Connect to Perplexity Data in JRuby

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

Configure a JDBC Connection to Perplexity 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 Perplexity\lib).

JRuby natively supports JDBC, so you can easily connect to Perplexity 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 Perplexity Profile on disk (e.g. C:\profiles\Perplexity.apip). Next, set the ProfileSettings connection property to the connection string for Perplexity (see below).

Perplexity API Profile Settings

Visit the Perplexity API dashboard at https://www.perplexity.ai/settings/api to generate an API key.

Built-in Connection String Designer

For assistance in constructing the JDBC URL, use the connection string designer built into the Perplexity 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 Perplexity:

jdbc:api:Profile=C:\profiles\Perplexity.apip;ProfileSettings='APIKey=your_api_key';

Create a JRuby App with Connectivity to Perplexity 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 Perplexity 2018/lib/cdata.jdbc.api.jar'

url = "jdbc:api:Profile=C:\profiles\Perplexity.apip;ProfileSettings='APIKey=your_api_key';"
conn = java.sql.DriverManager.getConnection(url)
stmt = conn.createStatement
rs = stmt.executeQuery("SELECT RequestId, Model FROM AsyncJobResults")
while (rs.next) do
  puts rs.getString(1) + ' ' + rs.getString(2)
end

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

jruby -S APISelect.rb

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