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RSS Connection Details

Introduction

Connector Version

This documentation is based on version 23.0.8936 of the connector.

Get Started

RSS Version Support

The connector surfaces RSS 2.0 feeds as relational tables, enabling standards-based access to the real-time data streaming capabilities of RSS.

Establish a Connection

The RSS connector supports connecting to RSS and Atom feeds, as well as feeds with custom extensions. To connect to a feed, set the URI property. The connector also supports accessing secure feeds. A variety of authentication mechanisms are supported. See the connection properties for details.

Create a Schema

You can use the GenerateSchemaFiles property to generate table definitions for RSS and ATOM feeds. This property can be used to generate schemas when you connect or when you execute a query. Set the URI to the feed URL and the Format is the format of the feed RSS or ATOM. Set the Location connection property to the folder where you want the resulting schemas to be placed.

Alternatively, you can call the CreateSchema stored procedure.

EXEC CreateSchema TableName='MyFeed', URL='http://myservice/myfeed/'

The schema is written in RSBScript, a simple configuration language that allows you to define the columns for the table. You are able to make modifications by adding, removing, or editing columns.

Add a Column

Table columns are defined in the rsb:info block, which defines the column names, data types, element path. To add a new column to a table, you can simply append an attribute to rsb:info. You will need to set the following values:

  • name: the desired column name. The column names do not need to match the element names from the feed; you will define this mapping in the next step.
  • xs:type: an appropriate data type. The connector accepts the following data types: int, double, datetime, time, string, long, boolean, and decimal.
  • key: whether this column is a primary key (a unique identifier that can be used to select this record and this record only).
  • other:xPath: path to the element relative to the channel

Remove a Column

Deleting an attr element from rsb:info will remove the column from the resource. This means that your table will not list the column. Note that it is important to delete the entire XML element for the column that you want to remove.

Edit a Column

You can rename a column by changing the name attribute of the attr. You can also edit a column's data type by changing the xs:type attribute to one of the following support types:

  • string
  • datetime
  • boolean
  • int
  • long
  • double

Important Notes

Configuration Files and Their Paths

  • All references to adding configuration files and their paths refer to files and locations on the Jitterbit agent where the connector is installed. These paths are to be adjusted as appropriate depending on the agent and the operating system. If multiple agents are used in an agent group, identical files will be required on each agent.

Advanced Features

This section details a selection of advanced features of the RSS connector.

User Defined Views

The connector allows you to define virtual tables, called user defined views, whose contents are decided by a pre-configured query. These views are useful when you cannot directly control queries being issued to the drivers. See User Defined Views for an overview of creating and configuring custom views.

SSL Configuration

Use SSL Configuration to adjust how connector handles TLS/SSL certificate negotiations. You can choose from various certificate formats; see the SSLServerCert property under "Connection String Options" for more information.

Proxy

To configure the connector using Private Agent proxy settings, select the Use Proxy Settings checkbox on the connection configuration screen.

Query Processing

The connector offloads as much of the SELECT statement processing as possible to RSS and then processes the rest of the query in memory (client-side).

See Query Processing for more information.

User Defined Views

The RSS connector allows you to define a virtual table whose contents are decided by a pre-configured query. These are called User Defined Views, which are useful in situations where you cannot directly control the query being issued to the driver, e.g. when using the driver from Jitterbit. The User Defined Views can be used to define predicates that are always applied. If you specify additional predicates in the query to the view, they are combined with the query already defined as part of the view.

There are two ways to create user defined views:

  • Create a JSON-formatted configuration file defining the views you want.
  • DDL statements.

Define Views Using a Configuration File

User Defined Views are defined in a JSON-formatted configuration file called UserDefinedViews.json. The connector automatically detects the views specified in this file.

You can also have multiple view definitions and control them using the UserDefinedViews connection property. When you use this property, only the specified views are seen by the connector.

This User Defined View configuration file is formatted as follows:

  • Each root element defines the name of a view.
  • Each root element contains a child element, called query, which contains the custom SQL query for the view.

For example:

{
    "MyView": {
        "query": "SELECT * FROM RSSFeed WHERE MyColumn = 'value'"
    },
    "MyView2": {
        "query": "SELECT * FROM MyTable WHERE Id IN (1,2,3)"
    }
}

Use the UserDefinedViews connection property to specify the location of your JSON configuration file. For example:

"UserDefinedViews", "C:\Users\yourusername\Desktop\tmp\UserDefinedViews.json"

Define Views Using DDL Statements

The connector is also capable of creating and altering the schema via DDL Statements such as CREATE LOCAL VIEW, ALTER LOCAL VIEW, and DROP LOCAL VIEW.

