Connect to MarkLogic Data in Ruby

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

Create an ODBC Connection to MarkLogic 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.

Set User, Password, and Server to the credentials for the MarkLogic account and the address of the server you want to connect to. You should also specify the REST API Port if you want to use a specific instance of a REST Server.

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 MarkLogic Data

Create a new Ruby file (for example: MarkLogicSelect.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 MarkLogic Source','','')

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

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

ruby MarkLogicSelect.rb

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