Connect to LinkedIn Data in Ruby

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

Create an ODBC Connection to LinkedIn 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.

LinkedIn uses the OAuth 2 authentication standard. You will need to obtain the OAuthClientId and OAuthClientSecret by registering an app with LinkedIn. For more information refer to our authentication guide.

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 LinkedIn Data

Create a new Ruby file (for example: LinkedInSelect.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 LinkedIn Source','','') #execute a SELECT query and store the result set resultSet = cnxn.execute("SELECT VisibilityCode, Comment FROM CompanyStatusUpdates") #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 LinkedIn data with Ruby. To do so, simply run your file from the command line:

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