How to integrate Azure Blob XML File using Talend Studio

Integrate Talend Studio and Azure Blob XML File
Integrate Talend Studio and Azure Blob XML File

Learn how to quickly and efficiently connect Azure Blob XML File with Talend Studio for smooth data access.

Read and write XML files in Azure Blob effortlessly. Streamline, manage, and automate XML files in Blob containers for analytics, reporting, and data pipelines — almost no coding required. You can do it all using the high-performance Azure Blob XML File ODBC Driver for Talend Studio (often referred to as the Azure Blob XML File Connector). We'll walk you through the entire setup.

Ready to dive in? Download the product to jump right in, or follow the step-by-step guide below to see how it works.

Create data source in ZappySys Data Gateway

In this section we will create a data source for Azure Blob XML File in the Data Gateway. Let's follow these steps to accomplish that:

  1. Download and install ODBC PowerPack (if you haven't already).

  2. Search for gateway in the Windows Start Menu and open ZappySys Data Gateway Configuration:

    Open ZappySys Data Gateway Service Manager
  3. Go to the Users tab and follow these steps to add a Data Gateway user:

    • Click the Add button
    • In the Login field enter a username, e.g., john
    • Then enter a Password
    • Check the Is Administrator checkbox
    • Click OK to save
    Data Gateway - Add User
  4. Now we are ready to add a data source:

    • Click the Add button
    • Give the Data source a name (have it handy for later)
    • Then select Native - ZappySys Azure Blob XML Driver
    • Finally, click OK
    AzureBlobXmlFileDSN
    ZappySys Azure Blob XML Driver
    Data Gateway - Add data source
  5. Create and configure a connection for the Azure Blob storage account.

    Create Azure Blob Storage Connection
  6. You can use select your desired single file by clicking [...] path button.

    mybucket/dbo.tblNames.xml
    dbo.tblNames.xml
    Read Azure Blob XML File data


    ----------OR----------

    You can also read the multiple files stored in Azure Blob Storage using wildcard pattern supported e.g. dbo.tblNames*.xml.

    Note: If you want to operation with multiple files then use wild card pattern as below 
    (when you use wild card pattern in source path then system will treat target path as folder regardless you end with slash)
    
    mybucket/dbo.tblNames.xml (will read only single .XML file)
    mybucket/dbo.tbl*.xml (all files starting with file name)
    mybucket/*.xml (all files with .xml Extension and located under folder subfolder)
    

    mybucket/dbo.tblNames*.xml
    Use wildcard pattern .* to read multiple Azure Blob Files data


    ----------OR----------

    You can also read the zip and gzip compressed files also without extracting it in using Azure Blob XML Source File Task.

    mybucket/dbo.tblNames*.gz
    Reading zip and gzip compressed files (stream mode)
  7. Now select/enter Path expression in Path textbox to extract only specific part of XML string as below ($.value[*] will get content of value attribute from XML document. Value attribute is array of XML documents so we have to use [*] to indicate we want all records of that array)

    NOTE: Here, We are using our desired filter, but you need to select your desired filter based on your requirement.
    Go to Preview Tab.

    Azure Blob XML Driver Select Filter
  8. Navigate to the Preview Tab and let's explore the different modes available to access the data.

    1. --- Using Direct Query ---

      Click on Preview Tab, Select Table from Tables Dropdown and select [value] and click Preview.
      ZappySys ODBC Driver - Preview Data
    2. --- Using Stored Procedure ---

      Note : For this you have to Save ODBC Driver configuration and then again reopen to configure same driver. For more information click here.
      Click on the Custom Objects Tab, Click on Add button and select Add Procedure and Enter an appropriate name and Click on OK button to create.
      ZappySys ODBC Driver - Custom Objects
      1. --- Without Parameters ---

        Now Stored Procedure can be created with or without parameters (see example below). If you use parameters then Set default value otherwise it may fail to compilation)
        ZappySys ODBC Driver : Without Parameters
      2. --- With Parameters ---

        Note : Here you can use Placeholder with Paramters in Stored Procedure. Example : SELECT * FROM $ WHERE OrderID = '<@OrderID, FUN_TRIM>' or CustId = '<@CustId>' and Total >= '<@Total>'
        ZappySys ODBC Driver : With Parameters
    3. --- Using Virtual Table ---

      Note : For this you have to Save ODBC Driver configuration and then again reopen to configure same driver. For more information click here.

