Help Manual

BambooHR JDBC Driver

Documentation for BambooHR drivers found within JDBC Driver Pack

BambooHR

Building the JDBC URL

After installing the license, open the connection management page by running java -jar kingswaysoft.jdbc.jar. Enter the required details to generate the JDBC connection URL. Click Test Connection to test the generated URL, or Copy to Clipboard to copy the connection string for use in your application.

Note: If the license is not installed, you can still use the connection manager to generate a JDBC URL; however, the 'Test Connection' feature will be disabled.

General Page

The General page of the BambooHR Connection Manager allows you to specify the general settings of the connection:

connectionmanage

General Settings
Subdomain

The Subdomain is the unique Account Identifier assigned by BambooHR used in the API base URL to route requests to the correct account and data region.

API Throttling Rate

The API Throttling Rate will limit the number of requests that can be sent per the selected unit of time. Set this value to 0 to disable API throttling.

Authentication Methods for BambooHR

API Key
API Key

If you have an API Key that you would like to use, enter it in the authentication field.

OAuth

A saved token file and token password can be used to establish a connection. If you wish to generate a new token file, click Generate Token File to go through the token generation process, save the token file locally, and use the specified token password to connect.

Generate Token File

This button completes the OAuth authentication process to generate a new token.

  • Client ID: The Client ID option allows you to specify the unique ID which identifies the application making the request.
  • Client Secret: The Client Secret option allows you to specify the client secret belonging to your app.
  • Redirect URL: The Redirect URL option allows you to specify the Redirect URL to complete the authentication process.
  • Scope: Specify the scopes that your application requires. Ensure the application has been granted these scopes in the BambooHR application portal.
Path To Token File

The path to the token file on the file system.

Token File Password

The Password for the token file.

Advanced Settings Page

The Advanced Settings page allows you to specify advanced settings for the connection.

connectionmanage

Proxy Server Settings
Proxy Server Settings
Proxy Mode

The Proxy Mode option allows you to specify how you want to configure the proxy server setting. There are three options available.

  • No Proxy
  • Auto-detect (Use system configured proxy)
  • Manual
Proxy Server

Using the Proxy Server option allows you to specify the name of the proxy server for the connection.

Port

The Port option allows you to specify the port number of the proxy server for the connection.

Username (Proxy Server Authentication)

The Username option (under Proxy Server Authentication) allows you to specify the proxy user account.

Password (Proxy Server Authentication)

The Password option (under Proxy Server Authentication) allows you to specify the proxy user's password.

Miscellaneous Settings
Miscellaneous Settings
Timeout (secs)

The Timeout (secs) option allows you to specify a timeout value in seconds for the connection. The default value is 120 seconds. Specify 0 for infinite timeout.

Retry on Intermittent Errors

The retry on intermittent errors determines if requests will be retried when there is an error. If this option is checked requests will be retried up to 3 times.

Ignore Certificate Errors

This option can be used to ignore those SSL certificate errors when connecting to the target server.

Warning: Enabling the "Ignore Certificate Errors" option is generally NOT recommended, particularly for production instances. Unless there is a strong reason to believe the connection is secure - such as the network communication is only happening in an internal infrastructure, this option should be unchecked for the best security.

Note: When this option is enabled, it applies to all HTTP-based SSL connections in the same job process.

Concurrent Writing Threads

This option can be used to set the number of threads to be used during write operations. This can improve performance during large-volume write operations.

Using the JDBC Driver

This section provides examples that use JDBC classes such as Connection, Statement, and ResultSet to manage interactions with BambooHR data. It covers regular statements and prepared statements for complex or frequently executed queries.

Executing Statements

After you have connected from your code, you can execute SQL statements using the Statement class. For connection details, see Connecting with DriverManager or Connecting with DataSource. For parameterized statements, see Executing Prepared Statements.

SELECT

Use the Statement class's generic execute method or the executeQuery method to execute SQL statements that return data. To retrieve the results of a query, call the getResultSet method of the Statement.

String sql = "SELECT * FROM employees WHERE id = 0";
try {
    ResultSet resultSet = statement.executeQuery(sql);
    LOGGER.info(resultSet.toString());
} catch (SQLException e) {
    LOGGER.severe(e.toString());
}

INSERT

Use either the generic execute method or the executeUpdate method of the Statement class to execute an INSERT operation.

