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Connect to Facebook Data in Ruby
Connect to Facebook data in Ruby with ruby-dbi, dbd-odbc, and ruby-odbc.
The CData ODBC Driver for Facebook makes it easy to integrate connectivity to live Facebook data in Ruby. This article shows how to create a simple Ruby app that connects to Facebook data, executes a query, and displays the results.
Create an ODBC Connection to Facebook 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.
Most tables require user authentication as well as application authentication. Facebook uses the OAuth authentication standard. To authenticate to Facebook, you can use the embedded OAuthClientId, OAuthClientSecret, and CallbackURL or you can obtain your own by registering an app with Facebook.
See the Getting Started chapter of the help documentation for a guide to using OAuth.
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 Facebook Data
Create a new Ruby file (for example: FacebookSelect.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 Facebook Source','','')
#execute a SELECT query and store the result set
resultSet = cnxn.execute("SELECT FromName, LikesCount FROM Posts")
#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 Facebook data with Ruby. To do so, simply run your file from the command line:
ruby FacebookSelect.rb
Writing SQL-92 queries to Facebook allows you to quickly and easily incorporate Facebook data into your own Ruby applications. Download a free trial today!
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Facebook ODBC Driver
The Facebook ODBC Driver is a powerful tool that allows you to connect with live Facebook account data, directly from any applications that support ODBC connectivity.
Access Facebook data like you would a database - read, write, and update Facebook Posts, Groups, Events, Places, etc. through a standard ODBC Driver interface.
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