Load SharePoint Data to a Database Using Embulk



Use CData JDBC drivers with the open source ETL/ELT tool Embulk to load SharePoint data to a database.

Embulk is an open source bulk data loader. When paired with the CData JDBC Driver for SharePoint, Embulk easily loads data from SharePoint to any supported destination. In this article, we explain how to use the CData JDBC Driver for SharePoint in Embulk to load SharePoint data to a MySQL dtabase.

With built-in optimized data processing, the CData JDBC Driver offers unmatched performance for interacting with live SharePoint data. When you issue complex SQL queries to SharePoint, the driver pushes supported SQL operations, like filters and aggregations, directly to SharePoint and utilizes the embedded SQL engine to process unsupported operations client-side (often SQL functions and JOIN operations).

About SharePoint Data Integration

Accessing and integrating live data from SharePoint has never been easier with CData. Customers rely on CData connectivity to:

  • Access data from a wide range of SharePoint versions, including Windows SharePoint Services 3.0, Microsoft Office SharePoint Server 2007 and above, and SharePoint Online.
  • Access all of SharePoint thanks to support for Hidden and Lookup columns.
  • Recursively scan folders to create a relational model of all SharePoint data.
  • Use SQL stored procedures to upload and download documents and attachments.

Most customers rely on CData solutions to integrate SharePoint data into their database or data warehouse, while others integrate their SharePoint data with preferred data tools, like Power BI, Tableau, or Excel.

For more information on how customers are solving problems with CData's SharePoint solutions, refer to our blog: Drivers in Focus: Collaboration Tools.


Getting Started


Configure a JDBC Connection to SharePoint Data

Before creating a bulk load job in Embulk, note the installation location for the JAR file for the JDBC Driver (typically C:\Program Files\CData\CData JDBC Driver for SharePoint\lib).

Embulk supports JDBC connectivity, so you can easily connect to SharePoint and execute SQL queries. Before creating a bulk load job, create a JDBC URL for authenticating with SharePoint.

Set the URL property to the base SharePoint site or to a sub-site. This allows you to query any lists and other SharePoint entities defined for the site or sub-site.

The User and Password properties, under the Authentication section, must be set to valid SharePoint user credentials when using SharePoint On-Premise.

If you are connecting to SharePoint Online, set the SharePointEdition to SHAREPOINTONLINE along with the User and Password connection string properties. For more details on connecting to SharePoint Online, see the "Getting Started" chapter of the help documentation

Built-in Connection String Designer

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

java -jar cdata.jdbc.sharepoint.jar

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

Below is a typical JDBC connection string for SharePoint:

jdbc:sharepoint:User=myuseraccount;Password=mypassword;Auth Scheme=NTLM;URL=http://sharepointserver/mysite;SharePointEdition=SharePointOnPremise;

Load SharePoint Data in Embulk

After installing the CData JDBC Driver and creating a JDBC connection string, install the required Embulk plugins.

Install Embulk Input & Output Plugins

  1. Install the JDBC Input Plugin in Embulk.
    https://github.com/embulk/embulk-input-jdbc/tree/master/embulk-input-jdbc
  2. embulk gem install embulk-input-jdbc
  3. In this article, we use MySQL as the destination database. You can also choose SQL Server, PostgreSQL, or Google BigQuery as the destination using the output Plugins.
    https://github.com/embulk/embulk-output-jdbc/tree/master/embulk-output-mysql embulk gem install embulk-output-mysql

With the input and output plugins installed, we are ready to load SharePoint data into MySQL using Embulk.

Create a Job to Load SharePoint Data

Start by creating a config file in Embulk, using a name like sharepoint-mysql.yml.

  1. For the input plugin options, use the CData JDBC Driver for SharePoint, including the path to the driver JAR file, the driver class (e.g. cdata.jdbc.sharepoint.SharePointDriver), and the JDBC URL from above
  2. For the output plugin options, use the values and credentials for the MySQL database

Sample Config File (sharepoint-mysql.yml)

in: type: jdbc driver_path: C:\Program Files\CData[product_name] 20xx\lib\cdata.jdbc.sharepoint.jar driver_class: cdata.jdbc.sharepoint.SharePointDriver url: jdbc:sharepoint:User=myuseraccount;Password=mypassword;Auth Scheme=NTLM;URL=http://sharepointserver/mysite;SharePointEdition=SharePointOnPremise; table: "MyCustomList" out: type: mysql host: localhost database: DatabaseName user: UserId password: UserPassword table: "MyCustomList" mode: insert

After creating the file, run the Embulk job.

embulk run sharepoint-mysql.yml

After running the the Embulk job, find the Salesforce data in the MySQL table.

Load Filtered SharePoint Data

In addition to loading data directly from a table, you can use a custom SQL query to have more granular control of the data loaded. You can also perform increment loads by setting a last updated column in a SQL WHERE clause in the query field.

in: type: jdbc driver_path: C:\Program Files\CData[product_name] 20xx\lib\cdata.jdbc.sharepoint.jar driver_class: cdata.jdbc.sharepoint.SharePointDriver url: jdbc:sharepoint:User=myuseraccount;Password=mypassword;Auth Scheme=NTLM;URL=http://sharepointserver/mysite;SharePointEdition=SharePointOnPremise; query: "SELECT Name, Revenue FROM MyCustomList WHERE [RecordId] = 1" out: type: mysql host: localhost database: DatabaseName user: UserId password: UserPassword table: "MyCustomList" mode: insert

More Information & Free Trial

By using CData JDBC Driver for SharePoint as a connector, Embulk can integrate SharePoint data into your data load jobs. And with drivers for more than 200+ other enterprise sources, you can integrate any enterprise SaaS, big data, or NoSQL source as well. Download a 30-day free trial and get started today.

Ready to get started?

Download a free trial of the SharePoint Driver to get started:

 Download Now

Learn more:

SharePoint Icon SharePoint JDBC Driver

Provides Java developers with the power to easily connect their Web, Desktop, and Mobile applications to data in SharePoint Server Lists, Contacts, Calendar, Links, Tasks, and more!