Adding a Connection to Cloudant

1. In the application console, navigate to the Connections page.
2. At the Add Connections panel, select the icon for the connection you want to add.
3. If the Cloudant icon is not available, click the Add More icon to download and install the Cloudant connector from the CData site.

For required properties, see the Settings tab.

For connection properties that are not typically required, see the Advanced tab.

Authenticating to Cloudant

• 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 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.

Authenticating to a Local Instance

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

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.

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 Sync App offers to bridge the gap with relational SQL and a document database.

The Sync App 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 Sync App 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.

The Sync App 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 Sync App will scan to do so. The columns identified during the discovery process depend on the FlattenArrays and FlattenObjects properties.

Flattening 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
}

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.

Flattening 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 ]

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

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"
} 

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

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"
}

SELECT * FROM [restaurants.grades]

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 Sync App expects the left part of the join is the array document you want to flatten vertically. Disable SupportEnhancedSQL 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'

The Sync App can return JSON structures as column values. The Sync App 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

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

JSON_COUNT

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

JSON_SUM

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

JSON_MIN

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

JSON_MAX

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;

{ "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 }

The Sync App maps SQL queries into the corresponding Cloudant queries. The Sync App 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.

This section details a selection of advanced features of the Cloudant Sync App.

User Defined Views

The Sync App 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 Sync App handles TLS/SSL certificate negotiations. You can choose from various certificate formats;. For further information, see the SSLServerCert property under "Connection String Options" .

Firewall and Proxy

Configure the Sync App for compliance with Firewall and Proxy, including Windows proxies and HTTP proxies. You can also set up tunnel connections.

Query Processing

For further information, see Query Processing.

Logging

Customizing the SSL Configuration

By default, the Sync App 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.

Connecting Through a Firewall or Proxy

HTTP Proxies

To authenticate to an HTTP proxy, set the following:

• ProxyServer: the hostname or IP address of the proxy server that you want to route HTTP traffic through.
• ProxyPort: the TCP port that the proxy server is running on.
• ProxyAuthScheme: the authentication method the Sync App uses when authenticating to the proxy server.
• ProxyUser: the username of a user account registered with the proxy server.
• ProxyPassword: the password associated with the ProxyUser.

Other Proxies

Set the following properties:

• To use a proxy-based firewall, set FirewallType, FirewallServer, and FirewallPort.
• To tunnel the connection, set FirewallType to TUNNEL.
• To authenticate, specify FirewallUser and FirewallPassword.
• To authenticate to a SOCKS proxy, additionally set FirewallType to SOCKS5.

The connection string 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 in the connection string for this provider. Click the links for further details.

Authentication

SSL

Firewall

Proxy

Logging

Schema

Miscellaneous

This section provides a complete list of the Authentication properties you can configure in the connection string for this provider.

The type of authentication to use when connecting to Cloudant.

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.

The URL used to connect to the Cloudant.

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}

Specifies the user ID of the authenticating Cloudant user account.

Remarks

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

Specifies the password of the authenticating user account.

Remarks

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

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

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'.

This section provides a complete list of the SSL properties you can configure in the connection string for this provider.

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

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.

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

This section provides a complete list of the Firewall properties you can configure in the connection string for this provider.

Specifies the protocol the provider uses to tunnel traffic through a proxy-based firewall.

Remarks

A proxy-based firewall (or proxy firewall) is a network security device that acts as an intermediary between user requests and the resources they access. The proxy accepts the request of an authenticated user, tunnels through the firewall, and transmits the request to the appropriate server.

Because the proxy evaluates and transfers data backets on behalf of the requesting users, the users never connect directly with the servers, only with the proxy.

Note: By default, the Sync App connects to the system proxy. To disable this behavior and connect to one of the following proxy types, set ProxyAutoDetect to false.

The following table provides port number information for each of the supported protocols.

To connect to HTTP proxies, use ProxyServer and ProxyPort. To authenticate to HTTP proxies, use ProxyAuthScheme, ProxyUser, and ProxyPassword.

