Create Confluence page

In this step, you will create a Confluence page that will eventually contain the macros needed to produce the table.

1. Create a page named Products in a space accessible to the desired audience.
2. Click the Unrestricted button to open the Page Restrictions screen.
3. Click the Restrict editing radio button.

4. Start typing confluence-administrators in the text box and select that group name from the list of suggestions to apply an edit restriction to that group.

   Info
   This restriction is being added so that Macro Security managed macros can be used. You will be configuring Macro Security in a later step.

5. Click Save to close the Page Restrictions screen.
6. Click Save to save the new page.

Configure the SQL Query macro

In this step, you will insert and configure the SQL Query macro, which is part of the SQL for Confluence (Pro Edition) add-on, to retrieve and format your data.

Edit the Products page and do the following:

1. Insert the SQL Query macro.
2. Adjust its parameters as shown on the right.
   • The Data source name parameter indicates to use the examplegeardb data source profile that you set up when installing the Examplegear database.
   • The Use database column labels parameter indicates to use the column names defined within the SELECT statement (e.g., Product, Sell Start Date, Status) rather than the columns names defined within the database table(s) themselves.
   • The Show error if there are no rows parameter indicates to show an error if no rows are returned in the resultset of the SQL query.
   • The Text to display when there are no rows parameter indicates the text of the error message to be displayed when no rows are returned in the resultset of the SQL query.
   • The Row styles parameter provides the CSS to format the table rows. This parameter is a comma separated list of styles, each of which can contain one or more properties. The first (and only) style is colored in blue to the right. Since only one style has been specified, it will be applied to the heading row. It formats it with a gray shaded background and a thick border around it.
   • The Column styles parameter provides the CSS to format the table columns. This parameter is also a comma separated list of styles, each of which can contain one or more properties. The first style is colored in blue to the right, and it formats the first column with a yellow shaded background and a thick border. The second style is colored in green, and it formats the second column with a thick border but no shaded background. The third style is colored in red, and it indicates to apply the same style as was specified for the second column.
3. Click Save to save your changes to the SQL Query macro's parameters.

4. With the cursor positioned inside the SQL Query macro container, paste in the SQL statements.

   Code Block
   language sql theme DJango linenumbers true
   SELECT P.FullProductName AS Product, P.SellStartDate AS 'Sell Start Date', CASE WHEN P.DiscontinuedDate IS NULL THEN '{status:colour=GREEN|title=Active}' ELSE '{status:colour=RED|title=Discontinued}' END AS Status FROM Products P ORDER BY 1;

    

   1. All three columns in the resultset are specified with an alternate column name, e.g., Product, Sell Start Date and Status.
   2. The third column uses a CASE statement to turn the DiscontinuedDate into a Status macro indicating the product is active (if the DiscontinuedDate is null) or discontinued (if the DiscontinuedDate is not null). Note that the parameter names for this macro are case-sensitive.

Products page, in Edit mode:

Configure the Cache macro

This step uses the Cache macro, which is part of the Cache for Confluence add-on, to ensure the page will render as quickly as possible. Although there is a small amount of data being retrieved in this recipe, it is a best practice to use the Cache macro to guard against slow load times and provide a better user experience when users view this page.

To configure the Cache macro, do the following:

1. With the cursor positioned above the SQL Query macro, insert the Cache macro.
2. Click the Cache macro container and choose Edit to adjust its parameters as shown on the right.
   • The Cache refresh period parameter indicates that viewers will view a cached version of this page for 2 days. The first user viewing the page after that will trigger the refreshing of the cache.
   • The Check attachments parameter indicates says that there is no need to refresh the cache if any file attachments to the page are changed.
   • The Show refresh icon parameter indicates to show an icon that a user can click to force an immediate refresh of the cache, without waiting for its expiration and automatic refresh after 2 days.
   • The Show date parameter indicates to display the date the cache was last refresh.
   • The Date format parameter indicates the format in which to show the date the cache was last refreshed.
3. Click Save to save your changes to the Cache macro's parameters.
4. Next, click the SQL Query macro container and drag it into the Cache macro container.
5. Your Products page, in Edit mode, should now look like the screenshot shown to the right.

Products page, in Edit mode:

Configure Macro Security

Before you save the Products page after adding the SQL Query and Cache macros, you should install the Macro Security for Confluence add-on (if you haven't do so already) and configure it with a property file that identifies who can run each security-enabled macro. Each macro security enabled macro accepts specific parameters to controls its use. This safeguards your Confluence instance and data from misuse or performance issues caused by inexperienced users or inappropriate use.

Follow these steps to configure it:

1. Download the sample macro-security.properties file that is configured for moderate restrictions. This restricts most security-enabled macros so that only Administrators can execute them, but allows some others to be used by any user.

2. Review the file and ensure that most of the lines beginning with "sql" and "sql-query*" are restricted to the confluence-administrators group as shown in the example configuration file to the right.

