Connect to Azure Data Catalog Data in Ruby

The CData ODBC Driver for Azure Data Catalog makes it easy to integrate connectivity to live Azure Data Catalog data in Ruby. This article shows how to create a simple Ruby app that connects to Azure Data Catalog data, executes a query, and displays the results.

Create an ODBC Connection to Azure Data Catalog Data

If you have not already, first specify connection properties in an ODBC DSN (data source name). This is the last step of the driver installation. You can use the Microsoft ODBC Data Source Administrator to create and configure ODBC DSNs.

You can optionally set the following to read the different catalog data returned from Azure Data Catalog.

<>CatalogName: Set this to the CatalogName associated with your Azure Data Catalog. To get your Catalog name, navigate to your Azure Portal home page > Data Catalog > Catalog Name

Connect Using OAuth Authentication

You must use OAuth to authenticate with Azure Data Catalog. OAuth requires the authenticating user to interact with Azure Data Catalog using the browser. For more information, refer to the OAuth section in the help documentation.

Installing Ruby and Necessary Gems

If you do not have Ruby installed, refer to the Ruby installation page. With Ruby installed, you will need to install the ruby-dbi, dbd-odbc, and ruby-odbc gems:

gem install dbi
gem install dbd-odbc
gem install ruby-odbc

Create a Ruby App with Connectivity to Azure Data Catalog Data

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

#connect to the DSN
require 'dbi'
cnxn = DBI.connect('DBI:ODBC:CData AzureDataCatalog Source','','')

#execute a SELECT query and store the result set
resultSet = cnxn.execute("SELECT DslAddressDatabase, Type FROM Tables WHERE Name = 'FactProductInventory'")

#display the names of the columns
resultSet.column_names.each do |name|
 print name, "\t"
end
puts

#display the results
while row = resultSet.fetch do
 (0..resultSet.column_names.size - 1).each do |n|
 print row[n], "\t"
 end
 puts
end
resultSet.finish

#close the connection
cnxn.disconnect if cnxn

With the file completed, you are ready to display your Azure Data Catalog data with Ruby. To do so, simply run your file from the command line:

ruby AzureDataCatalogSelect.rb

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