Connect to Microsoft Dataverse Data in Ruby

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

Getting Started

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Create an ODBC Connection to Microsoft Dataverse 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 connect without setting any connection properties for your user credentials. Below are the minimum connection properties required to connect.

• InitiateOAuth: Set this to GETANDREFRESH. You can use InitiateOAuth to avoid repeating the OAuth exchange and manually setting the OAuthAccessToken.
• OrganizationUrl: Set this to the organization URL you are connecting to, such as https://myorganization.crm.dynamics.com.
• Tenant (optional): Set this if you wish to authenticate to a different tenant than your default. This is required to work with an organization not on your default Tenant.

When you connect the Common Data Service OAuth endpoint opens in your default browser. Log in and grant permissions. The OAuth process completes automatically.

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 Microsoft Dataverse Data

Create a new Ruby file (for example: CDSSelect.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 CDS Source','','')

#execute a SELECT query and store the result set
resultSet = cnxn.execute("SELECT AccountId, Name FROM Accounts WHERE Name = 'MyAccount'")

#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 Microsoft Dataverse data with Ruby. To do so, simply run your file from the command line:

ruby CDSSelect.rb

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