RMySQL not working with a cnf file - connection

Question

I am trying to connect to a MySQL server through R and it works perfect with the follwoing line:
con <- dbConnect(MySQL(), user="user", password="password",dbname="dbname", host="localhost", port=3306)
But, I would like to use a cnf file so that my user/apssword credentials donot appear in my code and tried the following:
rmysql.settingsfile<-"mydefault.cnf"
rmysql.db<-"test_db"
drv<-dbDriver("MySQL")
con<-dbConnect(drv,default.file=rmysql.settingsfile,group=rmysql.db)
And this is how my cnf file looks:
[test_db]
user=user
password=password
database=dbname
host=localhost
port=3306
It is in the same folder as in my R script which is my current working directory. But, I run into the following error:
Error in mysqlNewConnection(drv, ...) :
RS-DBI driver: (Failed to connect to database: Error: Access denied for user 'ODBC'#'localhost' (using password: NO)
)
Any suggestions, please?
Thanks so much

Answer 1

I had this problem very recently. RMySQL looks in the root directory for these files so you need to fully qualify the location of the file. i.e.:
rmysql.settingsfile<-"/home/MD-Tech/mydefault.cnf"
or
rmysql.settingsfile<-"c:\Users\MD-Tech\rfiles\mydefault.cnf"

Answer 2

Two things could be going on.
The CNF file should be encrypted, password should say password = ****. The MySQL documentation shows how to create a CNF file. Below would work for your code to create the CNF
shell> mysql_config_editor set --login-path=test_db --host=localhost --user=user --password
press enter without typing password, you will be prompted to enter it
The second thing is that user = NULL and password = NULL are missing as referenced in the src_mysql documentation
rmysql.settingsfile <- "~/.mylogin.cnf"
rmysql.db <- "test_db"
drv <- dbDriver("MySQL")
con <- dbConnect(drv, default.file = rmysql.settingsfile, group = rmysql.db, user = NULL, password = NULL)
When you add these and run the code, you should be set.

Answer 3

Fing something working at: https://www.r-bloggers.com/mysql-and-r/
Not in configuration file... but work.
con <- dbConnect(MySQL(),
user="me", password="nuts2u",
dbname="my_db", host="localhost")

Answer 4

Ya, getting this setup for the first time can be like pulling cats' teeth! Here is what I did while running R on a Droplet (Ubuntu 16.04, MySQL 5.7.16).
First, make sure you can at least login successfully to MySQL through the terminal
mysql -u kevin -p
Next, run R and verify that you can login in directly with dbConnect() using a user name and password
mydb = dbConnect(drv, user='kevin', password='ilovecats', dbname='catnapdb', host='127.0.0.1', port=3306)
Edit your mysql.cnf text file and at the bottom add a new group (exact name of this file and its location will depend on operating system and versions).
[whiskerpatrol]
user = kevin
password = ilovecats
host = 127.0.0.1
port = 3306
database = catnapdb