Create a View

To create a new view using DDL statements, provide the view name and query as follows:

CREATE LOCAL VIEW [MyViewName] AS SELECT * FROM Customers LIMIT 20;

If no JSON file exists, the above code creates one. The view is then created in the JSON configuration file and is now discoverable. The JSON file location is specified by the UserDefinedViews connection property.

Alter a View

To alter an existing view, provide the name of an existing view alongside the new query you would like to use instead:

ALTER LOCAL VIEW [MyViewName] AS SELECT * FROM Customers WHERE TimeModified > '3/1/2020';

The view is then updated in the JSON configuration file.

Drop a View

To drop an existing view, provide the name of an existing schema alongside the new query you would like to use instead.

DROP LOCAL VIEW [MyViewName]

This removes the view from the JSON configuration file. It can no longer be queried.

Schema for User Defined Views

User Defined Views are exposed in the UserViews schema by default. This is done to avoid the view's name clashing with an actual entity in the data model. You can change the name of the schema used for UserViews by setting the UserViewsSchemaName property.

Work with User Defined Views

For example, a SQL statement with a User Defined View called UserViews.RCustomers only lists customers in Raleigh:

SELECT * FROM Customers WHERE City = 'Raleigh';

An example of a query to the driver:

SELECT * FROM UserViews.RCustomers WHERE Status = 'Active';

Resulting in the effective query to the source:

SELECT * FROM Customers WHERE City = 'Raleigh' AND Status = 'Active';

That is a very simple example of a query to a User Defined View that is effectively a combination of the view query and the view definition. It is possible to compose these queries in much more complex patterns. All SQL operations are allowed in both queries and are combined when appropriate.

SSL Configuration

Customize the SSL Configuration

By default, the connector attempts to negotiate SSL/TLS by checking the server's certificate against the system's trusted certificate store.

To specify another certificate, see the SSLServerCert property for the available formats to do so.

Data Model

Views

The RSS connector models RSS entities in relational Views, or read-only tables. The connector dynamically obtains the schemas; reconnect to pick up any changes such as column names or data types.

Customizing the Dynamic Schemas

You can create custom schemas by either using the GenerateSchemaFiles connection property or calling the CreateSchema stored procedure.

Stored Procedures

Stored procedures are function-like interfaces that extend the functionality of the connector beyond simple SELECT operations with RSS.

Stored procedures accept a list of parameters, perform their intended function, and then return any relevant response data from RSS, along with an indication of whether the procedure succeeded or failed.

RSS Connector Stored Procedures

Name Description
CreateSchema Creates a schema file for the collection.

CreateSchema

Creates a schema file for the collection.

CreateSchema

Creates a local schema file (.rsd) from an existing table or view in the data model.

The schema file is created in the directory set in the Location connection property when this procedure is executed. You can edit the file to include or exclude columns, rename columns, or adjust column datatypes.

The connector checks the Location to determine if the names of any .rsd files match a table or view in the data model. If there is a duplicate, the schema file will take precedence over the default instance of this table in the data model. If a schema file is present in Location that does not match an existing table or view, a new table or view entry is added to the data model of the connector.

Input
Name Type Description
TableName String The name of the collection and also the name of the schema (RSD) file.
Format String The format of the feed. The allowed values are RSS, ATOM.
URI String The feed URL.
WriteToFile String Whether to write to an output file or not. Defaults to true, must be set to false to write to FileStream or FileData.
FileName String The complete schema (RSD) file name of the generated schema.
Result Set Columns
Name Type Description
Result String Returns Success or Failure.
FileData String The content of the schema encoded as base64. Only returned if WriteToFile=false and FileStream is not provided.

System Tables

You can query the system tables described in this section to access schema information, information on data source functionality, and batch operation statistics.

Schema Tables

The following tables return database metadata for RSS:

Data Source Tables

The following tables return information about how to connect to and query the data source:

  • sys_connection_props: Returns information on the available connection properties.
  • sys_sqlinfo: Describes the SELECT queries that the connector can offload to the data source.

Query Information Tables

The following table returns query statistics for data modification queries:

  • sys_identity: Returns information about batch operations or single updates.

sys_catalogs

Lists the available databases.

The following query retrieves all databases determined by the connection string:

SELECT * FROM sys_catalogs
Columns
Name Type Description
CatalogName String The database name.

sys_schemas

Lists the available schemas.

The following query retrieves all available schemas:

SELECT * FROM sys_schemas
Columns
Name Type Description
CatalogName String The database name.
SchemaName String The schema name.

sys_tables

Lists the available tables.