      ZappySys APi Drivers support flexible Query language so you can override Default Properties you configured on Data Source such as URL, Body. This way you don't have to create multiple Data Sources if you like to read data from multiple EndPoints. However not every application support supplying custom SQL to driver so you can only select Table from list returned from driver.

      Many applications like MS Access, Informatica Designer wont give you option to specify custom SQL when you import Objects. In such case Virtual Table is very useful. You can create many Virtual Tables on the same Data Source (e.g. If you have 50 Buckets with slight variations you can create virtual tables with just URL as Parameter setting).

      vt__Customers
      DataPath=mybucket_1/customers.xml
      
      vt__Orders
      DataPath=mybucket_2/orders.xml
      
      vt__Products
      DataPath=mybucket_3/products.xml
      
      1. Click on the Custom Objects Tab, Click on Add button and select Add Table and Enter an appropriate name and Click on OK button to create.
        ZappySys ODBC Driver - Custom Objects
      2. Once you see Query Builder Window on screen Configure it.
        ZappySys ODBC Driver - Custom Objects : Virtual Table Query Builder
      3. Click on Preview Tab, Select Virtual Table(prefix with vt__) from Tables Dropdown or write SQL query with Virtual Table name and click Preview.
        ZappySys ODBC Driver - Custom Objects : Virtual Table Query Execute

  9. Click OK to finish creating the data source

  10. That's it; we are done. In a few clicks we configured the to Read the Azure Blob XML File data using ZappySys Azure Blob XML File Connector

  11. Once done, go to the Network Settings tab and Add a firewall rule for inbound traffic:

    Data Gateway - Add firewall rule for inbound connections
    • This will initially allow all inbound traffic.
    • Click Edit IP filters to restrict access to specific IP addresses or ranges.
  12. Crucial Step: After creating or modifying the data source, you must:

    • Click the Save button to persist your changes.
    • Hit Yes when prompted to restart the Data Gateway service.

    This ensures all changes are properly applied:

    ZappySys Data Gateway - Save Changes
    Skipping this step may cause the new settings to fail, preventing you from connecting to the data source.

Read Azure Blob XML File data in Talend Studio

To read Azure Blob XML File data in Talend Studio, we'll need to complete several steps. Let's get through them all right away!

This article is compatible with Talend Open Studio (a free version, currently retired by Qlik). If you don't have it, you can still purchase a shareware version of Talend Studio from Qlik.

Create connection for input

  1. First of all, open Talend Studio
  2. Create a new connection: Creating a new connection in Talend Studio
  3. Select Microsoft SQL Server connection: Creating SQL Server connection in Talend Studio
  4. Name your connection: Naming a connection in Talend Studio
  5. Fill-in connection parameters and then click Test connection:
    AzureBlobXmlFileDSN
    Configuring the ZappySys Data Gateway connection in Talend Studio
  6. If the List of modules not installed for this operation window shows up, then download and install all of them: Configure the connection
    Review and accept all additional module license agreements during the process
  7. Finally, you should see a successful connection test result at the end: Connection test successful

Add input

  1. Once we have a connection to ZappySys Data Gateway created, we can proceed by creating a job:

    Create a job in Talend Studio
  2. Simply drag and drop ZappySys Data Gateway connection onto the job:

    Creating an input based on ZappySys Data Gateway connection
  3. Then create an input based on ZappySys Data Gateway connection:

    Creating an input based on ZappySys Data Gateway connection
  4. Continue by configuring a SQL query and click Guess schema button:

    Configuring a SQL query in Talend Studio
  5. Finish by configuring the schema, for example:

    Configuring a schema in Talend Studio

Add output

We are ready to add an output. From Palette drag and drop a tFileOutputDelimited output and connect it to the input: Connecting tFileOutputDelimited output in Talend Studio

Run the job

Finally, run the job and integrate your Azure Blob XML File data: Integrating Azure Blob XML File data in Talend Studio

Conclusion

In this article we showed you how to connect to Azure Blob XML File in Talend Studio and integrate data without writing complex code — all of this was powered by Azure Blob XML File ODBC Driver.

Download ODBC PowerPack now or ping us via chat if you have any questions or are looking for a specific feature (you can also reach out to us by submitting a ticket):

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