Quick Start

This guide walks you through installing a driver, creating a connection, and running a SQL query.

Step 1: List available drivers

cdatacli drivers list

This returns all CData JDBC drivers discovered in ./ and ./lib/. If the driver you need isn’t listed, download it from CData’s driver catalog (the jar is saved to ./lib by default):

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

See Adding drivers for more options.

Step 2: Activate a driver

To activate a driver with a license key:

cdatacli drivers activate Salesforce --name "John Doe" --email you@example.com --key YOUR-LICENSE-KEY

To start a free trial:

cdatacli drivers activate Salesforce --name "John Doe" --email you@example.com --trial

Step 3: Review connection properties

Before creating a connection, view the available connection properties for a driver:

cdatacli drivers connectionprops Salesforce

Step 4: Create a connection

cdatacli connection create --driver "Salesforce" --name "my-salesforce" \
  --connectionstring "User=you@example.com;Password=yourpassword;SecurityToken=yourtoken"

The connection is saved as an encrypted .conn file. See Connection files for details.

Step 5: Explore metadata

Before building a query, explore the tables and columns available in the data source. Browse available tables:

cdatacli metadata tables --connection "my-salesforce"

Browse columns for a specific table:

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

Step 6: Run a query

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

cdatacli query sql --connection "my-salesforce" --sql "SELECT Id, Name FROM Account LIMIT 10"

Output is returned as JSON. By default, the resultset array contains the rows returned by the driver:

{
  "resultset" : [ {
    "Id" : "0015g00000XxYzABC",
    "Name" : "Acme Corp"
  }, {
    "Id" : "0015g00000XxYzDEF",
    "Name" : "Global Industries"
  } ]
}

Add --metadata to also include a metadata array describing the columns returned. See Output format for a full explanation of the output structure. Use --compact for single-line JSON output:

cdatacli query sql --connection "my-salesforce" --sql "SELECT Id, Name FROM Account LIMIT 10" --compact

Getting Started

Guides

Command Reference

Step 1: List available drivers

Step 2: Activate a driver

Step 3: Review connection properties

Step 4: Create a connection

Step 5: Explore metadata

Step 6: Run a query

​Step 1: List available drivers

​Step 2: Activate a driver

​Step 3: Review connection properties

​Step 4: Create a connection

​Step 5: Explore metadata

​Step 6: Run a query

Step 1: List available drivers

Step 2: Activate a driver

Step 3: Review connection properties

Step 4: Create a connection

Step 5: Explore metadata

Step 6: Run a query