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How to develop a JDBC Form Store Binder

In this tutorial, you will be following the guideline of developing a plugin to develop your JDBC Form Store Binder plugin. Please also refer to the very first tutorial How to develop a Bean Shell Hash Variable and also the following JDBC related plugin for more detailed steps.

1. What is the problem?

For integration purposes, you would like to store your form data in a different database table instead of the Joget form data table.

2. What is your idea for solving the problem?

Joget DX has provided a plugin type called Form Store Binder Plugin. You will develop one to support JDBC connection and custom query to store form data.

3. What is the input needed for your plugin?

To develop a JDBC Store binder, you will need the JDBC connection setting and the custom query to store the form data based on the collected form data.

  1. Datasource: Using custom datasource or Joget default datasource.
  2. Custom JDBC Driver: The JDBC driver for custom datasource.
  3. Custom JDBC URL: The JDBC connection URL for custom datasource.
  4. Custom JDBC Username: The username for custom datasource.
  5. Custom JDBC Password: The password for custom datasource.
  6. SQL Check Exist Query: The query to check whether an insert or update query should be executed.
  7. SQL Insert Query: The query to insert form data. 
  8. SQL Update Query: The query to insert form data.  
  9. SQL Delete Query: The query to delete deleted form data when used as a multirow binder.

You will have to support a syntax to inject the form data into the query. {foreignKey} can be used for Multi Rows storing.

You will also need to support a syntax to inject a UUID value. In this case, you will use {uuid}.

 Example: INSERT INTO app_fd_test VALUES ({id}, {name}, {email}, {phone}, {foreignKey});

4. What is the output and expected outcome of your plugin?

All submitted data will be stored based on the check/insert/update query.

5. Is there any resources/API that can be reused?

You can refer to the implementation of other available Form Store Binder plugins. Joget default datasource can be retrieved with AppUtil.getApplicationContext().getBean("setupDataSource").

6. Prepare your development environment

You need to always have your Joget DX Source Code ready and built by following this guideline. 

The following tutorial is prepared with a Macbook Pro and Joget Source Code version 8.0-Snapshot. Please refer to Guideline for Developing a Plugin for other platform commands.

Let's say your folder directory is as follows:

- Home
  - joget
    - plugins
    - jw-community

The plugins directory is the folder you will create and store all your plugins and the jw-community directory is where the Joget DX Source code is stored.

Run the following command to create a Apache Maven project in the plugins directory.

cd joget/plugins/
~/joget/jw-community/wflow-plugin-archetype/create-plugin.sh org.joget.tutorial jdbc_store_binder 8.0-Snapshot

Then, the shell script will ask you to key in a version for your plugin and ask you for confirmation before generating the Apache Maven project.

Define value for property 'version':  1.0-SNAPSHOT: : 8.0-Snapshot
[INFO] Using property: package = org.joget.tutorial
Confirm properties configuration:
groupId: org.joget.tutorial
artifactId: jdbc_store_binder
version: 5.0.0
package: org.joget.tutorial
Y: : y

You should get a "BUILD SUCCESS" message shown in your terminal and a jdbc_store_binder folder created in the plugins folder.

Open the Apache Maven project with your IDE of choice. This tutorial uses NetBeans.

7. Just code it!

a. Extending the abstract class of a plugin type

Create a JdbcStoreBinder class under the org.joget.tutorial package. Then, extend the class with org.joget.apps.form.model.FormBinder abstract class.

To make it work as a Form Store Binder, you will need to implement the org.joget.apps.form.model.FormStoreBinder interface. Then, you need to implement the org.joget.apps.form.model.FormStoreElementBinder interface to make this plugin show as a selection in the store binder select box and implement the org.joget.apps.form.model.FormStoreMultiRowElementBinder interface to list it under the store binder select box of grid element. 

 Please refer to Form Store Binder Plugin.

b. Implement all the abstract methods

As usual, you have to implement all the abstract methods. You will use the AppPluginUtil.getMessage method to support i18n and use the MESSAGE_PATH constant variable for the message resource bundle directory.
 
