Connect to SAP ByDesign Data in Ruby

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

Create an ODBC Connection to SAP ByDesign 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 the following connection properties to connect to SAP ByDesign.

• Url: Set this to the Url of your SAP ByDesign site. For example, https://test.sapbydesign.com
• User: Set this to the username of your account.
• Password: Set this to the password of your account.
• CustomService or AnalyticsService: Only one of these must be specified. If you have a custom service you want to retrieve data from, specify CustomService. If you want to retrieve the reports of a analytical service, specify AnalyticsService.
  If neither is specified, 'cc_home_analytics.svc' will used as a default for the AnalyticsService property. If you are not sure what service to specify, you can always query the Services view to list available services.

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 SAP ByDesign Data

Create a new Ruby file (for example: SAPByDesignSelect.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 SAPByDesign Source','','')

#execute a SELECT query and store the result set
resultSet = cnxn.execute("SELECT ID, ProductCategoryID FROM [Inventory Balance] WHERE ProductCategoryID = '1234567'")

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

ruby SAPByDesignSelect.rb

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