3. Save the file.
4. In a new tab in your browser, create a Confluence page entitled Macro Security Configuration in a space accessible only to Administrators (or apply page-level restrictions so the page is accessible only to Administrators) and attach the file to it. Take note of the space key of the space. The space key appears in the URL of the page after you've saved, immediately after "display/". For instance, in the URL http://wiki.examplegear.com/display/admin/Macro Security Configuration, the space key is admin.
5. Go to Manage Add-ons administration screen, locate the Macro Security add-on and click its Configure button. This will take you to the Macro Security configuration screen.
6. In the Load Security Configuration section, supply the location of your macro-security.properties file, in the form of spacekey:pagetitle^filename such as admin:Macro Security Configuration^macro-security.properties and click Load.
7. Select the Enable button and click Save.

# See the documentation space - https://bobswift.atlassian.net/wiki/display/CMSP
# More specifically:
# - managed macros: https://bobswift.atlassian.net/wiki/display/CMSP/Macro+Security+Managed+Macros
#
# Macro security is enabled/disabled from the UPM configure link for Macro Security for Confluence
# Property setting are loaded from the same configuration screen.
#
# Property settings here can restrict use of some powerful macro capabilities to trusted users
#   while still allowing non-trusted users to view content created by using these macros
# - this is accomplished by requiring those pages using the restricted macros
#   are controlled by trusted users
#   - a page is controlled by having edit capabilities restricted to a group
#     that is identified as being trusted in the properties file
#   - a page is also considered to be controlled if it is in a permitted space
#
# Property file
# - The property file can be loaded from any file location on the Confluence server or from an attachment
#
# No specific configuration
# - Add-ons can implement their own rules if there is no specific configuration found
#   depending on what they are restricting
# - Standard/default is
#   - Configuration entry must be specified if the macro is restricted
#     - *ANY can be used to allow all use (run is an example where *ANY is a likely use)
#   - Some macros have additional, finer grained (parameter level) restrictions
#     - these MUST also have something specified, otherwise macro use is not authorized
#   - Some macros only restrict a specific parameter
#     - these generally do not have to be specifically configured for use
#
# Property keys and values are case sensitive
#
# Property values are a comma separated list of groups or space names
# - the page edit restriction must match one of the groups listed
# - no other users or groups can be permitted to edit the page
# - use *ANY to indicate no restriction
#

# SQL - https://bobswift.atlassian.net/wiki/display/SQL
sql = confluence-administrators
sql.datasource.* = confluence-administrators
sql.datasource.testDS = *ANY
sql.limit = confluence-administrators
sql.disableAntiXss = confluence-administrators
sql.querytimeout = confluence-administrators

sql-query = confluence-administrators
sql-query.datasource.* = confluence-administrators
sql-query.datasource.testDS = *ANY
sql-query.limit = confluence-administrators
sql-query.disableAntiXss = confluence-administrators
sql-query.querytimeout = confluence-administrators

# Live template support - https://bobswift.atlassian.net/wiki/display/CMSP/Live+Template+Support
sql-query&live-template.datasource.* = *global

# Script - https://bobswift.atlassian.net/wiki/display/SCRP
beanshell = confluence-administrators
groovy = confluence-administrators
gant = confluence-administrators
jython = confluence-administrators

# HTML - https://bobswift.atlassian.net/wiki/display/HTML
html = confluence-administrators
xslt = confluence-administrators

# Run CLI Actions - https://bobswift.atlassian.net/wiki/display/CCLI
cli = confluence-administrators
cli.profile.* = confluence-administrators
cli.product.* = confluence-administrators
cli.directory.* = confluence-administrators
cli.datasource.* = confluence-administrators

include-remote = confluence-administrators
include-remote.profile.* = confluence-administrators

# Cache - https://bobswift.atlassian.net/wiki/display/CACHE
cache = *ANY
future = *ANY
future.timtout = confluence-administrators

# Run - https://bobswift.atlassian.net/wiki/display/RUN
run = *ANY
run-now = *ANY
run.disableAntiXss = confluence-administrators

# Advanced Tables - https://bobswift.atlassian.net/wiki/display/TBL
csv.url.* = *ANY
csv.disableAntiXss = confluence-administrators
json-table.url.* = *ANY
json-table.disableAntiXss = confluence-administrators

# Excel - https://bobswift.atlassian.net/wiki/display/XL
excel.url.* = *ANY
excel.disableAntiXss = confluence-administrators

# Flash - https://bobswift.atlassian.net/wiki/display/FLASH
flash.url.* = confluence-administrators

# Markdown - https://bobswift.atlassian.net/wiki/display/MARKDOWN
markdown.allowHtml = confluence-administrators
markdown-attachment.allowHtml = confluence-administrators
markdown-url.allowHtml = confluence-administrators

# Code Pro - https://bobswift.atlassian.net/wiki/display/CODE
code-pro.url = *ANY
code-pro.profile.* = confluence-administrators

Macro Security Configuration page, after loading the macro-security.properties file:

Save and test the page

Now, go back to the Products page and click Save to save it. You should now see a page that appears as shown on the right. The Refresh icon and date are shown, with the table appearing below it.

If you see an error such as "Error rendering macro 'sql-query' : com.mysql.jdbc.exceptions.jdbc4.MySQLSyntaxErrorException", then check the syntax of the SELECT statement within the SQL Query macro container.

If you see an error such as "Error rendering macro 'sql-query' : Unable to connect to database", then verify that the SQL Query macro's Data source name parameter is set to the correct value and that the examplegeardb data source profile was set up per the installation instructions.