The following query retrieves the available tables and views:

SELECT * FROM sys_tables
Columns
Name Type Description
CatalogName String The database containing the table or view.
SchemaName String The schema containing the table or view.
TableName String The name of the table or view.
TableType String The table type (table or view).
Description String A description of the table or view.
IsUpdateable Boolean Whether the table can be updated.

sys_tablecolumns

Describes the columns of the available tables and views.

The following query returns the columns and data types for the RSSFeed table:

SELECT ColumnName, DataTypeName FROM sys_tablecolumns WHERE TableName='RSSFeed'
Columns
Name Type Description
CatalogName String The name of the database containing the table or view.
SchemaName String The schema containing the table or view.
TableName String The name of the table or view containing the column.
ColumnName String The column name.
DataTypeName String The data type name.
DataType Int32 An integer indicating the data type. This value is determined at run time based on the environment.
Length Int32 The storage size of the column.
DisplaySize Int32 The designated column's normal maximum width in characters.
NumericPrecision Int32 The maximum number of digits in numeric data. The column length in characters for character and date-time data.
NumericScale Int32 The column scale or number of digits to the right of the decimal point.
IsNullable Boolean Whether the column can contain null.
Description String A brief description of the column.
Ordinal Int32 The sequence number of the column.
IsAutoIncrement String Whether the column value is assigned in fixed increments.
IsGeneratedColumn String Whether the column is generated.
IsHidden Boolean Whether the column is hidden.
IsArray Boolean Whether the column is an array.
IsReadOnly Boolean Whether the column is read-only.
IsKey Boolean Indicates whether a field returned from sys_tablecolumns is the primary key of the table.

sys_procedures

Lists the available stored procedures.

The following query retrieves the available stored procedures:

SELECT * FROM sys_procedures
Columns
Name Type Description
CatalogName String The database containing the stored procedure.
SchemaName String The schema containing the stored procedure.
ProcedureName String The name of the stored procedure.
Description String A description of the stored procedure.
ProcedureType String The type of the procedure, such as PROCEDURE or FUNCTION.

sys_procedureparameters

Describes stored procedure parameters.

The following query returns information about all of the input parameters for the SearchFeed stored procedure:

SELECT * FROM sys_procedureparameters WHERE ProcedureName='SearchFeed' AND Direction=1 OR Direction=2
Columns
Name Type Description
CatalogName String The name of the database containing the stored procedure.
SchemaName String The name of the schema containing the stored procedure.
ProcedureName String The name of the stored procedure containing the parameter.
ColumnName String The name of the stored procedure parameter.
Direction Int32 An integer corresponding to the type of the parameter: input (1), input/output (2), or output(4). input/output type parameters can be both input and output parameters.
DataTypeName String The name of the data type.
DataType Int32 An integer indicating the data type. This value is determined at run time based on the environment.
Length Int32 The number of characters allowed for character data. The number of digits allowed for numeric data.
NumericPrecision Int32 The maximum precision for numeric data. The column length in characters for character and date-time data.
NumericScale Int32 The number of digits to the right of the decimal point in numeric data.
IsNullable Boolean Whether the parameter can contain null.
IsRequired Boolean Whether the parameter is required for execution of the procedure.
IsArray Boolean Whether the parameter is an array.
Description String The description of the parameter.
Ordinal Int32 The index of the parameter.

sys_keycolumns

Describes the primary and foreign keys.

The following query retrieves the primary key for the RSSFeed table:

SELECT * FROM sys_keycolumns WHERE IsKey='True' AND TableName='RSSFeed'
Columns
Name Type Description
CatalogName String The name of the database containing the key.
SchemaName String The name of the schema containing the key.
TableName String The name of the table containing the key.
ColumnName String The name of the key column.
IsKey Boolean Whether the column is a primary key in the table referenced in the TableName field.
IsForeignKey Boolean Whether the column is a foreign key referenced in the TableName field.
PrimaryKeyName String The name of the primary key.
ForeignKeyName String The name of the foreign key.
ReferencedCatalogName String The database containing the primary key.
ReferencedSchemaName String The schema containing the primary key.
ReferencedTableName String The table containing the primary key.
ReferencedColumnName String The column name of the primary key.

sys_foreignkeys

Describes the foreign keys.

The following query retrieves all foreign keys which refer to other tables:

SELECT * FROM sys_foreignkeys WHERE ForeignKeyType = 'FOREIGNKEY_TYPE_IMPORT'
Columns
Name Type Description
CatalogName String The name of the database containing the key.
SchemaName String The name of the schema containing the key.
TableName String The name of the table containing the key.
ColumnName String The name of the key column.
PrimaryKeyName String The name of the primary key.
ForeignKeyName String The name of the foreign key.
ReferencedCatalogName String The database containing the primary key.
ReferencedSchemaName String The schema containing the primary key.
ReferencedTableName String The table containing the primary key.
ReferencedColumnName String The column name of the primary key.
ForeignKeyType String Designates whether the foreign key is an import (points to other tables) or export (referenced from other tables) key.

sys_primarykeys

Describes the primary keys.

