Making an ODBC Connection to Neo4j’s BI Connector (on macOS)
Neo4j’s BI Connector uses a combination of a JDBC Driver and the SQL-92 query language to retrieve tabular data results that are consumed by third party client applications such as Tableau and DBeaver.
OpenLink Software’s ODBC-JDBC Bridge Drivers extend this functionality to ODBC-compliant applications such as Microsoft Excel for Mac, Virtuoso Universal Server, FileMaker Pro, and more.
This installation guide is specifically for using the Lite Edition (Single-Tier) ODBC-to-JDBC Bridge Driver for macOS; guides for Windows and Linux will be available soon.
Prerequisites:
- Working Installation of OpenLink ODBC-to-JDBC Bridge Driver (Guide)
- Knowledge of your Neo4j Bolt Port (Default:
7687)
Installation
- Download and add the Neo4j Bi Connector to /Library/Java/Extensions — since it is actually a JDBC Driver.
2. Open iODBC Administrator64.app, and click Add, to start the process of creating a new Data Source Name associated with the OpenLink ODBC-to-JDBC Bridge Driver.
3. Enter a Data Source Name (DSN) and click Next.
4. Add the connection properties by adding the specified JDBC Driver classname, and JDBC URL. We used the com.simba.neo4j.jdbc.Driver driver class.
The basic connection URL for connecting to a Neo4J instance consists of:
jdbc:neo4j://[Host]:[Port]Neo4J Desktop Users should include StrictlyUseBoltScheme=true in their Connection URL to ensure that the bolt driver connection is utilized.
5. Click Continue until the Test tab is reached, and click Finish.
Testing Your ODBC DSN
Now that you have successfully created an ODBC DSN, bound to the OpenLink ODBC-to-JDBC Bridge Driver, which in turn connects to the Neo4j JDBC Driver, you can proceed to testing its usage with a basic ODBC-compliant application via the following steps:
1. Launch the iODBC Demo ANSI.app or iODBC Demo Unicode.app included with your ODBC-to-JDBC bridge driver installation, and choose Open Connection… from the Environment menu.
2. Select your newly created ODBC DSN, and click OK.
3. Enter your username and password if they aren’t included in your JDBC Connection URL, and click OK.
4. Upon successful connection, choose Execute SQL… from the SQL menu.
5. Enter your SQL Query, and click OK.
6. Upon query execution, data will be returned to your iODBC Demo window.
Now that your basic ODBC usage has been tested successfully, you can proceed to use more sophisticated applications such as Microsoft Excel, FileMaker Pro, Virtuoso Universal Server, and more.
