IBM Cloudant Connection Details

Introduction

Connector Version

This documentation is based on version 25.0.9368 of the connector.

Get Started

Cloudant Version Support

The connector leverages the Cloudant API to enable bidirectional access to Cloudant data through standard SQL. See Query Mapping for SQL-to-Cloudant-query mappings and more information about accessing unstructured data in Cloudant through SQL.

Establish a Connection

Authenticate to Cloudant

Cloudant supports two types of authentication:

• OAuth: Performs authentication based on the OAuth standard. Set AuthScheme to OAuth and supply the values for the Cloudant instance APIKey and URL.
• Basic: Basic username/password authentication. Set AuthScheme to Basic.

IBM Cloudant Legacy

To connect via IBM Cloudant Legacy, ensure that you have a valid IBM Cloudant service credential.

To create an IBM Cloudant service credential:

1. Log in to the IBM Cloud dashboard.
2. Navigate to the Menu icon > Resource List, and open your IBM Cloudant service instance.
3. In the menu, click Service credentials.
4. Click New credential. Cloudant displays a Add new credential window.
5. Enter a name for the new credential.
6. Click Add. Your credentials are added to the Service credentials table.
7. Click Actions > View credentials.
8. Extract the values for User and Password from the JSON file.

Use the values you just obtained to set the User and Password.

Authenticate to a Local Instance

Cloudant supports authenticating to data in local instances from version 1.1.0 and above. To authenticate to your local instance, set these parameters:

1. URL: The Url of your local instance. For example: http://localhost:8006
2. User: Your username.
3. Password: Your password.

Fine-Tuning Data Access

Fine-Tuning Data Access

You can use the following properties to gain control over column behavior in Automatic Schema Discovery.

• RowScanDepth: This property determines the number of rows that will be scanned to detect column data types when generating table metadata.
• TypeDetectionScheme: This property allows more control over the strategy implemented by the RowScanDepth property.

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.

NoSQL Database

Cloudant is a schemaless document database that provides high performance, availability, and scalability. These features are not necessarily incompatible with a standards-compliant query language like SQL-92. The following sections show various schemes that the connector offers to bridge the gap with relational SQL and a document database.

The connector models the schemaless Cloudant objects into relational tables and translates SQL queries into Cloudant queries to get the requested data. See Query Mapping for more details on how various Cloudant operations are represented as SQL.

The Automatic Schema Discovery scheme automatically finds the data types in a Cloudant object by scanning a configured number of rows of the object. You can use RowScanDepth, FlattenArrays, and FlattenObjects to control the relational representation of the collections in Cloudant.

The schema of the table is necessary to report metadata, but you can write Free-Form Queries not tied to the schema to select, insert, update, or delete data from columns that do not exist in the schema.

The connector supports listing Cloudant views and retrieving data from them. This is controlled by the ListViews property which is set to false by default. Set this property to true for Cloudant views to be displayed when listing tables.

Automatic Schema Discovery

The connector automatically infers a relational schema by inspecting a series of Cloudant documents in a collection. You can use the RowScanDepth property to define the number of documents the connector will scan to do so. The columns identified during the discovery process depend on the FlattenArrays and FlattenObjects properties.

Flatten Objects

If FlattenObjects is set, all nested objects will be flattened into a series of columns. For example, consider the following document:

{
  id: 12,
  name: "Lohia Manufacturers Inc.",
  address: {street: "Main Street", city: "Chapel Hill", state: "NC"},
  offices: ["Chapel Hill", "London", "New York"],
  annual_revenue: 35,600,000
}

This document will be represented by the following columns:

If FlattenObjects is not set, then the address.street, address.city, and address.state columns will not be broken apart. The address column of type string will instead represent the entire object. Its value would be {street: "Main Street", city: "Chapel Hill", state: "NC"}. See JSON Functions for more details on working with JSON aggregates. You can change the separator character in the column name from a dot by setting SeparatorCharacter.

