Connect to Asana Data in JRuby

JRuby is a high-performance, stable, fully threaded Java implementation of the Ruby programming language. The CData JDBC Driver for Asana makes it easy to integrate connectivity to live Asana data in JRuby. This article shows how to create a simple JRuby app that connects to Asana data, executes a query, and displays the results.

Configure a JDBC Connection to Asana Data

Before creating the app, note the installation location for the JAR file for the JDBC Driver (typically C:\Program Files\CData\CData JDBC Driver for Asana\lib).

JRuby natively supports JDBC, so you can easily connect to Asana and execute SQL queries. Initialize the JDBC connection with the getConnection function of the java.sql.DriverManager class.

You can optionally set the following to refine the data returned from Asana.

• WorkspaceId: Set this to the globally unique identifier (gid) associated with your Asana Workspace to only return projects from the specified workspace. To get your workspace id, navigate to https://app.asana.com/api/1.0/workspaces while logged into Asana. This displays a JSON object containing your workspace name and Id.
• ProjectId: Set this to the globally unique identifier (gid) associated with your Asana Project to only return data mapped under the specified project. Project IDs can be found in the URL of your project's Overview page. This will be the numbers directly after /0/.

Connect Using OAuth Authentication

You must use OAuth to authenticate with Asana. OAuth requires the authenticating user to interact with Asana using the browser. See the "Getting Started" chapter of the help documentation for a guide to using OAuth.

Built-in Connection String Designer

For assistance in constructing the JDBC URL, use the connection string designer built into the Asana JDBC Driver. Either double-click the JAR file or execute the jar file from the command-line.

java -jar cdata.jdbc.asana.jar

Fill in the connection properties and copy the connection string to the clipboard.

Below is a typical JDBC connection string for Asana:

jdbc:asana:OAuthClientId=YourClientId;OAuthClientSecret=YourClientSecret;CallbackURL='http://localhost:33333';InitiateOAuth=GETANDREFRESH;

Create a JRuby App with Connectivity to Asana Data

Create a new Ruby file (for example: AsanaSelect.rb) and open it in a text editor. Copy the following code into your file:

require 'java'
require 'rubygems'
require 'C:/Program Files/CData/CData JDBC Driver for Asana 2018/lib/cdata.jdbc.asana.jar'

url = "jdbc:asana:OAuthClientId=YourClientId;OAuthClientSecret=YourClientSecret;CallbackURL='http://localhost:33333';InitiateOAuth=GETANDREFRESH;"
conn = java.sql.DriverManager.getConnection(url)
stmt = conn.createStatement
rs = stmt.executeQuery("SELECT Id, WorkspaceId FROM projects")
while (rs.next) do
 puts rs.getString(1) + ' ' + rs.getString(2)
end

With the file completed, you are ready to display your Asana data with JRuby. To do so, simply run your file from the command line:

jruby -S AsanaSelect.rb

Writing SQL-92 queries to Asana allows you to quickly and easily incorporate Asana data into your own JRuby applications. Download a free trial today!