Connect to Google Forms Data in Ruby

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

Create an ODBC Connection to Google Forms 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.

Start by setting the Profile connection property to the location of the Google Forms Profile on disk (e.g. C:\profiles\GoogleForms.apip). Next, set the ProfileSettings connection property to the connection string for Google Forms (see below).

Google Forms API Profile Settings

In the Google Cloud Console, create a project, enable the Google Forms API, and create OAuth 2.0 credentials to obtain your Client ID and Client Secret.

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 Google Forms Data

Create a new Ruby file (for example: APISelect.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 API Source','','')

#execute a SELECT query and store the result set
resultSet = cnxn.execute("SELECT FormId, Title FROM Forms WHERE CreationTime = '2026-01-15'")

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

ruby APISelect.rb

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