Connect to Dynamics 365 Business Central Data in JRuby

JRuby is a high-performance, stable, fully threaded Java implementation of the Ruby programming language. The CData JDBC Driver for Dynamics 365 Business Central makes it easy to integrate connectivity to live Dynamics 365 Business Central data in JRuby. This article shows how to create a simple JRuby app that connects to Dynamics 365 Business Central data, executes a query, and displays the results.

Configure a JDBC Connection to Dynamics 365 Business Central 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 Dynamics 365 Business Central\lib).

JRuby natively supports JDBC, so you can easily connect to Dynamics 365 Business Central and execute SQL queries. Initialize the JDBC connection with the getConnection function of the java.sql.DriverManager class.

To authenticate to Dynamics 365 Business Central, you must select an AuthScheme and provide the required properties (OAuth by default).

All Methods

Specify the . If you have multiple companies in your organization, you must also specify the to indicate which company you would like to connect to. does not need to be specified if you have only one company.

Access Key

To authenticate with an Access Key, set AuthScheme to "AccessKey" and provide the and properties.

To obtain the and values, navigate to the Users page in Dynamics 365 Business Central and then click on Edit. The User Name and Web Service Access Key values are what you will enter as the and connection string properties. Note that the User Name is not your email address. It is a shortened user name.

If you wish to authenticate through other methods, refer to the Help documentation.

Built-in Connection String Designer

For assistance in constructing the JDBC URL, use the connection string designer built into the Dynamics 365 Business Central JDBC Driver. Either double-click the JAR file or execute the jar file from the command-line.

java -jar cdata.jdbc.d365businesscentral.jar

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

Below is a typical JDBC connection string for Dynamics 365 Business Central:

jdbc:d365businesscentral:OrganizationUrl=https://myaccount.financials.dynamics.com/;InitiateOAuth=GETANDREFRESH;

Create a JRuby App with Connectivity to Dynamics 365 Business Central Data

Create a new Ruby file (for example: D365BusinessCentralSelect.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 Dynamics 365 Business Central 2018/lib/cdata.jdbc.d365businesscentral.jar'

url = "jdbc:d365businesscentral:OrganizationUrl=https://myaccount.financials.dynamics.com/;InitiateOAuth=GETANDREFRESH;"
conn = java.sql.DriverManager.getConnection(url)
stmt = conn.createStatement
rs = stmt.executeQuery("SELECT accountid, Name FROM Accounts")
while (rs.next) do
 puts rs.getString(1) + ' ' + rs.getString(2)
end

With the file completed, you are ready to display your Dynamics 365 Business Central data with JRuby. To do so, simply run your file from the command line:

jruby -S D365BusinessCentralSelect.rb

Writing SQL-92 queries to Dynamics 365 Business Central allows you to quickly and easily incorporate Dynamics 365 Business Central data into your own JRuby applications. Download a free trial today!