Connect to eBay Data in Ruby

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

Create an ODBC Connection to eBay 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.

If you will be accessing your own account, you can generate an OAuthAccessToken from your developer account dashboard. You can also allow other users to securely access their own accounts.

Both of these methods require you to create an application key set to obtain values for the following connection properties: AppId, CertId, DevId, and SiteId.

The user consent flow additionally requires the RuName and CallbackURL.

See the "Getting Started" chapter in the help documentation for a guide to using OAuth.

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 eBay Data

Create a new Ruby file (for example: EbaySelect.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 Ebay Source','','')

#execute a SELECT query and store the result set
resultSet = cnxn.execute("SELECT Title, HitCount FROM ItemListing")

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

ruby EbaySelect.rb

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