The following query retrieves the primary keys from all tables and views:

SELECT * FROM sys_primarykeys
Columns
Name Type Description
CatalogName String The name of the database containing the key.
SchemaName String The name of the schema containing the key.
TableName String The name of the table containing the key.
ColumnName String The name of the key column.
KeySeq String The sequence number of the primary key.
KeyName String The name of the primary key.

sys_indexes

Describes the available indexes. By filtering on indexes, you can write more selective queries with faster query response times.

The following query retrieves all indexes that are not primary keys:

SELECT * FROM sys_indexes WHERE IsPrimary='false'
Columns
Name Type Description
CatalogName String The name of the database containing the index.
SchemaName String The name of the schema containing the index.
TableName String The name of the table containing the index.
IndexName String The index name.
ColumnName String The name of the column associated with the index.
IsUnique Boolean True if the index is unique. False otherwise.
IsPrimary Boolean True if the index is a primary key. False otherwise.
Type Int16 An integer value corresponding to the index type: statistic (0), clustered (1), hashed (2), or other (3).
SortOrder String The sort order: A for ascending or D for descending.
OrdinalPosition Int16 The sequence number of the column in the index.

sys_connection_props

Returns information on the available connection properties and those set in the connection string.

When querying this table, the config connection string should be used:

jdbc:cdata:rss:config:

This connection string enables you to query this table without a valid connection.

The following query retrieves all connection properties that have been set in the connection string or set through a default value:

SELECT * FROM sys_connection_props WHERE Value <> ''
Columns
Name Type Description
Name String The name of the connection property.
ShortDescription String A brief description.
Type String The data type of the connection property.
Default String The default value if one is not explicitly set.
Values String A comma-separated list of possible values. A validation error is thrown if another value is specified.
Value String The value you set or a preconfigured default.
Required Boolean Whether the property is required to connect.
Category String The category of the connection property.
IsSessionProperty String Whether the property is a session property, used to save information about the current connection.
Sensitivity String The sensitivity level of the property. This informs whether the property is obfuscated in logging and authentication forms.
PropertyName String A camel-cased truncated form of the connection property name.
Ordinal Int32 The index of the parameter.
CatOrdinal Int32 The index of the parameter category.
Hierarchy String Shows dependent properties associated that need to be set alongside this one.
Visible Boolean Informs whether the property is visible in the connection UI.
ETC String Various miscellaneous information about the property.

sys_sqlinfo

Describes the SELECT query processing that the connector can offload to the data source.

Discovering the Data Source's SELECT Capabilities

Below is an example data set of SQL capabilities. Some aspects of SELECT functionality are returned in a comma-separated list if supported; otherwise, the column contains NO.

