Slack

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 allows you to specify connection properties and login credentials for the Slack REST service:

connectionmanage

General Settings

API Throttling Rate: The API Throttling Rate option will limit the number of requests that can be sent per second. Set this value to 0 to disable API throttling.

Authentication

Authentication Mode

The Authentication Mode option allows you to choose the method used to authenticate with the API. Available options are:

Long-lived Access Token
OAuth

Authentication Methods for Slack

Long-lived Access Token

A pre-existing token can be used to establish a connection. If you wish to generate a new API token, click Generate Token to go through the token generation process. You can use the generated access token to connect.

You can specify up to 2 tokens. In the case that you will be executing requests as both a bot and also as a user, you can specify the bot token in the API Token field and the user token in the User API Token field.

Authentication

API Token

Enter an existing token for use in requests to the Slack API. Any valid token can be specified, but it is recommended to use a bot token.

User API Token

Enter an existing user token for use in requests to the Slack API.

Generate API Token

Click Generate API Token to open the Generate API Token dialog. Once the token is generated, it is automatically populated in the API Token field, as well as the User API Token field if user scopes were specified. The credentials entered in this dialog are used only for token generation and are not saved.

When generating a token, you can specify both bot (Scopes) and user level scopes. Ensure that specified scopes are valid for the respective scope type, otherwise you will not be able to authenticate with Slack.

When both bot and user level scopes are specified, the generated connection string will contain both the bot token and the user token. If only bot scopes are specified, the connection string will only contain a bot token.

For more information on how to use a bot or user token in your query, please refer to the Using a Bot or User Token section.

OAuth

Use a saved token file and its associated password to establish a connection. To create a new token file, click Generate Token File and follow the on-screen instructions. After saving the file locally, enter the token password to connect.

Authentication

Generate Token File

Click Generate Token File to open the Generate Token File dialog. Once the token is generated and saved, it is automatically populated in the Path To Token File field. The credentials entered in this dialog are used only for token generation and are not saved.

When both bot and user level scopes are specified, the generated token file will contain both the bot token and the user token. If only bot scopes are specified, the token file will only contain a bot token.

For more information on how to use a bot or user token in your query, please refer to the Using a Bot or User Token section.

NOTE: When generating a token with PKCE enabled, providing the client secret is optional. If your Slack app has both PKCE and token rotation enabled, you must also provide the client secret during token file generation if you wish for the token to be refreshed once it expires. If your Slack app has PKCE enabled but not token rotation, you can omit providing the client secret.

Path to Token File

The path to the token file on the file system.

Token File Password

The Password for the token file.

Test Connection

After completing the configuration for all required connection and authentication settings in the JDBC Connection Manager, you can use the Test Connection button to validate your configuration and verify API requests will authenticate successfully.

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 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 Slack 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 conversations_history WHERE channel = 'CBWHJRGUB'";
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 chat_postMessage (channel, text) VALUES ('CBWHJRGUB', 'SampleText')";
try {
    statement.executeUpdate(sql);
    LOGGER.info(statement.getResultSet().toString());
} catch (SQLException e) {
    LOGGER.severe(e.toString());
}

ts,errorcode,errormessage,processdata,haserrors
1779895328.654829,null,null,{"channel":"CBWHJRGUB","text":"SampleText"},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 chat SET text = 'UpdatedSampleText' WHERE channel = 'CBWHJRGUB' AND ts = '1779895328.654829'";
try {
    statement.executeUpdate(sql);
    LOGGER.info(statement.getResultSet().toString());
} catch (SQLException e) {
    LOGGER.severe(e.toString());
}

ts,errorcode,errormessage,processdata,haserrors
1779895328.654829,null,null,{"text":"UpdatedSampleText","channel":"CBWHJRGUB","ts":"1779895328.654829"},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 chat WHERE channel = 'CBWHJRGUB' AND ts = '1779895328.654829'";
try {
    statement.executeUpdate(sql);
    LOGGER.info(statement.getResultSet().toString());
} catch (SQLException e) {
    LOGGER.severe(e.toString());
}

ts,errorcode,errormessage,processdata,haserrors
1779895328.654829,null,null,{"channel":"CBWHJRGUB","ts":"1779895328.654829"},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

Create a PreparedStatement

Use the prepareStatement method of the Connection class to instantiate a PreparedStatement.