Flatten Arrays

The FlattenArrays property can be used to flatten array values into columns of their own. This is only recommended for arrays that are expected to be short, for example the coordinates below:

"coord": [ -73.856077, 40.848447 ]

The FlattenArrays property can be set to 2 to represent the array above as follows:

It is best to leave other unbounded arrays as they are and piece out the data for them as needed using JSON Functions.

Free-Form Queries

As discussed in Automatic Schema Discovery, intuited table schemas enable SQL access to unstructured Cloudant data. JSON Functions enable you to use standard JSON functions to summarize Cloudant data and extract values from any nested structures. However, you are not limited to these schemes.

After connecting you can query any nested structure without flattening the data. Any relations that you can access with FlattenArrays and FlattenObjects can also be accessed with an ad hoc SQL query.

Let's consider an example document from the following Restaurant data set:

{
  "address": {
    "building": "1007",
    "coord": [
      -73.856077,
      40.848447
    ],
    "street": "Morris Park Ave",
    "zipcode": "10462"
  },
  "borough": "Bronx",
  "cuisine": "Bakery",
  "grades": [
    {
      "grade": "A",
      "score": 2,
      "date": {
        "$date": "1393804800000"
      }
    },
    {
      "date": {
        "$date": "1378857600000"
      },
      "grade": "B",
      "score": 6
    },
    {
      "score": 10,
      "date": {
        "$date": "1358985600000"
      },
      "grade": "C"
    }
  ],
  "name": "Morris Park Bake Shop",
  "restaurant_id": "30075445"
} 

You can access any nested structure in this document as a column. Use the dot notation to drill down to the values you want to access as shown in the query below. Note that arrays have a zero-based index. For example, the following query retrieves the second grade for the restaurant in the example:

SELECT [address.building], [grades.1.grade] FROM restaurants WHERE restaurant_id = '30075445'

The preceding query returns the following results:

Vertical Flattening

It is possible to retrieve an array of documents as if it were a separate table. Take the following JSON structure from the restaurants collection for example:

{
  "_id" : ObjectId("568c37b748ddf53c5ed98932"),
  "address" : {
    "building" : "1007",
    "coord" : [-73.856077, 40.848447],
    "street" : "Morris Park Ave",
    "zipcode" : "10462"
  },
  "borough" : "Bronx",
  "cuisine" : "Bakery",
  "grades" : [{
      "date" : ISODate("2014-03-03T00:00:00Z"),
      "grade" : "A",
      "score" : 2
    }, {
      "date" : ISODate("2013-09-11T00:00:00Z"),
      "grade" : "A",
      "score" : 6
    }, {
      "date" : ISODate("2013-01-24T00:00:00Z"),
      "grade" : "A",
      "score" : 10
    }, {
      "date" : ISODate("2011-11-23T00:00:00Z"),
      "grade" : "A",
      "score" : 9
    }, {
      "date" : ISODate("2011-03-10T00:00:00Z"),
      "grade" : "B",
      "score" : 14
    }],
  "name" : "Morris Park Bake Shop",
  "restaurant_id" : "30075445"
}

Vertical flattening will allow you to retrieve the grades array as a separate table:

SELECT * FROM [restaurants.grades]

This query returns the following data set:

You may also want to include information from the base restaurants table. You can do this with a join. Flattened arrays can only be joined with the root document. The connector expects the left part of the join is the array document you want to flatten vertically. Set SupportEnhancedSQL to false to join nested Cloudant documents -- this type of query is supported through the Cloudant API.

SELECT [restaurants].[restaurant_id], [restaurants.grades].* FROM [restaurants.grades] JOIN [restaurants] WHERE [restaurants].name = 'Morris Park Bake Shop'

This query returns the following data set:

JSON Functions

The connector can return JSON structures as column values. The connector enables you to use standard SQL functions to work with these JSON structures. The examples in this section use the following array:

[
     { "grade": "A", "score": 2 },
     { "grade": "A", "score": 6 },
     { "grade": "A", "score": 10 },
     { "grade": "A", "score": 9 },
     { "grade": "B", "score": 14 }
]

JSON_EXTRACT

The JSON_EXTRACT function can extract individual values from a JSON object. The following query returns the values shown below based on the JSON path passed as the second argument to the function:

