A PostgreSQL Interface for Epicor Kinetic Data

There are a vast number of PostgreSQL clients available on the Internet. From standard Drivers to BI and Analytics tools, PostgreSQL is a popular interface for data access. Using our JDBC Drivers, you can now create PostgreSQL entry-points that you can connect to from any standard client.

To access Epicor Kinetic data as a PostgreSQL database, use the CData JDBC Driver for Epicor Kinetic and a JDBC foreign data wrapper (FDW). In this article, we compile the FDW, install it, and query Epicor Kinetic data from PostgreSQL Server.

Connect to Epicor Kinetic Data as a JDBC Data Source

To connect to Epicor Kinetic as a JDBC data source, you will need the following:

• Driver JAR path: The JAR is located in the lib subfolder of the installation directory.

• Driver class: cdata.jdbc.epicorkinetic.epicorKineticDriver

• JDBC URL: The URL must start with "jdbc:epicorkinetic:" and can include any of the connection properties in name-value pairs separated with semicolons.

  To successfully connect to your ERP instance, you must specify the following connection properties:

  • Url:the URL of the server hosting your ERP instance. For example, https://myserver.EpicorSaaS.com
  • ERPInstance: the name of your ERP instance.
  • User: the username of your account.
  • Password: the password of your account.
  • Service: the service you want to retrieve data from. For example, BaqSvc.

  In addition, you may also set the optional connection properties:

  • ApiKey: An optional key that may be required for connection to some services depending on your account configuration.
  • ApiVersion: Defaults to v1. May be set to v2 to use the newer Epicor API.
  • Company: Required if you set the ApiVersion to v2.

  Built-in Connection String Designer

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

  java -jar cdata.jdbc.epicorkinetic.jar

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

  A typical JDBC URL is below:

  jdbc:epicorkinetic:Service=Erp.BO.CustomerSvc;ERPInstance=MyInstance;URL=https://myaccount.epicorsaas.com;User=username;Password=password;InitiateOAuth=GETANDREFRESH

Build the JDBC Foreign Data Wrapper

The Foreign Data Wrapper can be installed as an extension to PostgreSQL, without recompiling PostgreSQL. The jdbc2_fdw extension is used as an example (downloadable here).

1. Add a symlink from the shared object for your version of the JRE to /usr/lib/libjvm.so. For example: ln -s /usr/lib/jvm/java-6-openjdk/jre/lib/amd64/server/libjvm.so /usr/lib/libjvm.so
2. Start the build: make install USE_PGXS=1

Query Epicor Kinetic Data as a PostgreSQL Database

After you have installed the extension, follow the steps below to start executing queries to Epicor Kinetic data:

1. Log into your database.
2. Load the extension for the database: CREATE EXTENSION jdbc2_fdw;
3. Create a server object for Epicor Kinetic: CREATE SERVER epicorKinetic FOREIGN DATA WRAPPER jdbc2_fdw OPTIONS ( drivername 'cdata.jdbc.epicorkinetic.epicorKineticDriver', url 'jdbc:epicorkinetic:Service=Erp.BO.CustomerSvc;ERPInstance=MyInstance;URL=https://myaccount.epicorsaas.com;User=username;Password=password;InitiateOAuth=GETANDREFRESH', querytimeout '15', jarfile '/home/MyUser/CData/CData\ JDBC\ Driver\ for\ Salesforce MyDriverEdition/lib/cdata.jdbc.epicorkinetic.jar');
4. Create a user mapping for the username and password of a user known to the MySQL daemon. CREATE USER MAPPING for postgres SERVER epicorKinetic OPTIONS ( username 'admin', password 'test');
5. Create a foreign table in your local database: postgres=# CREATE FOREIGN TABLE customers ( customers_id text, customers_CustNum text, customers_Company numeric) SERVER epicorKinetic OPTIONS ( table_name 'customers');