Connect to YouTube Analytics Data in Ruby

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

Create an ODBC Connection to YouTube Analytics 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.

YouTube Analytics uses the OAuth authentication standard. You can use the embedded CData OAuth credentials or you can register an application with Google to obtain your own.

In addition to the OAuth values, to access YouTube Analytics data set ChannelId to the Id of a YouTube channel. You can obtain the channel Id in the advanced account settings for your channel. If not specified, the channel of the currently authenticated user will be used.

If you want to generate content owner reports, specify the ContentOwnerId property. This is the Id of the copyright holder for content in YouTube's rights management system. The content owner is the person or organization that claims videos and sets their monetization policy.

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 YouTube Analytics Data

Create a new Ruby file (for example: YouTubeAnalyticsSelect.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 YouTubeAnalytics Source','','')

#execute a SELECT query and store the result set
resultSet = cnxn.execute("SELECT Snippet_Title, ContentDetails_ItemCount FROM Groups")

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

ruby YouTubeAnalyticsSelect.rb

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