SELECT Name, JSON_EXTRACT(grades,'[0].grade') AS Grade, JSON_EXTRACT(grades,'[0].score') AS Score FROM Students;

JSON_COUNT

The JSON_COUNT function returns the number of elements in a JSON array within a JSON object. The following query returns the number of elements specified by the JSON path passed as the second argument to the function:

SELECT Name, JSON_COUNT(grades,'[x]') AS NumberOfGrades FROM Students;

JSON_SUM

The JSON_SUM function returns the sum of the numeric values of a JSON array within a JSON object. The following query returns the total of the values specified by the JSON path passed as the second argument to the function:

SELECT Name, JSON_SUM(score,'[x].score') AS TotalScore FROM Students;

JSON_MIN

The JSON_MIN function returns the lowest numeric value of a JSON array within a JSON object. The following query returns the minimum value specified by the JSON path passed as the second argument to the function:

SELECT Name, JSON_MIN(score,'[x].score') AS LowestScore FROM Students;

JSON_MAX

The JSON_MAX function returns the highest numeric value of a JSON array within a JSON object. The following query returns the maximum value specified by the JSON path passed as the second argument to the function:

SELECT Name, JSON_MAX(score,'[x].score') AS HighestScore FROM Students;

DOCUMENT

The DOCUMENT function can be used to retrieve the entire document as a JSON string. See the following query and its result as an example:

SELECT DOCUMENT(*) FROM Customers;

The query above will return the entire document as shown.

{ "id": 12, "name": "Lohia Manufacturers Inc.", "address": { "street": "Main Street", "city": "Chapel Hill", "state": "NC"}, "offices": [ "Chapel Hill", "London", "New York" ], "annual_revenue": 35,600,000 }

Query Mapping

The connector maps SQL queries into the corresponding Cloudant queries. The connector uses the Selector syntax to compute the desired results.

A detailed description of all the transformations is out of scope, but we will describe some of the common elements that are used.

SELECT Queries

The SELECT statement is mapped to the GET and POST methods. Below are example queries and the corresponding request payloads.

SELECT *
FROM sales

SELECT _id, value
FROM sales

{
"fields": [
"_id",
"value"
],
"skip": 0,
"selector": {
"_id": {
"$exists": true
}
}
}

SELECT *
FROM sales
WHERE value=175033291697

{
"selector": {
"value": {
"$eq": 175033291697
}
},
"skip": 0
}

SELECT *
FROM sales
WHERE value = 175033291697 OR month='June'

{
"selector": {
"$or": [
{
"value": {
"$eq": 175033291697
}
},
{
"month": {
"$eq": "June"
}
}
]
},
"skip": 0
}

SELECT *
FROM sales
WHERE name LIKE 'A%'

{
"selector": {
"name": {
"$regex": "A%"
}
},
"skip": 0
}

SELECT * FROM sales
WHERE month='June'
ORDER BY _id ASC

{
"skip": 0,
"sort": [
{
"_id": "asc"
}
],
"selector": {
"month": {
"$eq": "June"
}
}
}

SELECT *
FROM sales
WHERE month='June'
ORDER BY _id DESC

{
"skip": 0,
"sort": [
{
"_id": "desc"
}
],
"selector": {
"month": {
"$eq": "June"
}
}
}

INSERT Statements

The INSERT statement is mapped to the HTTP POST request, as shown in the following query and request payload.

SQL Query

INSERT INTO users (_id, age, status, [address.city], [address.postalcode])

VALUES ('bcd001', 45, 'A', 'Chapel Hill', 27517)

Cloudant Query

{
  "address": {
    "city": "Chapel Hill",
    "postalcode": 27517
  },
  "_id": "bcd001",
  "age": 45,
  "status": "A"

}

UPDATE Statements

The UPDATE statement is mapped to the HTTP PUT method, as shown in the following query and request payload.