For connection details, see Connecting with DriverManager or Connecting with DataSource.

Set Parameters

Declare parameters by calling the corresponding setter method of the PreparedStatement.
NOTE: The parameter indices start at 1.

Execute the PreparedStatement

Use the generic execute or executeUpdate method of the PreparedStatement.

Retrieve Results

Call the getResultSet method of the PreparedStatement to obtain the query results, which are returned as a ResultSet.

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 conversations_history WHERE channel = ?";
try {
    PreparedStatement ps = connection.prepareStatement(sql);
    ps.setString(1, "CBWHJRGUB");
    ps.execute(sql);
    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 chat_postMessage (channel, text) VALUES (?, ?)";
try {
    PreparedStatement ps = connection.prepareStatement(sql);
    ps.setString(1, "CBWHJRGUB");
    ps.setString(2, "SampleText");
    ps.executeUpdate();
    LOGGER.info(ps.getResultSet().toString());
} catch (SQLException e) {
    LOGGER.error(e);
}

ts,errorcode,errormessage,processdata,haserrors
1779895328.654829,null,null,{"channel":"CBWHJRGUB","text":"SampleText"},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 chat SET text = ? WHERE channel = ? AND ts = ?";
try {
    PreparedStatement ps = connection.prepareStatement(sql);
    ps.setString(1, "UpdatedSampleText");
    ps.setString(2, "CBWHJRGUB");
    ps.setString(3, "1779895328.654829");
    ps.executeUpdate();
    LOGGER.info(ps.getResultSet().toString());
} catch (SQLException e) {
    LOGGER.error(e);
}

ts,errorcode,errormessage,processdata,haserrors
1779895328.654829,null,null,{"text":"UpdatedSampleText","channel":"CBWHJRGUB","ts":"1779895328.654829"},false

DELETE

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

String sql = "DELETE FROM chat WHERE channel = ? AND ts = ?";
try {
    PreparedStatement ps = connection.prepareStatement(sql);
    ps.setString(1, "CBWHJRGUB");
    ps.setString(2, "1779895328.654829");
    ps.executeUpdate();
    LOGGER.info(ps.getResultSet().toString());
} catch (SQLException e) {
    LOGGER.error(e);
}

ts,errorcode,errormessage,processdata,haserrors
1779895328.654829,null,null,{"channel":"CBWHJRGUB","ts":"1779895328.654829"},false

Using a Bot or User Token

Some Slack API endpoints support both bot and user tokens, while others only support one token type. If a requested endpoint does not support the selected token type, the request may fail, typically with the error response not_allowed_token_type. This error indicates that the token used is not suitable for the endpoint the request is being sent to.

When this response is encountered, and if a user token is available for use, the request will automatically be retried using the user token.

By default, requests will use the bot token. To instead use the user token (without first trying the bot token and falling back to user token), you can use the query-level UseUserToken option by adding USING OPTIONS (UseUserToken=true) to the end of your query string.

This query level option is supported in SELECT, INSERT, UPDATE, and DELETE statements.

It is important to note that the above is only relevant when both bot and user scopes were specified during either long-lived access token or token file generation. If no user scope was specified during generation a user token will not be available for use.

String sql = "SELECT * FROM search_messages "
           + "WHERE query = 'test22' "
           + "USING OPTIONS (UseUserToken=true)";
try {
    ResultSet resultSet = statement.executeQuery(sql);
    LOGGER.info(resultSet.toString());
} catch (SQLException e) {
    LOGGER.severe(e.toString());
}

Using a Configuration Token

In addition to bot and user tokens, Slack also supports configuration tokens. These tokens are used when dealing with the endpoints found in the Slack App Manifest API.

To use an configuration tokens, specify the token manually in the API Token field while using the Long-lived access token authorization mode.

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,admin_apps_approve,Table,null
null,null,admin_apps_approved_list,Table,null
null,null,admin_apps_requests_list,Table,null
null,null,admin_apps_restrict,Table,null
null,null,admin_apps_restricted_list,Table,null
null,null,admin_conversations,Table,null
null,null,admin_conversations_conversationPrefs,Table,null
null,null,admin_conversations_convertToPrivate,Table,null
null,null,admin_conversations_disconnectShared,Table,null
null,null,admin_conversations_ekm_listOriginalConnectedChannelInfo,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.