The results of SQL queries are saved in a ResultSet. You can retrieve the ResultSet after execution to view the inserted data's ID, exceptions raised during execution, and details of the affected data.

String sql = "INSERT INTO training/type (name, required) VALUES ('TrainingName', false)";
try {
    statement.executeUpdate(sql);
    LOGGER.info(statement.getResultSet().toString());
} catch (SQLException e) {
    LOGGER.severe(e.toString());
}

id,errorcode,errormessage,processdata,haserrors
1,null,null,{"name":"TrainingName","required":false},false

UPDATE

Use either the generic execute method or the executeUpdate method of the Statement class to execute an UPDATE operation.

The results of SQL queries are saved in a ResultSet. You can retrieve the ResultSet after execution to view the updated data's ID, exceptions raised during execution, and details of the affected data.

String sql = "UPDATE training/type SET name = 'TrainingUpdateName', required = false WHERE trainingTypeId = 1";
try {
    statement.executeUpdate(sql);
    LOGGER.info(statement.getResultSet().toString());
} catch (SQLException e) {
    LOGGER.severe(e.toString());
}

id,errorcode,errormessage,processdata,haserrors
1,null,null,{"name":"TrainingUpdateName","required":false},false

DELETE

Use either the generic execute method or the executeUpdate method of the Statement class to execute a DELETE operation.

The results of SQL queries are saved in a ResultSet. You can retrieve the ResultSet after execution to view the deleted data's ID, exceptions raised during execution, and details of the affected data.

String sql = "DELETE FROM training/type WHERE trainingTypeId = 1";
try {
    statement.executeUpdate(sql);
    LOGGER.info(statement.getResultSet().toString());
} catch (SQLException e) {
    LOGGER.severe(e.toString());
}

id,errorcode,errormessage,processdata,haserrors
null,null,null,{},false

UPSERT

Using the UPSERT operation, you can either insert or update an existing record in one call.

Not all tables support the upsert operation. Query the system.tables table to identify which tables support UPSERT operations.

The results of SQL queries are saved in a ResultSet. You can retrieve the ResultSet after execution to view the ID of upserted data, exceptions raised during execution, and the data affected by the upsert.

String sql = "UPSERT INTO time_tracking/clock_entries/store (employeeId, date, start, end, note) "
           + "VALUES (8, '2026-05-23', '09:00', '17:00', 'Test Note')";
try {
    statement.executeUpdate(sql);
    LOGGER.info(statement.getResultSet().toString());
} catch (SQLException e) {
    LOGGER.severe(e.toString());
}

id,errorcode,errormessage,processdata,haserrors,isnew
298,null,null,{"employeeId":8,"date":"2026-05-23","start":"09:00","end":"17:00","note":"Test Note"},false,false

Executing Prepared Statements

Using a PreparedStatement can improve performance when you need to execute a SQL statement multiple times with different parameters. Unlike a Statement object, a PreparedStatement object is provided with a SQL statement when it is created, which can then be executed with different values each time. This special type of statement is derived from the more general Statement class.

Below are the steps outlining how to execute a prepared statement:

Creating and Executing a Prepared Statement
  1. Create a PreparedStatement
  2. Set Parameters
    • Declare parameters by calling the corresponding setter method of the PreparedStatement.
    • NOTE: The parameter indices start at 1.
  3. Execute the PreparedStatement
    • Use the generic execute or executeUpdate method of the PreparedStatement.
  4. Retrieve Results
    • Call the getResultSet method of the PreparedStatement to obtain the query results, which are returned as a ResultSet.
  5. Iterate Over the Result Set
    • Use the next method of the ResultSet to iterate through the results. To obtain column information, use the ResultSetMetaData class. Instantiate a ResultSetMetaData object by calling the getMetaData method of the ResultSet.

SELECT

Use the PreparedStatement class's generic execute method or the executeQuery method to execute SQL statements that return data.

The results of SQL queries are saved in a ResultSet. You can retrieve the ResultSet after execution to view the retrieved data.