SQL Query

UPDATE users
SET status = 'C', [address.postalcode] = 90210

WHERE _id = 'bcd001'

Cloudant Query

{
  "_id": "bcd001",
  "_rev": "1-446f6c67e3a483feae8eaf112f18892c",
  "status": "C",
  "age": 45,
  "address": {
    "city": "Chapel Hill",
    "postalcode": 90210
  }

}

DELETE Statements

The DELETE statement is mapped to the DELETE method as shown below.

SQL Query

DELETE FROM users WHERE _id = 'bcd001'

Cloudant Query

For this query a DELETE request is sent to the users/{_id}?rev={_rev} endpoint.

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 Cloudant:

• 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 Movies table:

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

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 SelectEntries stored procedure:

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

To include result set columns in addition to the parameters, set the IncludeResultColumns pseudo column to True:

SELECT * FROM sys_procedureparameters WHERE ProcedureName = 'SelectEntries' AND IncludeResultColumns='True'

Columns

Pseudo-Columns

sys_keycolumns

Describes the primary and foreign keys.

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

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

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.

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.

Discover 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 NoSQL Database 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

Views

Views are similar to tables in the way that data is represented; however, views are read-only.

Queries can be executed against a view as if it were a normal table.

Jitterbit Connector for Cloudant Views

DocumentRevisions

Query revision metadata for documents.

View-Specific Information

The connector pushes a document revision view for every table (database in Cloudant). For example:

SELECT TableName FROM sys_tables;
-- MyDatabase1
-- MyDatabase1_DocumentRevisions
-- MyDatabase2
-- MyDatabase2_DocumentRevisions
-- ...

SELECT

This view relies on a DocumentId input for retrieving the records. For the following query:

SELECT * FROM MyDatabase1_DocumentRevisions;
-- The query executed internally: SELECT * FROM MyDatabase1_DocumentRevisions WHERE DocumentId IN (SELECT DocumentId FROM MyDatabase1);

, the connector will try to automatically retrieve the ids from the corresponding table (database). Note that this may quickly become costly in terms of performance when there are many DocumentId values (records) to fetch from that corresponding table.

In those cases, specifying only the DocumentId values that are of interest yourself should result in better performance. For example:

SELECT * FROM MyDatabase1_DocumentRevisions WHERE DocumentId = 'c1117cda61795fa7f11bd5f722151137';
SELECT * FROM MyDatabase1_DocumentRevisions WHERE DocumentId IN ('c1117cda61795fa7f11bd5f722151137', '7637ec6f1fe4e4e4d2cb080002002c6c');
SELECT * FROM MyDatabase1_DocumentRevisions WHERE DocumentId = 'c1117cda61795fa7f11bd5f722151137' AND RevisionId = '1-a6bbcd9244c7adc9e83c95887433048f';

Columns

Stored Procedures

Stored procedures are function-like interfaces that extend the functionality of the connector beyond simple SELECT/INSERT/UPDATE/DELETE operations with Cloudant.

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

Jitterbit Connector for Cloudant Stored Procedures

CreateSchema

Creates a schema definition of a table in Cloudant. Control column discovery with FlattenObjects, FlattenArrays, TypeDetectionScheme, and RowScanDepth.

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

Result Set Columns

GetDocumentOnRevision

Query document data on a specific revision.

Input

Result Set Columns

GetOAuthAccessToken

Gets an authentication token from IBM Cloud. The connection property ApiKey must be specified when calling this stored procedure.

Input

Result Set Columns

RefreshOAuthAccessToken

Refreshes the OAuth access token used for authentication with IBM Cloud. The connection property ApiKey must be specified when calling this stored procedure.

Input

Result Set Columns

Advanced Features

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

User Defined Views

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

SSL Configuration

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

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 Cloudant and then processes the rest of the query in memory (client-side).

For further information, see Query Processing.

Log

For an overview of configuration settings that can be used to refine logging, see Logging. Only two connection properties are required for basic logging, but there are numerous features that support more refined logging, which enables you to use the LogModules connection property to specify subsets of information to be logged.

User Defined Views

The Jitterbit Connector for Cloudant supports the use of user defined views: user-defined virtual tables whose contents are decided by a preconfigured query. User defined views are useful in situations where you cannot directly control the query being issued to the driver; for example, when using the driver from Jitterbit.

