Connect to Grafana Data in JRuby

JRuby is a high-performance, stable, fully threaded Java implementation of the Ruby programming language. The CData JDBC Driver for Grafana makes it easy to integrate connectivity to live Grafana data in JRuby. This article shows how to create a simple JRuby app that connects to Grafana data, executes a query, and displays the results.

Configure a JDBC Connection to Grafana Data

Before creating the app, note the installation location for the JAR file for the JDBC Driver (typically C:\Program Files\CData\CData JDBC Driver for Grafana\lib).

JRuby natively supports JDBC, so you can easily connect to Grafana and execute SQL queries. Initialize the JDBC connection with the getConnection function of the java.sql.DriverManager class.

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

Grafana API Profile Settings

In Grafana, navigate to Administration > Users and Access > Service accounts, create a service account, then click Add service account token to generate a token.

Built-in Connection String Designer

For assistance in constructing the JDBC URL, use the connection string designer built into the Grafana JDBC Driver. Either double-click the JAR file or execute the jar file from the command-line.

java -jar cdata.jdbc.api.jar

Fill in the connection properties and copy the connection string to the clipboard.

Below is a typical JDBC connection string for Grafana:

jdbc:api:Profile=C:\profiles\Grafana.apip;ProfileSettings='Token=your_service_account_token;Domain=your_grafana_domain';

Create a JRuby App with Connectivity to Grafana Data

Create a new Ruby file (for example: APISelect.rb) and open it in a text editor. Copy the following code into your file:

require 'java'
require 'rubygems'
require 'C:/Program Files/CData/CData JDBC Driver for Grafana 2018/lib/cdata.jdbc.api.jar'

url = "jdbc:api:Profile=C:\profiles\Grafana.apip;ProfileSettings='Token=your_service_account_token;Domain=your_grafana_domain';"
conn = java.sql.DriverManager.getConnection(url)
stmt = conn.createStatement
rs = stmt.executeQuery("SELECT Id, Name FROM Alert")
while (rs.next) do
  puts rs.getString(1) + ' ' + rs.getString(2)
end

With the file completed, you are ready to display your Grafana data with JRuby. To do so, simply run your file from the command line:

jruby -S APISelect.rb

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