Implementation of all basic abstract methods
package org.joget.tutorial;
  
import org.joget.apps.app.service.AppPluginUtil;
import org.joget.apps.app.service.AppUtil;
import org.joget.apps.form.model.Element;
import org.joget.apps.form.model.FormBinder;
import org.joget.apps.form.model.FormData;
import org.joget.apps.form.model.FormRowSet;
import org.joget.apps.form.model.FormStoreBinder;
import org.joget.apps.form.model.FormStoreElementBinder;
import org.joget.apps.form.model.FormStoreMultiRowElementBinder;
  
public class JdbcStoreBinder extends FormBinder implements FormStoreBinder, FormStoreElementBinder, FormStoreMultiRowElementBinder {
     
    private final static String MESSAGE_PATH = "messages/JdbcStoreBinder";
     
    public String getName() {
        return "JDBC Store Binder";
    }
  
    public String getVersion() {
        return "5.0.0";
    }
     
    public String getClassName() {
        return getClass().getName();
    }
  
    public String getLabel() {
        //support i18n
        return AppPluginUtil.getMessage("org.joget.tutorial.JdbcStoreBinder.pluginLabel", getClassName(), MESSAGE_PATH);
    }
     
    public String getDescription() {
        //support i18n
        return AppPluginUtil.getMessage("org.joget.tutorial.JdbcStoreBinder.pluginDesc", getClassName(), MESSAGE_PATH);
    }
  
    public String getPropertyOptions() {
        return AppUtil.readPluginResource(getClassName(), "/properties/jdbcStoreBinder.json", null, true, MESSAGE_PATH);
    }
  
    public FormRowSet store(Element element, FormRowSet rows, FormData formData) {
        throw new UnsupportedOperationException("Not supported yet."); //To change body of generated methods, choose Tools | Templates.
    }
}
Then, you have to do a UI for the admin user to provide inputs for your plugin. In the getPropertyOptions method, you already specify your Plugin Properties Options definition file is located at /properties/jdbcStoreBinder.json. Then, create a resources/properties directory under the jdbc_store_binder/src/main directory. After creating the directory, create a file named jdbcStoreBinder.json in the properties folder.

In the properties definition options file, you will need to provide options as below. Please note that you can use the @@message.key@@ syntax to support i18n in your properties options. 

[{
    title : '@@form.jdbcStoreBinder.config@@',
    properties : [{
        name : 'jdbcDatasource',
        label : '@@form.jdbcStoreBinder.datasource@@',
        type : 'selectbox',
        options : [{
            value : 'custom',
            label : '@@form.jdbcStoreBinder.customDatasource@@'
        },{
            value : 'default',
            label : '@@form.jdbcStoreBinder.defaultDatasource@@'
        }],
        value : 'default'
    },{
        name : 'jdbcDriver',
        label : '@@form.jdbcStoreBinder.driver@@',
        description : '@@form.jdbcStoreBinder.driver.desc@@',
        type : 'textfield',
        value : 'com.mysql.jdbc.Driver',
        control_field: 'jdbcDatasource',
        control_value: 'custom',
        control_use_regex: 'false',
        required : 'true'
    },{
        name : 'jdbcUrl',
        label : '@@form.jdbcStoreBinder.url@@',
        type : 'textfield',
        value : 'jdbc:mysql://localhost/jwdb?characterEncoding=UTF8',
        control_field: 'jdbcDatasource',
        control_value: 'custom',
        control_use_regex: 'false',
        required : 'true'
    },{
        name : 'jdbcUser',
        label : '@@form.jdbcStoreBinder.username@@',
        type : 'textfield',
        control_field: 'jdbcDatasource',
        control_value: 'custom',
        control_use_regex: 'false',
        value : 'root',
        required : 'true'
    },{
        name : 'jdbcPassword',
        label : '@@form.jdbcStoreBinder.password@@',
        type : 'password',
        control_field: 'jdbcDatasource',
        control_value: 'custom',
        control_use_regex: 'false',
        value : ''
    },{
        name : 'check_sql',
        label : '@@form.jdbcStoreBinder.check_sql@@',
        description : '@@form.jdbcStoreBinder.check_sql.desc@@',
        type : 'codeeditor',
        mode : 'sql',
        required : 'true'
    },{
        name : 'insert_sql',
        label : '@@form.jdbcStoreBinder.insert_sql@@',
        description : '@@form.jdbcStoreBinder.insert_sql.desc@@',
        type : 'codeeditor',
        mode : 'sql',
        required : 'true'
    },{
        name : 'update_sql',
        label : '@@form.jdbcStoreBinder.update_sql@@',
        description : '@@form.jdbcStoreBinder.update_sql.desc@@',
        type : 'codeeditor',
        mode : 'sql',
        required : 'true'
    },{
        name : 'delete_sql',
        label : '@@form.jdbcStoreBinder.delete_sql@@',
        description : '@@form.jdbcStoreBinder.delete_sql.desc@@',
        type : 'codeeditor',
        mode : 'sql',
        required : 'true'
    }],
    buttons : [{
        name : 'testConnection',   
        label : '@@form.jdbcStoreBinder.testConnection@@',
        ajax_url : '[CONTEXT_PATH]/web/json/app[APP_PATH]/plugin/org.joget.tutorial.JdbcStoreBinder/service?action=testConnection',
        fields : ['jdbcDriver', 'jdbcUrl', 'jdbcUser', 'jdbcPassword'],
        control_field: 'jdbcDatasource',
        control_value: 'custom',
        control_use_regex: 'false'
    }]
}]

Same as JDBC Options Binder, you will need to add a test connection button for the custom JDBC setting. Please refer to How to develop a JDBC Options Binder on the Web Service Plugin implementation.