Use a user defined view 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 so that each root element defines the name of a view, and includes a child element, called query, which contains the custom SQL query for the view.

For example:

{
    "MyView": {
        "query": "SELECT * FROM Movies 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

In order to avoid a view's name clashing with an actual entity in the data model, user defined views are exposed in the UserViews schema by default. To change the name of the schema used for UserViews, reset 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 TLS with the server. The server certificate is validated against the default system trusted certificate store. You can override how the certificate gets validated using the SSLServerCert connection property.

To specify another certificate, see the SSLServerCert connection property.

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

OAuth

SSL

Schema

Miscellaneous

Authentication

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

AuthScheme

The type of authentication to use when connecting to Cloudant.

Possible Values

OAuth, Basic

Data Type

string

Default Value

OAuth

Remarks

• OAuth: Set this to perform OAuth authentication. For this method you will need the APIKey and URL of Cloudant instance.
• Basic: Set this to use BASIC user / password authentication.

URL

The URL used to connect to the Cloudant.

Data Type

string

Default Value

""

Remarks

The HTTP or HTTPS URL used to connect to the Cloudant in the format https://{instance id}-bluemix.cloudantnosqldb.appdomain.cloud or in case of self hosting server http[s]://{server}:{port}

User

Specifies the user ID of the authenticating Cloudant user account.

Data Type

string

Default Value

""

Remarks

The authenticating server requires both User and Password to validate the user's identity.

Password

Specifies the password of the authenticating user account.

Data Type

string

Default Value

""

Remarks

The authenticating server requires both User and Password to validate the user's identity.

ApiKey

The API Key used to identify the user to IBM Cloud.

Data Type

string

Default Value

""

Remarks

Access to resources in the Cloudant REST API is governed by an API key in order to retrieve token. An API Key created by navigating to Manage --> Access (IAM) --> Users and clicking 'Create'.

OAuth

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

InitiateOAuth

Specifies the process for obtaining or refreshing the OAuth access token, which maintains user access while an authenticated, authorized user is working.

Possible Values

OFF, REFRESH, GETANDREFRESH

Data Type

string

Default Value

OFF

Remarks

OAuth is an authorization framework that enables applications to obtain limited access to user accounts on an HTTP service. The OAuth flow defines the method to be used for logging in users, exchanging their credentials for an OAuth access token to be used for authentication, and providing limited access to applications.

Cloudant supports the following options for initiating OAuth access:

1. OFF: No automatic OAuth flow initiation. The OAuth flow is handled entirely by the user, who will take action to obtain their OAuthAccessToken. Note that with this setting the user must refresh the token manually and reconnect with an updated OAuthAccessToken property when the current token expires.
2. GETANDREFRESH: The OAuth flow is handled entirely by the connector. If a token already exists, it is refreshed when necessary. If no token currently exists, it will be obtained by prompting the user to login.
3. REFRESH: The user handles obtaining the OAuth Access Token and sets up the sequence for refreshing the OAuth Access Token. (The user is never prompted to log in to authenticate. After the user logs in, the connector handles the refresh of the OAuth Access Token.

OAuthSettingsLocation

Specifies the location of the settings file where OAuth values are saved. Storing OAuth settings in a central location avoids the need for users to enter OAuth connection properties manually each time they log in. It also enables credentials to be shared across connections or processes.

Data Type

string

Default Value

%APPDATA%\Cloudant Data Provider\OAuthSettings.txt

Remarks

You can store OAuth values in a central file for shared access to those values, in either of the following ways:

• Set InitiateOAuth to either GETANDREFRESH or REFRESH and specify a filepath to the OAuth settings file.
• Use memory storage to load the credentials into static memory.

The following sections provide more detail on each of these methods.

Specifying the OAuthSettingsLocation Filepath

The default OAuth setting location is %APPDATA%\Cloudant Data Provider\OAuthSettings.txt, with %APPDATA% set to the user's configuration directory.

Default values vary, depending on the user's operating system.

