Neo4j Connection Details

Introduction

Connector Version

This documentation is based on version 23.0.9039 of the connector.

Get Started

Neo4j Version Support

The connector leverages the Neo4j HTTP API. The connector supports self-managed instances of Neo4j version 4.2 and above. Cloud Neo4j instances like those of AuraDB and AuraDS, which only support connections via Bolt protocol, are not supported.

Establish a Connection

Connect to Neo4j

Neo4j connector supports connections to self-managed Neo4j instances via the HTTP API. To connect, set the following connection properties:

• Server: The server hosting the Neo4j instance. An HTTP or HTTPS protocol prefix may be optionally prepended to the server name or address.
• Port: The port on which the Neo4j service is running. The provider connects to HTTP (7474) port by default. If connecting over HTTPS, supply the HTTPS port for the Neo4j instance specified in Server.
• User: The username of the user using the Neo4j instance.
• Password: The password of the user using the Neo4j instance.
• Database: The database to target in the Neo4j instance. Defaults to "Neo4j".

Note that the Neo4j connector does not support connections to cloud Neo4j instances like those of AuraDB and AuraDS.

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.

Data Model

Overview

This section covers how the connector exposes your Neo4j graph database, and provides more information on executing SQL to Neo4j APIs.

Key Features

• The connector models Neo4j graph node labels and relationships as relational views, allowing you to write SQL to query Neo4j data.
• Stored procedures allow you to execute operations to Neo4j.
• Live connectivity to these objects means any changes to your Neo4j account are immediately reflected when using the connector.

Modeling Node Graphs

Modeling Node Graphs details how node labels and relationships are exposed as views, as well as how properties are surfaced as columns.

Node and Relationship Filtering

The connector supports filtering which node labels and relationships are modeled as views. See Filtering Nodes and Relationships for more information.

Modeling Node Graphs

Each node in Neo4j has a set of unique labels, properties and can have any number of incoming and outgoing relationships (or none).

In order to present the contents of a node graph as a SQL database, the connector models node labels as tables and relationships as read-only views.

Node Labels

Node labels are Neo4j's primary method for categorizing nodes, so they have been adapted into SQL views. Each node label is exposed as an individual table.

For example, the following query displays all nodes that contain a "Product" label:

SELECT * FROM Product

Note that, because nodes can have multiple labels, certain nodes appear in several label tables.

Insert

Nodes can be inserted to using standard SQL syntax. For example, the following query adds a new node with a "Product" label:

INSERT INTO Product (Name) VALUES ('Television')

Update

Nodes can be updated with arbitrary filters. For example, the following query sets a new price for nodes labelled "Product" with a given name:

UPDATE Product SET Price=179.99 WHERE Name='Television'

Delete

Nodes can be deleted with arbitrary filters. For example, the following query deletes all nodes labelled "Product" with a given name:

DELETE FROM Product WHERE Name='Television'

Relationships

The connector models each novel combination of the following as a view.

• Source node label
• Destination node label
• Relationship type (name)

The view associated with that combination takes the form of SourceName_RelationshipType_DestinationName.

For example, if there is at least one node with the label "Product" which has the relationship "Part_Of" with a node with the label "Category", you can query this relationship as follows:

SELECT * FROM Product_Part__Of_Category

Since the source and destination labels of the relationship denote its direction, bidirectional relationships are modeled as two views: A_RelationshipType_B and B_RelationshipType_A, where A and B represent unique node labels.

Note that, because nodes can have multiple relationships, certain nodes appear in several relationship views.

Properties

Properties are modeled as columns.

Node Properties

In nodes label views, properties are inherited from the nodes containing the node label, keeping their original names.

Relationship Properties

In relationship views, properties are inherited from the all instances of the source node, the destination node, and the relationship itself.

The following columns are exposed:

• A source_<PropertyName> column for each property in the instances of the source node.
• A destination_<PropertyName> column for each property in the instances of the destination node.
• A relationship_<PropertyName> column for each property in the instances of the relationship.

Filtering Nodes and Relationships

The connector facilitates customization of how node labels and relationships are modeled.

Filtering Node Labels

By default, all labels across all nodes are exposed as views.

To expose only a subset of the labels in your node graph as views, set the NodeFilter connection property to a valid Cypher node label matching expression.

All of the node labels of the matched nodes are modeled as views.

For example, setting NodeFilter to "Label1" causes the connector to match all nodes containing the "Label1" label and model all of the node labels in the matched nodes as views.

Filtering Relationships

You can also limit which relationships are modeled as views.

The connector supports filtering relationships with respect to their type (the name of the relationship), their source node label, and their destination node label.

Relationship Type

By default, every unique combination of a source node label, relationship type, and destination node label is modeled as a view with the name SourceNodeLabel_RelationshipType_DestinationNodeLabel.

To filter out unwanted relationships from being exposed as views, set the RelationshipTypeFilter to a valid Cypher relationship type matching expression.

For example, setting RelationshipTypeFilter to "RelationshipType1" causes the connector to only model relationships with "RelationshipType1" as their type name as views.

Source and Destination Node Labels

You can filter the relationships exposed as views using source and destination node labels.

Set the RelationshipSourceFilter and RelationshipDestinationFilter connection properties to match relationships where the source and/or destination node(s) contain certain node labels.

Only relationships whose source and destination nodes meet the criteria outlined in these connection properties are exposed as views.

For example, setting RelationshipSourceFilter to "Label1" and RelationshipDestinationFilter to "LabelA" means that a relationship must contain the "Label1" label in the source node and the "LabelA" label in the destination node before it is exposed as a view.

You can specify either one or both of these properties.

