Connect to Microsoft Planner Data in Ruby

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

Create an ODBC Connection to Microsoft Planner 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 connect without setting any connection properties for your user credentials. Below are the minimum connection properties required to connect.

• InitiateOAuth: Set this to GETANDREFRESH. You can use InitiateOAuth to avoid repeating the OAuth exchange and manually setting the OAuthAccessToken.
• Tenant (optional): Set this if you wish to authenticate to a different tenant than your default. This is required to work with an organization not on your default Tenant.

When you connect the Driver opens the MS Planner OAuth endpoint in your default browser. Log in and grant permissions to the Driver. The Driver then completes the OAuth process.

1. Extracts the access token from the callback URL and authenticates requests.
2. Obtains a new access token when the old one expires.
3. Saves OAuth values in OAuthSettingsLocation to be persisted across connections.

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 Microsoft Planner Data

Create a new Ruby file (for example: MicrosoftPlannerSelect.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 MicrosoftPlanner Source','','')

#execute a SELECT query and store the result set
resultSet = cnxn.execute("SELECT TaskId, startDateTime FROM Tasks WHERE TaskId = 'BCrvyMoiLEafem-3RxIESmUAHbLK'")

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

ruby MicrosoftPlannerSelect.rb

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