• Windows (ODBC and Power BI): registry://%DSN%
• Windows: %APPDATA%Cloudant Data Provider\OAuthSettings.txt
• Mac: %APPDATA%//Cloudant Data Provider/OAuthSettings.txt
• Linux: %APPDATA%//Cloudant Data Provider/OAuthSettings.txt

Loading Credentials Via Memory Storage

Memory locations are specified by using a value starting with memory://, followed by a unique identifier for that set of credentials (for example, memory://user1). The identifier can be anything you choose, but it should be unique to the user.

Unlike file-based storage, where credentials persist across connections, memory storage loads the credentials into static memory and the credentials are shared between connections using the same identifier for the life of the process. To persist credentials outside the current process, you must manually store the credentials prior to closing the connection. This enables you to set them in the connection when the process is started again.

To retrieve OAuth property values, query the sys_connection_props system table. If there are multiple connections using the same credentials, the properties are read from the previously closed connection.

Supported Storage Types

• memory://: Stores OAuth tokens in-memory (unique identifier, shared within same process, etc.)
• registry://: Only supported in the Windows ODBC and Power BI editions. Stores OAuth tokens in the registry under the DSN settings. Must end in a DSN name like registry://Jitterbit Connector for Cloudant Data Source, or registry://%DSN%.
• %DSN%: The name of the DSN you are connecting with.
• Default (no prefix): Stores OAuth tokens within files. The value can be either an absolute path, or a path starting with %APPDATA% or %PROGRAMFILES%.

OAuthRefreshToken

Specifies the OAuth refresh token used to request a new access token after the original has expired.

Data Type

string

Default Value

""

Remarks

The refresh token is used to obtain a new access token when the current one expires. It enables seamless authentication for long-running or automated workflows without requiring the user to log in again. This property is especially important in headless, CI/CD, or server-based environments where interactive authentication is not possible.

The refresh token is typically obtained during the initial OAuth exchange by calling the GetOAuthAccessToken stored procedure. After that, it can be set using this property to enable automatic token refresh, or passed to the RefreshOAuthAccessToken stored procedure if you prefer to manage the refresh manually.

When InitiateOAuth is set to REFRESH, the driver uses this token to retrieve a new access token automatically. After the first refresh, the driver saves updated tokens in the location defined by OAuthSettingsLocation, and uses those values for subsequent connections.

The OAuthRefreshToken should be handled securely and stored in a trusted location. Like access tokens, refresh tokens can expire or be revoked depending on the identity provider’s policies.

OAuthExpiresIn

Specifies the duration in seconds, of an OAuth Access Token's lifetime. The token can be reissued to keep access alive as long as the user keeps working.

Data Type

string

Default Value

""

Remarks

The OAuth Access Token is assigned to an authenticated user, granting that user access to the network for a specified period of time. The access token is used in place of the user's login ID and password, which stay on the server.

An access token created by the server is only valid for a limited time. OAuthExpiresIn is the number of seconds the token is valid from when it was created. For example, a token generated at 2024-01-29 20:00:00 UTC that expires at 2024-01-29 21:00:00 UTC (an hour later) would have an OAuthExpiresIn value of 3600, no matter what the current time is.

To determine how long the user has before the Access Token will expire, use OAuthTokenTimestamp.

OAuthTokenTimestamp

Displays a Unix epoch timestamp in milliseconds that shows how long ago the current Access Token was created.

Data Type

string

Default Value

""

Remarks

The OAuth Access Token is assigned to an authenticated user, granting that user access to the network for a specified period of time. The access token is used in place of the user's login ID and password, which stay on the server.

An access token created by the server is only valid for a limited time. OAuthTokenTimestamp is the Unix timestamp when the server created the token. For example, OAuthTokenTimestamp=1706558400 indicates the OAuthAccessToken was generated by the server at 2024-01-29 20:00:00 UTC.

SSL

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

SSLServerCert

Specifies 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

Specifies the location of a directory containing schema files that define tables, views, and stored procedures. Depending on your service's requirements, this may be expressed as either an absolute path or a relative path.

