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

Getting Started

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Connect to Salesforce Data as a JDBC Data Source

To connect to Salesforce 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.salesforce.SalesforceDriver

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

  There are several authentication methods available for connecting to Salesforce: Login, OAuth, and SSO. The Login method requires you to have the username, password, and security token of the user.

  If you do not have access to the username and password or do not wish to require them, you can use OAuth authentication.

  SSO (single sign-on) can be used by setting the SSOProperties, SSOLoginUrl, and TokenUrl connection properties, which allow you to authenticate to an identity provider. See the "Getting Started" chapter in the help documentation for more information.

  Built-in Connection String Designer

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

  java -jar cdata.jdbc.salesforce.jar

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

  A typical JDBC URL is below:

  jdbc:salesforce:User=username;Password=password;SecurityToken=Your_Security_Token;

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 Salesforce Data as a PostgreSQL Database

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

1. Log into your database.
2. Load the extension for the database: CREATE EXTENSION jdbc2_fdw;
3. Create a server object for Salesforce: CREATE SERVER Salesforce FOREIGN DATA WRAPPER jdbc2_fdw OPTIONS ( drivername 'cdata.jdbc.salesforce.SalesforceDriver', url 'jdbc:salesforce:User=username;Password=password;SecurityToken=Your_Security_Token;', querytimeout '15', jarfile '/home/MyUser/CData/CData\ JDBC\ Driver\ for\ Salesforce MyDriverEdition/lib/cdata.jdbc.salesforce.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 Salesforce OPTIONS ( username 'admin', password 'test');
5. Create a foreign table in your local database: postgres=# CREATE FOREIGN TABLE account ( account_id text, account_Industry text, account_AnnualRevenue numeric) SERVER Salesforce OPTIONS ( table_name 'account');