Name Description Possible Values
AGGREGATE_FUNCTIONS Supported aggregation functions. AVG, COUNT, MAX, MIN, SUM, DISTINCT
COUNT Whether COUNT function is supported. YES, NO
IDENTIFIER_QUOTE_OPEN_CHAR The opening character used to escape an identifier. [
IDENTIFIER_QUOTE_CLOSE_CHAR The closing character used to escape an identifier. ]
SUPPORTED_OPERATORS A list of supported SQL operators. =, >, <, >=, <=, <>, !=, LIKE, NOT LIKE, IN, NOT IN, IS NULL, IS NOT NULL, AND, OR
GROUP_BY Whether GROUP BY is supported, and, if so, the degree of support. NO, NO_RELATION, EQUALS_SELECT, SQL_GB_COLLATE
STRING_FUNCTIONS Supported string functions. LENGTH, CHAR, LOCATE, REPLACE, SUBSTRING, RTRIM, LTRIM, RIGHT, LEFT, UCASE, SPACE, SOUNDEX, LCASE, CONCAT, ASCII, REPEAT, OCTET, BIT, POSITION, INSERT, TRIM, UPPER, REGEXP, LOWER, DIFFERENCE, CHARACTER, SUBSTR, STR, REVERSE, PLAN, UUIDTOSTR, TRANSLATE, TRAILING, TO, STUFF, STRTOUUID, STRING, SPLIT, SORTKEY, SIMILAR, REPLICATE, PATINDEX, LPAD, LEN, LEADING, KEY, INSTR, INSERTSTR, HTML, GRAPHICAL, CONVERT, COLLATION, CHARINDEX, BYTE
NUMERIC_FUNCTIONS Supported numeric functions. ABS, ACOS, ASIN, ATAN, ATAN2, CEILING, COS, COT, EXP, FLOOR, LOG, MOD, SIGN, SIN, SQRT, TAN, PI, RAND, DEGREES, LOG10, POWER, RADIANS, ROUND, TRUNCATE
TIMEDATE_FUNCTIONS Supported date/time functions. NOW, CURDATE, DAYOFMONTH, DAYOFWEEK, DAYOFYEAR, MONTH, QUARTER, WEEK, YEAR, CURTIME, HOUR, MINUTE, SECOND, TIMESTAMPADD, TIMESTAMPDIFF, DAYNAME, MONTHNAME, CURRENT_DATE, CURRENT_TIME, CURRENT_TIMESTAMP, EXTRACT
REPLICATION_SKIP_TABLES Indicates tables skipped during replication.
REPLICATION_TIMECHECK_COLUMNS A string array containing a list of columns which will be used to check for (in the given order) to use as a modified column during replication.
IDENTIFIER_PATTERN String value indicating what string is valid for an identifier.
SUPPORT_TRANSACTION Indicates if the provider supports transactions such as commit and rollback. YES, NO
DIALECT Indicates the SQL dialect to use.
KEY_PROPERTIES Indicates the properties which identify the uniform database.
SUPPORTS_MULTIPLE_SCHEMAS Indicates if multiple schemas may exist for the provider. YES, NO
SUPPORTS_MULTIPLE_CATALOGS Indicates if multiple catalogs may exist for the provider. YES, NO
DATASYNCVERSION The Data Sync version needed to access this driver. Standard, Starter, Professional, Enterprise
DATASYNCCATEGORY The Data Sync category of this driver. Source, Destination, Cloud Destination
SUPPORTSENHANCEDSQL Whether enhanced SQL functionality beyond what is offered by the API is supported. TRUE, FALSE
SUPPORTS_BATCH_OPERATIONS Whether batch operations are supported. YES, NO
SQL_CAP All supported SQL capabilities for this driver. SELECT, INSERT, DELETE, UPDATE, TRANSACTIONS, ORDERBY, OAUTH, ASSIGNEDID, LIMIT, LIKE, BULKINSERT, COUNT, BULKDELETE, BULKUPDATE, GROUPBY, HAVING, AGGS, OFFSET, REPLICATE, COUNTDISTINCT, JOINS, DROP, CREATE, DISTINCT, INNERJOINS, SUBQUERIES, ALTER, MULTIPLESCHEMAS, GROUPBYNORELATION, OUTERJOINS, UNIONALL, UNION, UPSERT, GETDELETED, CROSSJOINS, GROUPBYCOLLATE, MULTIPLECATS, FULLOUTERJOIN, MERGE, JSONEXTRACT, BULKUPSERT, SUM, SUBQUERIESFULL, MIN, MAX, JOINSFULL, XMLEXTRACT, AVG, MULTISTATEMENTS, FOREIGNKEYS, CASE, LEFTJOINS, COMMAJOINS, WITH, LITERALS, RENAME, NESTEDTABLES, EXECUTE, BATCH, BASIC, INDEX
PREFERRED_CACHE_OPTIONS A string value specifies the preferred cacheOptions.
ENABLE_EF_ADVANCED_QUERY Indicates if the driver directly supports advanced queries coming from Entity Framework. If not, queries will be handled client side. YES, NO
PSEUDO_COLUMNS A string array indicating the available pseudo columns.
MERGE_ALWAYS If the value is true, The Merge Mode is forcibly executed in Data Sync. TRUE, FALSE
REPLICATION_MIN_DATE_QUERY A select query to return the replicate start datetime.
REPLICATION_MIN_FUNCTION Allows a provider to specify the formula name to use for executing a server side min.
REPLICATION_START_DATE Allows a provider to specify a replicate startdate.
REPLICATION_MAX_DATE_QUERY A select query to return the replicate end datetime.
REPLICATION_MAX_FUNCTION Allows a provider to specify the formula name to use for executing a server side max.
IGNORE_INTERVALS_ON_INITIAL_REPLICATE A list of tables which will skip dividing the replicate into chunks on the initial replicate.
CHECKCACHE_USE_PARENTID Indicates whether the CheckCache statement should be done against the parent key column. TRUE, FALSE
CREATE_SCHEMA_PROCEDURES Indicates stored procedures that can be used for generating schema files.

The following query retrieves the operators that can be used in the WHERE clause:

SELECT * FROM sys_sqlinfo WHERE Name = 'SUPPORTED_OPERATORS'

Note that individual tables may have different limitations or requirements on the WHERE clause; refer to the Data Model section for more information.