Data Type

string

Default Value

%APPDATA%\Cloudant Data Provider\Schema

Remarks

The Location property is only needed if you want to either customize definitions (for example, change a column name, ignore a column, etc.) or extend the data model with new tables, views, or stored procedures.

If left unspecified, the default location is %APPDATA%\Cloudant Data Provider\Schema, where %APPDATA% is set to the user's configuration directory:

BrowsableSchemas

Optional setting that restricts the schemas reported to a subset of all available schemas. For example, BrowsableSchemas=SchemaA,SchemaB,SchemaC.

Data Type

string

Default Value

""

Remarks

Listing all available database schemas can take extra time, thus degrading performance. Providing a list of schemas in the connection string saves time and improves performance.

Tables

Optional setting that restricts the tables reported to a subset of all available tables. For example, Tables=TableA,TableB,TableC.

Data Type

string

Default Value

""

Remarks

Listing all available tables from some databases can take extra time, thus degrading performance. Providing a list of tables in the connection string saves time and improves performance.

If there are lots of tables available and you already know which ones you want to work with, you can use this property to restrict your viewing to only those tables. To do this, 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`.

Views

Optional setting that restricts the views reported to a subset of the available tables. For example, Views=ViewA,ViewB,ViewC.

Data Type

string

Default Value

""

Remarks

Listing all available views from some databases can take extra time, thus degrading performance. Providing a list of views in the connection string saves time and improves performance.

If there are lots of views available and you already know which ones you want to work with, you can use this property to restrict your viewing to only those views. To do this, 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`.

ListViews

Whether to list views from Cloudant or not.

Data Type

bool

Default Value

false

Remarks

Set this property to true for Cloudant views to show up when listing tables.

Miscellaneous

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

FlattenArrays

Set FlattenArrays to the number of array elements to flatten into columns. Otherwise, arrays are returned as JSON strings.

Data Type

string

Default Value

""

Remarks

By default, nested arrays are returned as strings of JSON. The FlattenArrays property can be used to flatten the elements of nested arrays into columns of their own: Set FlattenArrays to the number of elements you want to return from nested arrays. The zero-based index is concatenated to the column name with a dot or the character specified by SeparatorCharacter. Other elements are ignored.

For example, you can return an arbitrary number of elements from an array of strings:

["FLOW-MATIC","LISP","COBOL"]

When FlattenArrays is set to 1, the preceding array is flattened into the following table:

Setting FlattenArrays to -1 will flatten all the elements of nested arrays.

Using FlattenArrays is only recommended for arrays that are expected to be short. See NoSQL Database for other ways to access nested arrays.

FlattenObjects

Set FlattenObjects to true to flatten object properties into columns of their own. Otherwise, embedded objects as raw JSON strings.

Data Type

bool

Default Value

true

Remarks

Set FlattenObjects to true to flatten object properties into columns of their own. Otherwise, embedded objects as raw JSON strings. The property name is concatenated onto the object name with a dot or the character specified by SeparatorCharacter.

For example, you can flatten the nested objects below at connection time:

[
  { "grade": "A", "score": 2 },
  { "grade": "A", "score": 6 },
  { "grade": "A", "score": 10 },
  { "grade": "A", "score": 9 },
  { "grade": "B", "score": 14 }
]

When FlattenObjects is set to true and FlattenArrays is set to 1, the preceding array is flattened into the following table:

FlexibleSchema

Set FlexibleSchema to true to scan for additional metadata on the query result set. Otherwise, the metadata will remain the same.

Data Type

bool

Default Value

true

Remarks

Set FlexibleSchema to true to scan for additional metadata on the query result set. Otherwise, the metadata will remain the same.

MaxRows

Specifies the maximum rows returned for queries without aggregation or GROUP BY.

Data Type

int

Default Value

-1

Remarks

This property sets an upper limit on the number of rows the connector returns for queries that do not include aggregation or GROUP BY clauses. This limit ensures that queries do not return excessively large result sets by default.

When a query includes a LIMIT clause, the value specified in the query takes precedence over the MaxRows setting. If MaxRows is set to "-1", no row limit is enforced unless a LIMIT clause is explicitly included in the query.

