Connect to Insightly Data in JRuby

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

Configure a JDBC Connection to Insightly 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 Insightly\lib).

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

Start by setting the Profile connection property to the location of the Insightly Profile on disk (e.g. C:\profiles\Insightly.apip). Next, set the ProfileSettings connection property to the connection string for Insightly (see below).

Insightly API Profile Settings

Navigate to your Insightly profile and select User Settings > API to find your API key. The Pod value (e.g.,

na1

) is derived from the subdomain of your API URL.

Built-in Connection String Designer

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

java -jar cdata.jdbc.api.jar

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

👁 Using the built-in connection string designer to generate a JDBC URL (Salesforce is shown.)

Below is a typical JDBC connection string for Insightly:

jdbc:api:Profile=C:\profiles\Insightly.apip;ProfileSettings='APIKey=your_api_key;Pod=na1';

Create a JRuby App with Connectivity to Insightly Data

Create a new Ruby file (for example: APISelect.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 Insightly 2018/lib/cdata.jdbc.api.jar'

url = "jdbc:api:Profile=C:\profiles\Insightly.apip;ProfileSettings='APIKey=your_api_key;Pod=na1';"
conn = java.sql.DriverManager.getConnection(url)
stmt = conn.createStatement
rs = stmt.executeQuery("SELECT ActivitysetId, Name FROM ActivitySets")
while (rs.next) do
 puts rs.getString(1) + ' ' + rs.getString(2)
end

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

jruby -S APISelect.rb

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