Columns
Name Type Description
NAME String A component of SQL syntax, or a capability that can be processed on the server.
VALUE String Detail on the supported SQL or SQL syntax.

sys_identity

Returns information about attempted modifications.

The following query retrieves the Ids of the modified rows in a batch operation:

SELECT * FROM sys_identity
Columns
Name Type Description
Id String The database-generated ID returned from a data modification operation.
Batch String An identifier for the batch. 1 for a single operation.
Operation String The result of the operation in the batch: INSERTED, UPDATED, or DELETED.
Message String SUCCESS or an error message if the update in the batch failed.

sys_information

Describes the available system information.

The following query retrieves all columns:

SELECT * FROM sys_information
Columns
Name Type Description
Product String The name of the product.
Version String The version number of the product.
Datasource String The name of the datasource the product connects to.
NodeId String The unique identifier of the machine where the product is installed.
HelpURL String The URL to the product's help documentation.
License String The license information for the product. (If this information is not available, the field may be left blank or marked as 'N/A'.)
Location String The file path location where the product's library is stored.
Environment String The version of the environment or rumtine the product is currently running under.
DataSyncVersion String The tier of Sync required to use this connector.
DataSyncCategory String The category of Sync functionality (e.g., Source, Destination).

Advanced Configurations Properties

The advanced configurations properties are the various options that can be used to establish a connection. This section provides a complete list of the options you can configure. Click the links for further details.

Authentication

Property Description
AuthScheme The scheme used for HTTP authentication. Accepted entries are NTLM, Basic, Digest, Negotiate and None.
AuthToken The token used for authentication.
URI The URI (Uniform Resource Identifier) of the feed.

Feed

Property Description
Format The Format property specifies whether the data is in RSS or ATOM.

SSL

Property Description
SSLServerCert The certificate to be accepted from the server when connecting using TLS/SSL.

Schema

Property Description
Location A path to the directory that contains the schema files defining tables, views, and stored procedures.
BrowsableSchemas This property restricts the schemas reported to a subset of the available schemas. For example, BrowsableSchemas=SchemaA, SchemaB, SchemaC.
Tables This property restricts the tables reported to a subset of the available tables. For example, Tables=TableA, TableB, TableC.
Views Restricts the views reported to a subset of the available tables. For example, Views=ViewA, ViewB, ViewC.

Miscellaneous

Property Description
GenerateSchemaFiles Indicates the user preference as to when schemas should be generated and saved.
MaxRows Limits the number of rows returned when no aggregation or GROUP BY is used in the query. This takes precedence over LIMIT clauses.
Other These hidden properties are used only in specific use cases.
PseudoColumns This property indicates whether or not to include pseudo columns as columns to the table.
Timeout The value in seconds until the timeout error is thrown, canceling the operation.
UserDefinedViews A filepath pointing to the JSON configuration file containing your custom views.

Authentication

This section provides a complete list of authentication properties you can configure.

Property Description
AuthScheme The scheme used for HTTP authentication. Accepted entries are NTLM, Basic, Digest, Negotiate and None.
AuthToken The token used for authentication.
URI The URI (Uniform Resource Identifier) of the feed.

AuthScheme

The scheme used for HTTP authentication. Accepted entries are NTLM, Basic, Digest, Negotiate and None.

Possible Values

None, Basic, Digest, NTLM, Negotiate

Data Type

string

Default Value

None

Remarks

The scheme used for HTTP authentication. Accepted entries are NTLM, Basic, Digest, Negotiate and None. None is the default option.

  • NTLM: Set this to use your Windows credentials for authentication.
  • Basic: Set this to use HTTP Basic authentication.
  • Digest: Set this to use HTTP Digest authentication.
  • Negotiate: If AuthScheme is set to Negotiate, the connector will negotiate an authentication mechanism with the server. Set AuthScheme to Negotiate if you want to use Kerberos authentication.

AuthToken

The token used for authentication.

Data Type

string

Default Value

""

Remarks

An authtoken is a unique secret identifier that can be used to identify the validity of an HTTP request. Several applications and servers use this mechanism to secure feeds. The authtoken set in the connection will be posted with the HTTP server as the request variable '@authtoken'.

URI

The URI (Uniform Resource Identifier) of the feed.

Data Type

string

Default Value

""

Remarks

This property specifies a URI for the RSS Feed resource location. This can be an http source or file.

Feed

This section provides a complete list of the Feed properties you can configure.

Property Description
Format The Format property specifies whether the data is in RSS or ATOM.