String sql = "SELECT * FROM employees WHERE id = ?";
try {
    PreparedStatement ps = connection.prepareStatement(sql);
    ps.setInt(1, 0);
    ps.execute(query);
    while (ps.getResultSet().next()) {
        for (int i = 1; i <= ps.getResultSet().getMetaData().getColumnCount(); i++) {
            LOGGER.info(ps.getResultSet().getMetaData().getColumnLabel(i) + "="
            + ps.getResultSet().getString(i));
        }
    }
} catch (SQLException e) {
    LOGGER.error(e);
}

INSERT

Use either the generic execute method or the executeUpdate method of the PreparedStatement class to execute an INSERT operation.

The results of SQL queries are saved in a ResultSet. You can retrieve the ResultSet after execution to view the ID of inserted data, exceptions raised during execution, and the data affected by the insertion.

String sql = "INSERT INTO training/type (name, required) VALUES (?, ?)";

try {
    PreparedStatement ps = connection.prepareStatement(sql);
    ps.setString(1, "TrainingName");
    ps.setBoolean(2, false);
    ps.executeUpdate();
    LOGGER.info(ps.getResultSet().toString());
} catch (SQLException e) {
    LOGGER.error(e);
}

id,errorcode,errormessage,processdata,haserrors
1,null,null,{"name":"TrainingName","required":false},false

UPDATE

Use either the generic execute method or the executeUpdate method of the PreparedStatement class to execute an UPDATE operation.

The results of SQL queries are saved in a ResultSet. You can retrieve the ResultSet after execution to view the ID of updated data, exceptions raised during execution, and the data affected by the update.

String sql = "UPDATE training/type SET name = ?, required = ? WHERE trainingTypeId = ?";
try {
    PreparedStatement ps = connection.prepareStatement(sql);
    ps.setString(1, "TrainingUpdateName");
    ps.setBoolean(2, false);
    ps.setInt(3, 1);
    ps.executeUpdate();
    LOGGER.info(ps.getResultSet().toString());
} catch (SQLException e) {
    LOGGER.error(e);
}

id,errorcode,errormessage,processdata,haserrors
1,null,null,{"name":"TrainingUpdateName","required":false},false

DELETE

Use either the generic execute method or the executeUpdate method of the PreparedStatement class to execute a DELETE operation.

The results of SQL queries are saved in a ResultSet. You can retrieve the ResultSet after execution to view the deleted data's ID, exceptions raised during execution, and details of the affected data.

String sql = "DELETE FROM contacts WHERE id = ?";
try {
    PreparedStatement ps = connection.prepareStatement(sql);
    ps.setInt(1, 1);
    ps.executeUpdate();
    LOGGER.info(ps.getResultSet().toString());
} catch (SQLException e) {
    LOGGER.error(e);
}

id,errorcode,errormessage,processdata,haserrors
null,null,null,{},false

UPSERT

Using the UPSERT operation, you can either insert or update an existing record in one call.

Not all tables support the upsert operation. Query the system.tables table to identify which tables support UPSERT operations.

The results of SQL queries are saved in a ResultSet. You can retrieve the ResultSet after execution to view the ID of upserted data, exceptions raised during execution, and the data affected by the upsert.

String sql = "UPSERT INTO time_tracking/clock_entries/store (employeeId, date, start, end, note) "
           + "VALUES (?, ?, ?, ?, ?)";
try {
    PreparedStatement ps = connection.prepareStatement(sql);
    ps.setInt(1, 8);
    ps.setString(2, "2026-05-23");
    ps.setString(3, "09:00");
    ps.setString(4, "17:00");
    ps.setString(5, "Test Note");
    ps.executeUpdate();
    LOGGER.info(ps.getResultSet().toString());
} catch (SQLException e) {
    LOGGER.error(e);
}

id,errorcode,errormessage,processdata,haserrors,isnew
298,null,null,{"employeeId":8,"date":"2026-05-23","start":"09:00","end":"17:00","note":"Test Note"},false,false

Metadata Discovery

This section provides examples on how to retrieve table and column metadata using the getTables, getColumns, and getPrimaryKeys methods from the DatabaseMetaData interface. These are essential for discovering database structures.

Tables

The getTables method from the DatabaseMetaData interface can be used to retrieve a list of tables.

This method only retrieves tables that are not write-only.