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, "conversations_history", 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,conversations_history,attachments,12,VARCHAR,null,null,0,0,null,null,null,12,null,null,null,null,null,null,DT_WSTR
null,null,conversations_history,blocks,12,VARCHAR,null,null,0,0,null,null,null,12,null,null,null,null,null,null,DT_WSTR
null,null,conversations_history,bot_id,12,VARCHAR,null,null,0,0,null,null,null,12,null,null,null,null,null,null,DT_WSTR
null,null,conversations_history,bot_profile.app_id,12,VARCHAR,null,null,0,0,null,null,null,12,null,null,null,null,null,null,DT_WSTR
null,null,conversations_history,bot_profile.deleted,16,BOOLEAN,null,null,0,0,null,null,null,16,null,null,null,null,null,null,DT_BOOL
null,null,conversations_history,bot_profile.icons.image_36,12,VARCHAR,null,null,0,0,null,null,null,12,null,null,null,null,null,null,DT_WSTR
null,null,conversations_history,bot_profile.icons.image_48,12,VARCHAR,null,null,0,0,null,null,null,12,null,null,null,null,null,null,DT_WSTR
null,null,conversations_history,bot_profile.icons.image_72,12,VARCHAR,null,null,0,0,null,null,null,12,null,null,null,null,null,null,DT_WSTR
null,null,conversations_history,bot_profile.id,12,VARCHAR,null,null,0,0,null,null,null,12,null,null,null,null,null,null,DT_WSTR
null,null,conversations_history,bot_profile.name,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.
SCOPE_CATALOG	String	The catalog of the table referenced by a reference attribute (null if `DATA_TYPE` is not `REF`).
SCOPE_SCHEMA	String	The schema of the table referenced by a reference attribute (null if `DATA_TYPE` is not `REF`).
SCOPE_TABLE	String	The name of the table referenced by a reference attribute (null if `DATA_TYPE` is not `REF`).
SOURCE_DATA_TYPE	Short	The source type of a distinct type or user-defined `REF` type (null if `DATA_TYPE` is neither `DISTINCT` nor a user-defined `REF`).
IS_AUTOINCREMENT	String	Whether the column value is assigned by Slack 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 Slack.

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

TABLE_NAME,PRIMARY_COLUMN_NAME
chat,channel

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
ApiThrottleRate	Integer	10	The maximum number of API requests a client can make to the server within a specific time period, defined in the ThrottleRateUnit setting.
ApiToken	String	""	A Slack bot or configuration token used to call the Slack API.
AuthenticationMode	String	"ApiToken"	AuthenticationMode specifies the method used to authenticate when connecting to Slack API.
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 Slack API.
IgnoreCertificateErrors	Boolean	false	Specifies whether to verify the certificate when connecting to Slack. If certificate verification is not required, you can set this value to 'true'.
ContinueOnErrors	Boolean	false	Determines if the program continues executing SQL statements after encountering an error.
InstanceType	String	"Default"	Specifies which Slack instance type should be used. Currently supports the values `Default` and `GovSlack`.
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 file path where a token is stored.
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	1000	ReadBatchSize is used to set how many records can be read from Slack in a single call.
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.
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 Slack 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	"PerSecond"	The unit of time for limiting API requests to avoid being throttled. Valid values include, "PerSecond", "PerMinute" and "PerHour".
TokenPassword	String	""	A password associated with the token used for encryption and decryption.
UserApiToken	String	""	A Slack user token used to call the Slack API.
WriteBatchSize	Integer	1	WriteBatchSize is used to set how many records can be written to Slack in a single call.

Slack JDBC Driver

Documentation for Slack drivers found within JDBC Driver Pack

Slack

Building the JDBC URL

General Page

Authentication Methods for Slack

Advanced Settings Page

Using the JDBC Driver

Executing Statements

SELECT

INSERT

UPDATE

DELETE

Executing Prepared Statements

SELECT

INSERT

UPDATE

DELETE

Using a Bot or User Token

Using a Configuration Token

Metadata Discovery

Tables

Columns

Primary Keys

Connection Settings