Format

The Format property specifies whether the data is in RSS or ATOM.

Possible Values

RSS, ATOM

Data Type

string

Default Value

RSS

Remarks

This property can be used with the CreateSchema stored procedure or the Generate Schema File feature (Set GenerateSchemFiles to OnStart or OnUse)

SSL

This section provides a complete list of SSL properties you can configure.

Property Description
SSLServerCert The certificate to be accepted from the server when connecting using TLS/SSL.

SSLServerCert

The certificate to be accepted from the server when connecting using TLS/SSL.

Data Type

string

Default Value

""

Remarks

If using a TLS/SSL connection, this property can be used to specify the TLS/SSL certificate to be accepted from the server. Any other certificate that is not trusted by the machine is rejected.

This property can take the following forms:

Description Example
A full PEM Certificate (example shortened for brevity) -----BEGIN CERTIFICATE----- MIIChTCCAe4CAQAwDQYJKoZIhv......Qw== -----END CERTIFICATE-----
A path to a local file containing the certificate C:\\cert.cer
The public key (example shortened for brevity) -----BEGIN RSA PUBLIC KEY----- MIGfMA0GCSq......AQAB -----END RSA PUBLIC KEY-----
The MD5 Thumbprint (hex values can also be either space or colon separated) ecadbdda5a1529c58a1e9e09828d70e4
The SHA1 Thumbprint (hex values can also be either space or colon separated) 34a929226ae0819f2ec14b4a3d904f801cbb150d

If not specified, any certificate trusted by the machine is accepted.

Certificates are validated as trusted by the machine based on the System's trust store. The trust store used is the 'javax.net.ssl.trustStore' value specified for the system. If no value is specified for this property, Java's default trust store is used (for example, JAVA_HOME\lib\security\cacerts).

Use '*' to signify to accept all certificates. Note that this is not recommended due to security concerns.

Schema

This section provides a complete list of schema properties you can configure.

Property Description
Location A path to the directory that contains the schema files defining tables, views, and stored procedures.
BrowsableSchemas This property restricts the schemas reported to a subset of the available schemas. For example, BrowsableSchemas=SchemaA, SchemaB, SchemaC.
Tables This property restricts the tables reported to a subset of the available tables. For example, Tables=TableA, TableB, TableC.
Views Restricts the views reported to a subset of the available tables. For example, Views=ViewA, ViewB, ViewC.

Location

A path to the directory that contains the schema files defining tables, views, and stored procedures.

Data Type

string

Default Value

%APPDATA%\RSS Data Provider\Schema

Remarks

The path to a directory which contains the schema files for the connector (.rsd files for tables and views, .rsb files for stored procedures). The folder location can be a relative path from the location of the executable. The Location property is only needed if you want to customize definitions (for example, change a column name, ignore a column, and so on) or extend the data model with new tables, views, or stored procedures.

If left unspecified, the default location is "%APPDATA%\RSS Data Provider\Schema" with %APPDATA% being set to the user's configuration directory:

Platform %APPDATA%
Windows The value of the APPDATA environment variable
Mac ~/Library/Application Support
Linux ~/.config

BrowsableSchemas

This property restricts the schemas reported to a subset of the available schemas. For example, BrowsableSchemas=SchemaA,SchemaB,SchemaC.

Data Type

string

Default Value

""

Remarks

Listing the schemas from databases can be expensive. Providing a list of schemas in the connection string improves the performance.

Tables

This property restricts the tables reported to a subset of the available tables. For example, Tables=TableA,TableB,TableC.

Data Type

string

Default Value

""

Remarks

Listing the tables from some databases can be expensive. Providing a list of tables in the connection string improves the performance of the connector.

This property can also be used as an alternative to automatically listing views if you already know which ones you want to work with and there would otherwise be too many to work with.

Specify the tables you want in a comma-separated list. Each table should be a valid SQL identifier with any special characters escaped using square brackets, double-quotes or backticks. For example, Tables=TableA,[TableB/WithSlash],WithCatalog.WithSchema.`TableC With Space`.

Note that when connecting to a data source with multiple schemas or catalogs, you will need to provide the fully qualified name of the table in this property, as in the last example here, to avoid ambiguity between tables that exist in multiple catalogs or schemas.

Views

Restricts the views reported to a subset of the available tables. For example, Views=ViewA,ViewB,ViewC.

Data Type

string

Default Value

""

Remarks

Listing the views from some databases can be expensive. Providing a list of views in the connection string improves the performance of the connector.

This property can also be used as an alternative to automatically listing views if you already know which ones you want to work with and there would otherwise be too many to work with.