To get a list of tables that includes write-only tables, query the table system.tables.

try {
    Connection connection = buildRestConnectionFromDriverManager();
    ResultSet rs = connection.getMetaData().getTables(null, null, null, null);
    LOGGER.info("\r\n" + rs.toString());
} catch (SQLException e) {
    LOGGER.severe(e.getMessage());
}

TABLE_CAT,TABLE_SCHEM,TABLE_NAME,TABLE_TYPE,REMARKS
null,null,benefits/settings/deduction_types/all,Table,null
null,null,employeedependents,Table,null
null,null,employees,Table,null
null,null,employees/changed,Table,null
null,null,employees/directory,Table,null
null,null,employees/files,Table,null
null,null,employees/photo,Table,null
null,null,employees/tables,Table,null
null,null,employees/time_off/calculator,Table,null
null,null,employees/time_off/policies,Table,null
......

The getTables method returns the following metadata columns:

Column Name Data Type Description
TABLE_CAT String The catalog that contains the table.
TABLE_SCHEM String The schema of the table.
TABLE_NAME String The name of the table.
TABLE_TYPE String The type of the table (e.g., TABLE or VIEW).
REMARKS String An optional description of the table.

Columns

Use the getColumns method of the DatabaseMetaData interface to retrieve detailed information about database columns. To narrow the results to a specific table, specify the table name using the parameter table_name.

This method returns columns only for tables that are not write-only.

To get columns for write-only tables, query the table system.columns.

try {
    Connection connection = buildRestConnectionFromDriverManager();
    ResultSet rs = connection.getMetaData().getColumns(null, null, "employees", null);
    LOGGER.info(rs.toString());
} catch (SQLException e) {
    e.printStackTrace();
}

TABLE_CAT,TABLE_SCHEM,TABLE_NAME,COLUMN_NAME,DATA_TYPE,TYPE_NAME,COLUMN_SIZE,BUFFER_LENGTH,DECIMAL_DIGITS,NUM_PREC_RADIX,NULLABLE,REMARKS,COLUMN_DEF,SQL_DATA_TYPE,SQL_DATETIME_SUB,CHAR_OCTET_LENGTH,ORDINAL_POSITION,IS_NULLABLE,IS_AUTOINCREMENT,IS_GENERATEDCOLUMN,DTS_TYPE
null,null,employees,_restrictedFields,12,VARCHAR,null,null,0,0,null,null,null,12,null,null,null,null,null,null,DT_WSTR
null,null,employees,bestEmail,12,VARCHAR,null,null,0,0,null,null,null,12,null,null,null,null,null,null,DT_WSTR
null,null,employees,canUploadPhoto,16,BOOLEAN,null,null,0,0,null,null,null,16,null,null,null,null,null,null,DT_BOOL
null,null,employees,department,12,VARCHAR,null,null,0,0,null,null,null,12,null,null,null,null,null,null,DT_WSTR
null,null,employees,displayName,12,VARCHAR,null,null,0,0,null,null,null,12,null,null,null,null,null,null,DT_WSTR
null,null,employees,division,12,VARCHAR,null,null,0,0,null,null,null,12,null,null,null,null,null,null,DT_WSTR
null,null,employees,employeeId,12,VARCHAR,null,null,0,0,null,null,null,12,null,null,null,null,null,null,DT_WSTR
null,null,employees,facebook,12,VARCHAR,null,null,0,0,null,null,null,12,null,null,null,null,null,null,DT_WSTR
null,null,employees,facebookUrl,12,VARCHAR,null,null,0,0,null,null,null,12,null,null,null,null,null,null,DT_WSTR
null,null,employees,firstName,12,VARCHAR,null,null,0,0,null,null,null,12,null,null,null,null,null,null,DT_WSTR
......

The getColumns method returns the following columns:

