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Connect to FHIR Data in Ruby
Connect to FHIR data in Ruby with ruby-dbi, dbd-odbc, and ruby-odbc.
The CData ODBC Driver for FHIR makes it easy to integrate connectivity to live FHIR data in Ruby. This article shows how to create a simple Ruby app that connects to FHIR data, executes a query, and displays the results.
Create an ODBC Connection to FHIR 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 URL to the Service Base URL of the FHIR server. This is the address where the resources are defined in the FHIR server you would like to connect to. Set ConnectionType to a supported connection type. Set ContentType to the format of your documents. Set AuthScheme based on the authentication requirements for your FHIR server.
Generic, Azure-based, AWS-based, and Google-based FHIR server implementations are supported.
Sample Service Base URLs
- Generic: http://my_fhir_server/r4b/
- Azure: https://MY_AZURE_FHIR.azurehealthcareapis.com/
- AWS: https://healthlake.REGION.amazonaws.com/datastore/DATASTORE_ID/r4/
- Google: https://healthcare.googleapis.com/v1/projects/PROJECT_ID/locations/LOCATION/datasets/DATASET_ID/fhirStores/FHIR_STORE_ID/fhir/
Generic FHIR Instances
The product supports connections to custom instances of FHIR. Authentication to custom FHIR servers is handled via OAuth (read more about OAuth in the Help documentation. Before you can connect to custom FHIR instances, you must set ConnectionType to Generic.
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 FHIR Data
Create a new Ruby file (for example: FHIRSelect.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 FHIR Source','','')
#execute a SELECT query and store the result set
resultSet = cnxn.execute("SELECT Id, [name-use] FROM Patient WHERE [address-city] = 'New York'")
#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 FHIR data with Ruby. To do so, simply run your file from the command line:
ruby FHIRSelect.rb
Writing SQL-92 queries to FHIR allows you to quickly and easily incorporate FHIR data into your own Ruby applications. Download a free trial today!
Ready to get started?
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FHIR ODBC Driver
The FHIR ODBC Driver is a powerful tool that allows you to connect with live data from FHIR, directly from any applications that support ODBC connectivity.
Access FHIR data like you would a database - read, write, and update FHIR 0, etc. through a standard ODBC Driver interface.