Specify the views you want in a comma-separated list. Each view should be a valid SQL identifier with any special characters escaped using square brackets, double-quotes or backticks. For example, Views=ViewA,[ViewB/WithSlash],WithCatalog.WithSchema.`ViewC With Space`.

Note that when connecting to a data source with multiple schemas or catalogs, you will need to provide the fully qualified name of the table in this property, as in the last example here, to avoid ambiguity between tables that exist in multiple catalogs or schemas.

Miscellaneous

This section provides a complete list of miscellaneous properties you can configure.

Property Description
GenerateSchemaFiles Indicates the user preference as to when schemas should be generated and saved.
MaxRows Limits the number of rows returned when no aggregation or GROUP BY is used in the query. This takes precedence over LIMIT clauses.
Other These hidden properties are used only in specific use cases.
PseudoColumns This property indicates whether or not to include pseudo columns as columns to the table.
Timeout The value in seconds until the timeout error is thrown, canceling the operation.
UserDefinedViews A filepath pointing to the JSON configuration file containing your custom views.

GenerateSchemaFiles

Indicates the user preference as to when schemas should be generated and saved.

Possible Values

Never, OnUse, OnStart, OnCreate

Data Type

string

Default Value

Never

Remarks

This property outputs schemas to .rsd files in the path specified by Location.

Available settings are the following:

  • Never: A schema file will never be generated.
  • OnUse: A schema file will be generated the first time a table is referenced, provided the schema file for the table does not already exist.
  • OnStart: A schema file will be generated at connection time for any tables that do not currently have a schema file.
  • OnCreate: A schema file will be generated by when running a CREATE TABLE SQL query.

Note that if you want to regenerate a file, you will first need to delete it.

Generate Schemas with SQL

When you set GenerateSchemaFiles to OnUse, the connector generates schemas as you execute SELECT queries. Schemas are generated for each table referenced in the query.

When you set GenerateSchemaFiles to OnCreate, schemas are only generated when a CREATE TABLE query is executed.

Generate Schemas on Connection

Another way to use this property is to obtain schemas for every table in your database when you connect. To do so, set GenerateSchemaFiles to OnStart and connect.

MaxRows

Limits the number of rows returned when no aggregation or GROUP BY is used in the query. This takes precedence over LIMIT clauses.

Data Type

int

Default Value

-1

Remarks

Limits the number of rows returned when no aggregation or GROUP BY is used in the query. This takes precedence over LIMIT clauses.

Other

These hidden properties are used only in specific use cases.

Data Type

string

Default Value

""

Remarks

The properties listed below are available for specific use cases. Normal driver use cases and functionality should not require these properties.

Specify multiple properties in a semicolon-separated list.

Integration and Formatting
Property Description
DefaultColumnSize Sets the default length of string fields when the data source does not provide column length in the metadata. The default value is 2000.
ConvertDateTimeToGMT Determines whether to convert date-time values to GMT, instead of the local time of the machine.
RecordToFile=filename Records the underlying socket data transfer to the specified file.

PseudoColumns

This property indicates whether or not to include pseudo columns as columns to the table.

Data Type

string

Default Value

""

Remarks

This setting is particularly helpful in Entity Framework, which does not allow you to set a value for a pseudo column unless it is a table column. The value of this connection setting is of the format "Table1=Column1, Table1=Column2, Table2=Column3". You can use the "*" character to include all tables and all columns; for example, "*=*".

Timeout

The value in seconds until the timeout error is thrown, canceling the operation.

Data Type

int

Default Value

60

Remarks

If Timeout = 0, operations do not time out. The operations run until they complete successfully or until they encounter an error condition.

If Timeout expires and the operation is not yet complete, the connector throws an exception.

UserDefinedViews

A filepath pointing to the JSON configuration file containing your custom views.

Data Type

string

Default Value

""

Remarks

User Defined Views are defined in a JSON-formatted configuration file called UserDefinedViews.json. The connector automatically detects the views specified in this file.

You can also have multiple view definitions and control them using the UserDefinedViews connection property. When you use this property, only the specified views are seen by the connector.

This User Defined View configuration file is formatted as follows:

  • Each root element defines the name of a view.
  • Each root element contains a child element, called query, which contains the custom SQL query for the view.

For example:

{
    "MyView": {
        "query": "SELECT * FROM RSSFeed WHERE MyColumn = 'value'"
    },
    "MyView2": {
        "query": "SELECT * FROM MyTable WHERE Id IN (1,2,3)"
    }
}

Use the UserDefinedViews connection property to specify the location of your JSON configuration file. For example:

"UserDefinedViews", C:\Users\yourusername\Desktop\tmp\UserDefinedViews.json

Note that the specified path is not embedded in quotation marks.