Column Name Data Type Description
TABLE_CAT String The database name.
TABLE_SCHEM String The table schema.
TABLE_NAME String The table name.
COLUMN_NAME String The column name.
DATA_TYPE Integer The data type represented by a constant value from java.sql.Types.
TYPE_NAME String The data type name used by the driver.
COLUMN_SIZE Integer The length in characters of the column or the numeric precision.
BUFFER_LENGTH Integer The buffer length.
DECIMAL_DIGITS Integer The column scale or number of digits to the right of the decimal point.
NUM_PREC_RADIX Integer The radix, or base.
NULLABLE Integer Whether the column can contain null as defined by the following JDBC DatabaseMetaData constants: columnNoNulls (0) or columnNullable (1).
REMARKS String The comment or note associated with the object.
COLUMN_DEF String The default value for the column.
SQL_DATA_TYPE Integer Reserved by the specification.
SQL_DATETIME_SUB Integer Reserved by the specification.
CHAR_OCTET_LENGTH Integer The maximum length of binary and character-based columns.
ORDINAL_POSITION Integer The position of the column in the table, starting at 1.
IS_NULLABLE String Whether a null value is allowed: YES or NO.
IS_AUTOINCREMENT String Whether the column value is assigned by BambooHR in fixed increments.
IS_GENERATEDCOLUMN String Whether the column is generated: YES or NO.
DTS_TYPE String Object DTS attribute type.

Primary Keys

The getPrimaryKeys method in the DatabaseMetaData interface is used to retrieve metadata about primary keys for a given table in BambooHR.

try {
    Connection connection = buildRestConnectionFromDriverManager();
    ResultSet resultSet = connection.getMetaData().getPrimaryKeys(null, null, "employees");
    LOGGER.info("\r\n" + resultSet.toString());
} catch (SQLException e) {
    LOGGER.severe(e.getMessage());
}

TABLE_NAME,PRIMARY_COLUMN_NAME
employees,id

The getPrimaryKeys method returns the following columns:

Column Name Data Type Description
TABLE_NAME String The name of the table that contains the primary key.
PRIMARY_COLUMN_NAME String The name of the column that serves as the primary key for the table.

Connection Settings

Connection Setting Type Default Value Description
ApiKey String "" An BambooHR authentication token used to call the REST API
ApiThrottleRate Integer 0 The maximum number of API requests a client can make to the server within a specified time period, as set by ThrottleRateUnit.
CacheExpirationTime Integer 30 Defines the expiration time for cache. A value of 0 disables caching.
ConcurrentWritingThreads Integer 1 The number of threads for executing operations in parallel. A value of 0 will disable multi threading.
ConnectionTimeout Integer 30 ConnectionTimeout is the maximum amount of time the program will wait to set up a connection to the BambooHR API.
IgnoreCertificateErrors Boolean false Specifies whether to verify the certificate when connecting to BambooHR. If no certificate verification is required, you can set this value to 'true'.
ContinueOnErrors Boolean false Determines if the program continues executing SQL statements after encountering an error.
LogFileSize String "10485760" A string specifying the maximum size in bytes for a log file.
LogLevel String "INFO" The logging level for the JDBC driver.
LogPath String "./jdbcLogs" The directory where log files are stored.
OemKey String "" The OEM license key.
PathToTokenFile String "" The TokenPath specifies the file path where the token for connecting to BambooHR is located.
ProxyMode String "NoProxy" This setting configures the proxy. Allowed values are "NoProxy", "AutoDetect" and "Manual".
ProxyPassword String "" The password to be used to authenticate to the proxy.
ProxyServer String "" The host of the proxy server.
ProxyServerPort Integer 0 The port of the proxy server.
ProxyUsername String "" The username to be used to authenticate to the proxy.
ReadBatchSize Integer 100 ReadBatchSize is used to set how many records can be read from BambooHR in a single call. BambooHR has a maximum ReadBatchSize of 100.
ResultPath String "" The path where the execution result files are saved.
RetryOnIntermittentErrors Boolean true The RetryOnIntermittentErrors parameter indicates whether to retry the connection when it might occasionally fail due to temporary issues.
SaveResult Boolean false The SaveResult parameter indicates whether to save the execution results to a file.
Subdomain String "" The Subdomain is used to indicate your specific BambooHR account's domain.
ServiceName String "" The ServiceName refers to the name of the service API selected by the user.
ServiceTimeout Integer 120 The ServiceTimeout is the timeout to receive the full response from BambooHR API.
Suppress404NotFoundError Boolean true When set to true, if a query results in an HTTP 404 error, a result set will still be created. When set to false, an error is logged instead and no result set is created.
ThrottleRateUnit String "PerMinute" The unit of time for limiting API requests to avoid being throttled. Valid values include, "PerSecond", "PerMinute" and "PerHour".
TokenPassword String "" The password used to read the token file.
WriteBatchSize Integer 1 WriteBatchSize is used to set how many records can be written to BambooHR in a single call.