Once you are done with the properties option to collect input and the web service to test the connection, you can work on the main method of the plugin which is the store method.

public FormRowSet store(Element element, FormRowSet rows, FormData formData) {
    Form parentForm = FormUtil.findRootForm(element);
    String primaryKeyValue = parentForm.getPrimaryKeyValue(formData);
         
    Connection con = null;
    PreparedStatement pstmt = null;
    ResultSet rs = null;
     
    try {
        DataSource ds = createDataSource();
        con = ds.getConnection();
         
        //check for deletion
        FormRowSet originalRowSet = formData.getLoadBinderData(element);
        if (originalRowSet != null && !originalRowSet.isEmpty()) {
            for (FormRow r : originalRowSet) {
                if (!rows.contains(r)) {
                    String query = getPropertyString("delete_sql");   
                    pstmt = con.prepareStatement(getQuery(query));
                    int i = 1;
                    for (String obj : getParams(query, r, primaryKeyValue)) {
                        pstmt.setObject(i, obj);
                        i++;
                    }
                    pstmt.executeUpdate();
                }
            }
        }
         
        if (!(rows == null || rows.isEmpty())) {
         
            //run query for each row
            for (FormRow row : rows) {
                //check to use insert query or update query
                String checkSql = getPropertyString("check_sql");
                pstmt = con.prepareStatement(getQuery(checkSql));
                int i = 1;
                for (String obj : getParams(checkSql, row, primaryKeyValue)) {
                    pstmt.setObject(i, obj);
                    i++;
                }
                String query = getPropertyString("insert_sql");
                rs = pstmt.executeQuery();
                //record exist, use update query
                if (rs.next()) {
                    query = getPropertyString("update_sql");
                }
                pstmt = con.prepareStatement(getQuery(query));
                i = 1;
                for (String obj : getParams(query, row, primaryKeyValue)) {
                    pstmt.setObject(i, obj);
                    i++;
                }
                pstmt.executeUpdate();
            }
        }
    } catch (Exception e) {
        LogUtil.error(getClassName(), e, "");
    } finally {
        try {
            if (rs != null) {
                rs.close();
            }
            if (pstmt != null) {
                pstmt.close();
            }
            if (con != null) {
                con.close();
            }
        } catch (Exception e) {
            LogUtil.error(getClassName(), e, "");
        }
    }
     
    return rows;
}
 
/**
 * Used to replaces all syntax like {field_id} to question mark
 * @param query
 * @return
 */
protected String getQuery(String query) {
    return query.replaceAll("\\{[a-zA-Z0-9_]+\\}", "?");
}
 
/**
 * Used to retrieves the value of variables in query
 * @param query
 * @param row
 * @return
 */
protected Collection<String> getParams(String query, FormRow row, String primaryKey) {
    Collection<String> params = new ArrayList<String>();
     
    Pattern pattern = Pattern.compile("\\{([a-zA-Z0-9_]+)\\}");
    Matcher matcher = pattern.matcher(query);
     
    while (matcher.find()) {
        String key = matcher.group(1);
         
        if (FormUtil.PROPERTY_ID.equals(key)) {
            String value = row.getId();
            if (value == null || value.isEmpty()) {
                value = UuidGenerator.getInstance().getUuid();
                row.setId(value);
            }
            params.add(value);
        } else if ("uuid".equals(key)) {
            params.add(UuidGenerator.getInstance().getUuid());
        } else if ("foreignKey".equals(key)) {
            params.add(primaryKey);
        } else {
            String value = row.getProperty(key);
            params.add((value != null)?value:"");
        }
    }
     
    return params;
}
 
/**
 * To creates data source based on setting
 * @return
 * @throws Exception
 */
protected DataSource createDataSource() throws Exception {
    DataSource ds = null;
    String datasource = getPropertyString("jdbcDatasource");
    if ("default".equals(datasource)) {
        // use current datasource
        ds = (DataSource)AppUtil.getApplicationContext().getBean("setupDataSource");
    } else {
        // use custom datasource
        Properties dsProps = new Properties();
        dsProps.put("driverClassName", getPropertyString("jdbcDriver"));
        dsProps.put("url", getPropertyString("jdbcUrl"));
        dsProps.put("username", getPropertyString("jdbcUser"));
        dsProps.put("password", getPropertyString("jdbcPassword"));
        ds = BasicDataSourceFactory.createDataSource(dsProps);
    }
    return ds;
}