Identifies the IP address, DNS name, or host name of a proxy used to traverse a firewall and relay user queries to network resources.

Remarks

A proxy-based firewall (or proxy firewall) is a network security device that acts as an intermediary between user requests and the resources they access. The proxy accepts the request of an authenticated user, tunnels through the firewall, and transmits the request to the appropriate server.

Because the proxy evaluates and transfers data backets on behalf of the requesting users, the users never connect directly with the servers, only with the proxy.

Specifies the TCP port to be used for a proxy-based firewall.

Remarks

A proxy-based firewall (or proxy firewall) is a network security device that acts as an intermediary between user requests and the resources they access. The proxy accepts the request of an authenticated user, tunnels through the firewall, and transmits the request to the appropriate server.

Because the proxy evaluates and transfers data backets on behalf of the requesting users, the users never connect directly with the servers, only with the proxy.

Identifies the user ID of the account authenticating to a proxy-based firewall.

Remarks

A proxy-based firewall (or proxy firewall) is a network security device that acts as an intermediary between user requests and the resources they access. The proxy accepts the request of an authenticated user, tunnels through the firewall, and transmits the request to the appropriate server.

Because the proxy evaluates and transfers data backets on behalf of the requesting users, the users never connect directly with the servers, only with the proxy.

Specifies the password of the user account authenticating to a proxy-based firewall.

Remarks

A proxy-based firewall (or proxy firewall) is a network security device that acts as an intermediary between user requests and the resources they access. The proxy accepts the request of an authenticated user, tunnels through the firewall, and transmits the request to the appropriate server.

Because the proxy evaluates and transfers data backets on behalf of the requesting users, the users never connect directly with the servers, only with the proxy.

This section provides a complete list of the Proxy properties you can configure in the connection string for this provider.

Specifies whether the provider checks your system proxy settings for existing proxy server configurations, rather than using a manually specified proxy server.

Remarks

When this connection property is set to True, the Sync App checks your system proxy settings for existing proxy server configurations (no need to manually supply proxy server details).

This connection property takes precedence over other proxy settings. Set to False if you want to manually configure the Sync App to connect to a specific proxy server.

To connect to an HTTP proxy, see ProxyServer. For other proxies, such as SOCKS or tunneling, see FirewallType.

The hostname or IP address of the proxy server that you want to route HTTP traffic through.

Remarks

The Sync App only routes HTTP traffic through the proxy server specified in this connection property when ProxyAutoDetect is set to False. If ProxyAutoDetect is set to True, which is the default, the Sync App instead routes HTTP traffic through the proxy server specified in your system proxy settings.

The TCP port on your specified proxy server (set in the ProxyServer connection property) that has been reserved for routing HTTP traffic to and from the client.

Remarks

The Sync App only routes HTTP traffic through the proxy server port specified in this connection property when ProxyAutoDetect is set to False. If ProxyAutoDetect is set to True, which is the default, the Sync App instead routes HTTP traffic through the proxy server port specified in your system proxy settings.

For other proxy types, see FirewallType.

Specifies the authentication method the provider uses when authenticating to the proxy server specified in the ProxyServer connection property.

Remarks

The authentication type can be one of the following:

• BASIC: The Sync App performs HTTP BASIC authentication.
• DIGEST: The Sync App performs HTTP DIGEST authentication.
• NTLM: The Sync App retrieves an NTLM token.
• NEGOTIATE: The Sync App retrieves an NTLM or Kerberos token based on the applicable protocol for authentication.
• NONE: Set this when the ProxyServer does not require authentication.

For all values other than "NONE", you must also set the ProxyUser and ProxyPassword connection properties.

If you need to use another authentication type, such as SOCKS 5 authentication, see FirewallType.

The username of a user account registered with the proxy server specified in the ProxyServer connection property.

Remarks

The ProxyUser and ProxyPassword connection properties are used to connect and authenticate against the HTTP proxy specified in ProxyServer.

