Connect to Dynamics 365 Data in Ruby

The CData ODBC Driver for Dynamics 365 makes it easy to integrate connectivity to live Dynamics 365 data in Ruby. This article shows how to create a simple Ruby app that connects to Dynamics 365 data, executes a query, and displays the results.

Getting Started

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Create an ODBC Connection to Dynamics 365 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.

Edition and OrganizationUrl are required connection properties. The Dynamics 365 connector supports connecting to the following editions: CustomerService, FieldService, FinOpsOnline, FinOpsOnPremise, HumanResources, Marketing, ProjectOperations and Sales.

For Dynamics 365 Business Central, use the separate Dynamics 365 Business Central driver.

OrganizationUrl is the URL to your Dynamics 365 organization. For instance, https://orgcb42e1d0.crm.dynamics.com

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 Dynamics 365 Data

Create a new Ruby file (for example: Dynamics365Select.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 Dynamics365 Source','','')

#execute a SELECT query and store the result set
resultSet = cnxn.execute("SELECT GoalHeadingId, Name FROM GoalHeadings 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 Dynamics 365 data with Ruby. To do so, simply run your file from the command line:

ruby Dynamics365Select.rb

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