c. Manage the dependency libraries of your plugin

Your plugin is using dbcp, javax.servlet.http.HttpServletRequest and javax.servlet.http.HttpServletResponse class, so you will need to add the jsp-api and commons-dbcp library to your POM file. 
<!-- Change plugin specific dependencies here -->
<dependency>
    <groupId>javax.servlet</groupId>
    <artifactId>jsp-api</artifactId>
    <version>2.0</version>
</dependency>
<dependency>
    <groupId>commons-dbcp</groupId>
    <artifactId>commons-dbcp</artifactId>
    <version>1.3</version>
</dependency>
<!-- End change plugin specific dependencies here -->

d. Make your plugin internationalization (i18n) ready

You are using the i18n message key in getLabelthe and getDescription method. You also used the i18n message key in your properties options definition as well. So, you will need to create a message resource bundle properties file for your plugin. Create directory resources/messages under jdbc_store_binder/src/main directory. Then, create a JdbcStoreBinder.properties file in the folder. In the properties file, let's add all the message keys and their labels as below. 
org.joget.tutorial.JdbcStoreBinder.pluginLabel=JDBC Binder
org.joget.tutorial.JdbcStoreBinder.pluginDesc=Used to store form data using JDBC
form.jdbcStoreBinder.config=Configure JDBC Binder
form.jdbcStoreBinder.datasource=Datasource
form.jdbcStoreBinder.customDatasource=Custom Datasource
form.jdbcStoreBinder.defaultDatasource=Default Datasource
form.jdbcStoreBinder.driver=Custom JDBC Driver
form.jdbcStoreBinder.driver.desc=Eg. com.mysql.jdbc.Driver (MySQL), oracle.jdbc.driver.OracleDriver (Oracle), com.microsoft.sqlserver.jdbc.SQLServerDriver (Microsoft SQL Server)
form.jdbcStoreBinder.url=Custom JDBC URL
form.jdbcStoreBinder.username=Custom JDBC Username
form.jdbcStoreBinder.password=Custom JDBC Password
form.jdbcStoreBinder.check_sql=SQL SELECT Query
form.jdbcStoreBinder.check_sql.desc=Used  to decide an insert or update operation. Use syntax like {field_id} in query to inject submitted form data.
form.jdbcStoreBinder.insert_sql=SQL INSERT Query
form.jdbcStoreBinder.insert_sql.desc=Use syntax like {field_id} in query to inject submitted form data.
form.jdbcStoreBinder.update_sql=SQL UPDATE Query
form.jdbcStoreBinder.update_sql.desc=Use syntax like {field_id} in query to inject submitted form data.
form.jdbcStoreBinder.delete_sql=SQL DELETE Query
form.jdbcStoreBinder.delete_sql.desc=Used to delete deleted form data in Grid element. Use syntax like {id} in query to inject form data primary key.
form.jdbcStoreBinder.testConnection=Test Connection
form.jdbcStoreBinder.connectionOk=Database connected
form.jdbcStoreBinder.connectionFail=Not able to establish connection.

e. Register your plugin to Felix Framework you

will have to register your plugin class in the Activator class (auto-generated in the same class package) to tell Felix Framework that this is a plugin. 
public void start(BundleContext context) {
    registrationList = new ArrayList<ServiceRegistration>();
    //Register plugin here
    registrationList.add(context.registerService(JdbcStoreBinder.class.getName(), new JdbcStoreBinder(), null));
}

f. Build it and testing 

Let's build your plugin. Once the building process is done, you will find a jdbc_store_binder-5.0.0.jar file is created under jdbc_store_binder/target directory. 

Then, let's upload the plugin jar to Manage Plugins. After uploading the JAR file, double-check if the plugin is uploaded and activated correctly. 

Let's create a form to create and update a user to the dir_user table. 

Then, configure the store binder of the form with the following query.

Check Select Query

select username from dir_user where username = {id}

Insert Query

insert into dir_user
(id, username, firstName, lastName, email, active)
values
({id}, {username}, {firstName}, {lastName}, {email}, 1)

note: {uuid} can be used to generate a unique id

Update Query

update dir_user set firstName = {firstName}, lastName = {lastName},
email = {email}
where username = {id}

Delete Query 

delete from TABLE_NAME where id = {id}
 

Now, let's test to add a user. 

Check the user is created in dir_user table.

Let's update the same record by passing the ID in URL parameters.

Check if the user is updated.

It works! Please remember to test the other features of the plugin as well. 

8. Take a step further, share it or sell it

You can download the source code from jdbc_store_binder_src.zip.
Created by Aadrian Last modified by Aadrian on Mar 12, 2025
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