Connect to Oracle Eloqua Data in Ruby

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

Create an ODBC Connection to Oracle Eloqua 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.

There are two authentication methods available for connecting to Oracle Eloqua: Login and OAuth. The Login method requires you to have the Company, User, and Password of the user.

If you do not have access to the username and password or do not wish to require them, you can use OAuth authentication. OAuth is better suited for allowing other users to access their own data. Using login credentials is better suited for accessing your own data.

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 Oracle Eloqua Data

Create a new Ruby file (for example: OracleEloquaSelect.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 OracleEloqua Source','','')

#execute a SELECT query and store the result set
resultSet = cnxn.execute("SELECT Name, ActualCost FROM Campaign")

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

ruby OracleEloquaSelect.rb

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