Quick Start

Have you installed the CData CLI? This guide assumes the CLI is already on your machine. If you have not installed it yet, start with the installation guide first.

This guide walks you through activating the Salesforce driver, creating a connection, and running your first SQL query. The same steps apply to any CData driver.

List Available Drivers

Run the following command to see which CData JDBC drivers the CLI has discovered:

cdatacli drivers list

The CLI searches ./ and ./lib/ relative to the executable. If the Salesforce driver is present, it appears in the output.If the driver you need is not listed, search the CData driver catalog and download it:

cdatacli drivers search --driver salesforce
cdatacli drivers download --artifact-id salesforce-jdbc

The JAR is saved to ./lib/ by default. See Adding Drivers for additional options, or browse the full CData driver catalog for all available connectors.

Activate a Driver

Already using a CData driver? Activation does not require a separate purchase. If you have an existing CData driver license, use that license key below.

To activate with a license key:

cdatacli drivers activate Salesforce \
  --name "<YOUR_NAME>" \
  --email <YOUR_EMAIL> \
  --key <YOUR_LICENSE_KEY>

To start a free trial instead:

cdatacli drivers activate Salesforce \
  --name "<YOUR_NAME>" \
  --email <YOUR_EMAIL> \
  --trial

Create a Connection

Create a named connection using your Salesforce credentials:

cdatacli connection create \
  --driver "Salesforce" \
  --name "my-salesforce" \
  --connectionstring "User=<YOUR_EMAIL>;Password=<YOUR_PASSWORD>;SecurityToken=<YOUR_SECURITY_TOKEN>"

The connection is saved as an encrypted .conn file. See Connection Files for details on storage location and encryption.

If you are unsure which credentials a driver requires, run the following command to see all available connection properties before you connect:

cdatacli drivers connectionprops Salesforce

Explore Metadata

Before building a query, browse the tables and columns available in your data source.List available tables:

cdatacli metadata tables --connection "my-salesforce"

List columns for a specific table:

cdatacli metadata columns --connection "my-salesforce" --table "Account"

Run a Query

Using the tables and columns you discovered, run a SQL query:

cdatacli query sql \
  --connection "my-salesforce" \
  --sql "SELECT Id, Name, Industry FROM Account LIMIT 5"

Output is returned as JSON. The resultset array contains the rows returned by the driver:

{
  "resultset" : [ {
    "Id" : "0015g00000XxYzABC",
    "Name" : "Acme Corp",
    "Industry" : "Technology"
  }, {
    "Id" : "0015g00000XxYzDEF",
    "Name" : "Global Industries",
    "Industry" : "Manufacturing"
  }, {
    "Id" : "0015g00000XxYzGHI",
    "Name" : "Bright Solutions",
    "Industry" : "Finance"
  } ]
}

By default, query sql returns up to 1,000 rows and times out after 30 seconds. Use --max-rows <n> to raise or lower the row limit, and --timeout <seconds> to adjust the timeout for slower data sources.

Add --compact for single-line JSON output, which is useful for piping to other tools:

cdatacli query sql \
  --connection "my-salesforce" \
  --sql "SELECT Id, Name FROM Account LIMIT 5" \
  --compact

Add --metadata to include a second array describing the columns returned. See Output Format for a full explanation of the output structure.

Next Steps

Command Reference — full documentation for every CData CLI command
Connection Files — how connections are stored, encrypted, and managed
Output Format — understanding and customizing JSON output, including --metadata and --compact

Getting Started

Guides

Command Reference

Next Steps

​Next Steps

Next Steps