Connect to MailChimp Data in Ruby

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

Create an ODBC Connection to MailChimp 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 set the APIKey to the key you generate in your account settings, or, instead of providing your APIKey, you can use the OAuth standard to authenticate the application. OAuth can be used to enable other users to access their own data. To authenticate using OAuth, obtain the OAuthClientId, OAuthClientSecret, and CallbackURL by registering an app with MailChimp.

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 MailChimp Data

Create a new Ruby file (for example: MailChimpSelect.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 MailChimp Source','','')

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

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

ruby MailChimpSelect.rb

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