This property is useful for optimizing performance and preventing excessive resource consumption when executing queries that could otherwise return very large datasets.

Other

Specifies additional hidden properties for specific use cases. These are not required for typical provider functionality. Use a semicolon-separated list to define multiple properties.

Data Type

string

Default Value

""

Remarks

This property allows advanced users to configure hidden properties for specialized scenarios. These settings are not required for normal use cases but can address unique requirements or provide additional functionality. Multiple properties can be defined in a semicolon-separated list.

Specify multiple properties in a semicolon-separated list.

Integration and Formatting

Pagesize

The maximum number of records per page the provider returns when requesting data from Cloudant.

Data Type

int

Default Value

1000

Remarks

When processing a query, instead of requesting all of the queried data at once from Cloudant, the connector can request the queried data in pieces called pages.

This connection property determines the maximum number of results that the connector requests per page.

Note that setting large page sizes may improve overall query execution time, but doing so causes the connector to use more memory when executing queries and risks triggering a timeout.

PseudoColumns

Specifies the pseudocolumns to expose as table columns. Use the format 'TableName=ColumnName;TableName=ColumnName'. The default is an empty string, which disables this property.

Data Type

string

Default Value

""

Remarks

This property allows you to define which pseudocolumns the connector exposes as table columns.

To specify individual pseudocolumns, use the following format: "Table1=Column1;Table1=Column2;Table2=Column3"

To include all pseudocolumns for all tables use: "*=*"

RowScanDepth

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

Data Type

int

Default Value

50

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.

SeparatorCharacter

The character or characters used to denote hierarchy.

Data Type

string

Default Value

.

Remarks

In order to flatten out hierarchical structures, the connector needs some specifier that states the path to a column through the hierarchy. If this value is "." and a column comes back with the name address.city, this indicates that there is a mapped attribute with a child called city. If your data has columns that already use a single period within the attribute name, set the SeparatorCharacter to a different character or characters.

Timeout

Specifies the maximum time, in seconds, that the provider waits for a server response before throwing a timeout error. The default is 60 seconds. Set to 0 to disable the timeout.

Data Type

int

Default Value

60

Remarks

This property controls the maximum time, in seconds, that the connector waits for an operation to complete before canceling it. If the timeout period expires before the operation finishes, the connector cancels the operation and throws an exception.

The timeout applies to each individual communication with the server rather than the entire query or operation. For example, a query could continue running beyond the timeout value if each paging call completes within the timeout limit.

Setting this property to 0 disables the timeout, allowing operations to run indefinitely until they succeed or fail due to other conditions such as server-side timeouts, network interruptions, or resource limits on the server. Use this property cautiously to avoid long-running operations that could degrade performance or result in unresponsive behavior.

TypeDetectionScheme

Option for how the provider will scan the data to determine the fields and data types in each document collection.

Data Type

string

Default Value

RowScan

Remarks

Since Cloudant is schemaless, the columns in a table must be determined by scanning table rows. Set TypeDetectionScheme to toggle the automatic discovery of data types. Set RowScanDepth to configure type detection.

See Also

Type detection is part of Automatic Schema Discovery. Set FlattenArrays and FlattenObjects to configure how the connector projects columns over the hierarchical data.

You can fine-tune the discovered columns and data types by calling CreateSchema to generate a schema file. Schema files have a simple format that makes it easy to change column behavior.

UserDefinedViews

Specifies a filepath to a JSON configuration file defining custom views. The provider automatically detects and uses the views specified in this file.

Data Type

string

Default Value

""

Remarks

This property allows you to define and manage custom views through a JSON-formatted configuration file called UserDefinedViews.json. These views are automatically recognized by the connector and enable you to execute custom SQL queries as if they were standard database views. The JSON file defines each view as a root element with a child element called "query", which contains the SQL query for the view. For example:

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

}

You can define multiple views in a single file and specify the filepath using this property. For example: UserDefinedViews=C:\Path\To\UserDefinedViews.json. When you use this property, only the specified views are seen by the connector.

Refer to User Defined Views for more information.