. Give your PAT a name and click Create.
4. The personal access token is only visible at creation, so be sure to copy it and store it securely for future use.

Connect to Elasticsearch from Connect Cloud

CData Connect Cloud uses a straightforward, point-and-click interface to connect to data sources.

1. Log into Connect Cloud, click Connections and click Add Connection
2. Select "Elasticsearch" from the Add Connection panel
3. Enter the necessary authentication properties to connect to Elasticsearch.

   Set the Server and Port connection properties to connect. To authenticate, set the User and Password properties, PKI (public key infrastructure) properties, or both. To use PKI, set the SSLClientCert, SSLClientCertType, SSLClientCertSubject, and SSLClientCertPassword properties.

   The data provider uses X-Pack Security for TLS/SSL and authentication. To connect over TLS/SSL, prefix the Server value with 'https://'. Note: TLS/SSL and client authentication must be enabled on X-Pack to use PKI.

   Once the data provider is connected, X-Pack will then perform user authentication and grant role permissions based on the realms you have configured.

   
4. Click Create & Test
5. Navigate to the Permissions tab in the Add Elasticsearch Connection page and update the User-based permissions.

Note the CData Connect Cloud SQL API Endpoint(s)

CData Connect Cloud contains API endpoints that allow you to submit SQL queries to Elasticsearch through common web requests. To work with Elasticsearch data in Axios web apps, you will use the query endpoint.

Query Endpoint

With the connection and Workspace configured, you are ready to connect to Elasticsearch data from Axios.

Connect to Elasticsearch Data in Axios Workflows

To establish a connection from Axios to CData Connect Cloud using the OData protocol, follow these steps.

1. Create a project directory for your web app. For example: ~/connect_cloud/
2. Open a terminal, navigate the the project directory and initialize a node project using the command: npm init -y
3. Install the Axios dependency in the project using the following command: npm install axios

4. In your project directory, create a file called server.js that contains the following code. Provide your CData Connect Cloud username (e.g. user@mydomain.com) and PAT (the PAT you created in the prerequisites). You must also provide a query for your data, such as SELECT * FROM Elasticsearch1.SCHEMA.Orders.

   server.js code

   const axios = require('axios') const user = 'user@mydomain.com' const pat = '***********************************'; //Your API endpoint const url = 'https://cloud.cdata.com/api/query'; //Your data to be sent in the POST request const data = { "query":"SELECT * FROM Elasticsearch1.SCHEMA.Orders" }; axios.post(url, data, { auth: { username: user, password: pat } }) .then(response => { const rows = response.data.results[0].rows; const schema = response.data.results[0].schema; //Create an array of column names const columnNames = schema.map(col => col.columnName); //Loop through each row and log the column name with its value rows.forEach(row => { const rowObject = {}; row.forEach((value, index) => { const columnName = columnNames[index]; rowObject[columnName] = value; }); console.log(rowObject); }) }) .catch(error => { console.error('Error:', error); });
5. In the terminal, execute the following command to run the server: node server.js The query results will appear: { ID: 1, VALUE: -2 } { ID: 2, VALUE: 1 } { ID: 11, VALUE: null } { ID: 3, VALUE: 2 } { ID: 4, VALUE: 5 } ...

Simplified Access to Elasticsearch Data from Cloud Applications

At this point, you have a direct connection to live Elasticsearch data from Axios. For more information on gaining simplified access to data from more than 100 SaaS, Big Data, and NoSQL sources in cloud applications like Axios, refer to our Connect Cloud page.