Connect to Salesforce CRM Analytics Data in Ruby

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

Create an ODBC Connection to Salesforce CRM 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.

Salesforce CRM Analytics uses the OAuth 2 authentication standard. Obtain the OAuthClientId and OAuthClientSecret by registering an app with Salesforce CRM Analytics.

See the Getting Started section of the Help documentation for an authentication guide.

Multi-Factor Authentication (MFA)

If the connected Salesforce org has MFA enforcement enabled, set MFACode to the time-based one-time passcode (TOTP) generated by your authenticator app (such as Salesforce Authenticator or Google Authenticator). MFACode applies alongside the standard OAuth flow.

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 Salesforce CRM Analytics Data

Create a new Ruby file (for example: SalesforceCRMAnalyticsSelect.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 SalesforceCRMAnalytics Source','','')

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

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

ruby SalesforceCRMAnalyticsSelect.rb

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