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 Neo4j:

• sys_catalogs: Lists the available databases.
• sys_schemas: Lists the available schemas.
• sys_tables: Lists the available tables and views.
• sys_tablecolumns: Describes the columns of the available tables and views.
• sys_procedures: Describes the available stored procedures.
• sys_procedureparameters: Describes stored procedure parameters.
• sys_keycolumns: Describes the primary and foreign keys.
• sys_indexes: Describes the available indexes.

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

sys_schemas

Lists the available schemas.

The following query retrieves all available schemas:

SELECT * FROM sys_schemas

Columns

sys_tables

Lists the available tables.

The following query retrieves the available tables and views:

SELECT * FROM sys_tables

Columns

sys_tablecolumns

Describes the columns of the available tables and views.

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

SELECT ColumnName, DataTypeName FROM sys_tablecolumns WHERE TableName='ProductCategory'

Columns

sys_procedures

Lists the available stored procedures.

The following query retrieves the available stored procedures:

SELECT * FROM sys_procedures

Columns

sys_procedureparameters

Describes stored procedure parameters.

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

SELECT * FROM sys_procedureparameters WHERE ProcedureName='findDenseNodes' AND Direction=1 OR Direction=2

Columns

sys_keycolumns

Describes the primary and foreign keys.

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

SELECT * FROM sys_keycolumns WHERE IsKey='True' AND TableName='ProductCategory'

Columns

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

sys_primarykeys

Describes the primary keys.

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

SELECT * FROM sys_primarykeys

Columns

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

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:neo4j: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

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.

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

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

sys_information

Describes the available system information.

The following query retrieves all columns:

SELECT * FROM sys_information

Columns

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

Connection

SSL

Schema

Miscellaneous

Authentication

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

User

The Neo4j user account used to authenticate.

Data Type

string

Default Value

""

Remarks

Together with Password, this field is used to authenticate against the Neo4j server.

Password

The password used to authenticate the user.

Data Type

string

Default Value

""

Remarks

The User and Password are together used to authenticate with the server.

Connection

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

Server

The server hosting the Neo4j instance. You may optionally prepend a protocol prefix to the server address or name you specify, like https://127.0.0.1 .

Data Type

string

Default Value

127.0.0.1

Remarks

The server hosting the Neo4j instance. For HTTPS connections, make sure to set Port to the HTTPS port on the Neo4j server.

Note that the server must be a self-managed Neo4j instance supporting the HTTP API. Due to lack of support for this API, connections to cloud Neo4j instances like those of AuraDB and AuraDS are not currently supported.

Port

The port on which the Neo4j service is running.

Data Type

string

Default Value

7474

Remarks

The port on which the Neo4j service is running. The provider connects to HTTP (7474) port by default.

Database

The default database queried for your Neo4j instance.

Data Type

string

Default Value

neo4j

Remarks

By default, a "neo4j" database will have been created on your Neo4j instance unless otherwise specified when the instance was created.

SSL

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

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:

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.

Location

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

Data Type

string

Default Value

%APPDATA%\Neo4j 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%\Neo4j Data Provider\Schema" with %APPDATA% being set to the user's configuration directory:

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.

DetachDelete

A boolean value that controls whether the provider uses DETACH DELETE automatically when executing DELETE query.

Data Type

bool

Default Value

false

Remarks

Nodes in Neo4j cannot be deleted if attached to any edge. By setting this property to 'true', the connector will automatically adjust a DELETE query to include a DETACH clause, putting the node into a deletable state before attempting operation.

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.

NodeFilter

A Cypher node label matching expression. The provider exposes all node labels from the matched nodes as views.

Data Type

string

Default Value

""

Remarks

By default, the connector will expose all labels from all nodes as views. By setting this property to a valid Cypher node label matching expression, the connector exposes all node labels from the matched nodes as views.

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

Pagesize

The maximum number of results to return per page from Neo4j.

Data Type

int

Default Value

5000

Remarks

The Pagesize property affects the maximum number of results to return per page from Neo4j. Setting a higher value may result in better performance at the cost of additional memory allocated per page consumed.

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, "*=*".

QueryPassthrough

This option passes the query to the Neo4j server as is.

Data Type

bool

Default Value

false

Remarks

When this is set, queries are passed through directly to Neo4j.

RelationshipDestinationFilter

The type(s) of labels that must be present on the destination nodes of single-hop relationships that the provider will expose as views.

Data Type

string

Default Value

""

Remarks

By default, the connector will expose all single-hop relationships as views. By setting this property to a valid Cypher node label matching expression, the connector will only expose the single-hop relationships where the destination node has the specified set of labels.

RelationshipSourceFilter

The node labels that must be present on the source nodes of single-hop relationships, which the provider will expose as views.

Data Type

string

Default Value

""

Remarks

By default, the connector will expose all single-hop relationships as views. By setting this property to a valid Cypher node label matching expression, the connector will only expose the single-hop relationships where the source node has the specified set of labels.

RelationshipTypeFilter

The relationship type(s) of single-hop relationships that the driver will expose as views.

Data Type

string

Default Value

""

Remarks

By default, the driver will expose all single-hop relationships as views. By setting this property to a valid, Cypher relationship type matching expression, the driver will only expose the single-hop relationships where the relationship type is part of the set of specified types.

RowScanDepth

The maximum number of rows to scan to look for the columns available in a table.

Data Type

int

Default Value

100

Remarks

The columns in a table must be determined by scanning table rows. This value determines the maximum number of rows that will be scanned.

Setting a high value may decrease performance. Setting a low value may prevent the data type from being determined properly, especially when there is null data.

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 ProductCategory 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.