After selecting one of the available authentication types in ProxyAuthScheme, set this property as follows:

The Sync App only uses this username if ProxyAutoDetect is set to False. If ProxyAutoDetect is set to True, which is the default, the Sync App instead uses the username specified in your system proxy settings.

The password associated with the user specified in the ProxyUser connection property.

Remarks

The ProxyUser and ProxyPassword connection properties are used to connect and authenticate against the HTTP proxy specified in ProxyServer.

After selecting one of the available authentication types in ProxyAuthScheme, set this property as follows:

For SOCKS 5 authentication or tunneling, see FirewallType.

The Sync App only uses this password if ProxyAutoDetect is set to False. If ProxyAutoDetect is set to True, which is the default, the Sync App instead uses the password specified in your system proxy settings.

The SSL type to use when connecting to the proxy server specified in the ProxyServer connection property.

Remarks

This property determines when to use SSL for the connection to the HTTP proxy specified by ProxyServer. You can set this connection property to the following values :

A semicolon separated list of destination hostnames or IPs that are exempt from connecting through the proxy server set in the ProxyServer connection property.

Remarks

The ProxyServer is used for all addresses, except for addresses defined in this property. Use semicolons to separate entries.

Note that the Sync App uses the system proxy settings by default, without further configuration needed. If you want to explicitly configure proxy exceptions for this connection, set ProxyAutoDetect to False.

This section provides a complete list of the Logging properties you can configure in the connection string for this provider.

Specifies the core modules to include in the log file. Use a semicolon-separated list of module names. By default, all modules are logged.

Remarks

This property lets you customize the log file content by specifying the logging modules to include. Logging modules categorize logged information into distinct areas, such as query execution, metadata, or SSL communication. Each module is represented by a four-character code, with some requiring a trailing space for three-letter names.

For example, EXEC logs query execution, and INFO logs general provider messages. To include multiple modules, separate their names with semicolons as follows: INFO;EXEC;SSL.

The Verbosity connection property takes precedence over the module-based filtering specified by this property. Only log entries that meet the verbosity level and belong to the specified modules are logged. Leave this property blank to include all available modules in the log file.

For a complete list of available modules and detailed guidance on configuring logging, refer to the Advanced Logging section in Logging.

This section provides a complete list of the Schema properties you can configure in the connection string for this provider.

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.

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%\\CData\\Cloudant Data Provider\\Schema, where %APPDATA% is set to the user's configuration directory:

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

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.

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

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`.

Note: If you are connecting to a data source with multiple schemas or catalogs, you must specify each table you want to view by its fully qualified name. This avoids ambiguity between tables that may exist in multiple catalogs or schemas.

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

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`.

Note: If you are connecting to a data source with multiple schemas or catalogs, you must specify each view you want to examine by its fully qualified name. This avoids ambiguity between views that may exist in multiple catalogs or schemas.

Whether to list views from Cloudant or not.

Remarks

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

This section provides a complete list of the Miscellaneous properties you can configure in the connection string for this provider.

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

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"]

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.

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

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 }
]

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

Remarks

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

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

Remarks

This property sets an upper limit on the number of rows the Sync App 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.

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.

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.

Note: It is strongly recommended to set these properties only when advised by the support team to address specific scenarios or issues.

Specify multiple properties in a semicolon-separated list.

Integration and Formatting

Specifies the maximum number of results to return from Cloudant, per page. This setting overrides the default page size set by the datasource, which is optimized for most use cases.

Remarks

You may want to adjust the default pagesize to optimize results for a particular object or service endpoint you are querying. Be aware that increasing the page size may improve performance, but it could also result in higher memory consumption per page.

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.

Remarks

This property allows you to define which pseudocolumns the Sync App 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: "*=*"

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

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.

The character or characters used to denote hierarchy.

Remarks

In order to flatten out hierarchical structures, the Sync App 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.

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.

Remarks

This property controls the maximum time, in seconds, that the Sync App waits for an operation to complete before canceling it. If the timeout period expires before the operation finishes, the Sync App 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 60 seconds 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.

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

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 Sync App 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.

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

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 Sync App 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 Sync App.

Refer to User Defined Views for more information.