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Connect to SAP SuccessFactors Data in Ruby


Connect to SAP SuccessFactors data in Ruby with ruby-dbi, dbd-odbc, and ruby-odbc.

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

Create an ODBC Connection to SAP SuccessFactors 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.

You can authenticate to SAP Success Factors using Basic authentication or OAuth with SAML assertion.

Basic Authentication

You must provide values for the following properties to successfully authenticate to SAP Success Factors. Note that the provider will reuse the session opened by SAP Success Factors using cookies. Which means that your credentials will be used only on the first request to open the session. After that, cookies returned from SAP Success Factors will be used for authentication.

  • Url: set this to the URL of the server hosting Success Factors. Some of the servers are listed in the SAP support documentation (external link).
  • User: set this to the username of your account.
  • Password: set this to the password of your account.
  • CompanyId: set this to the unique identifier of your company.

OAuth Authentication

You must provide values for the following properties, which will be used to get the access token.

  • Url: set this to the URL of the server hosting Success Factors. Some of the servers are listed in the SAP support documentation (external link).
  • User: set this to the username of your account.
  • CompanyId: set this to the unique identifier of your company.
  • OAuthClientId: set this to the API Key that was generated in API Center.
  • OAuthClientSecret: the X.509 private key used to sign SAML assertion. The private key can be found in the certificate you downloaded in Registering your OAuth Client Application.
  • InitiateOAuth: set this to GETANDREFRESH.

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 SAP SuccessFactors Data

Create a new Ruby file (for example: SAPSuccessFactorsSelect.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 SAPSuccessFactors Source','','') #execute a SELECT query and store the result set resultSet = cnxn.execute("SELECT address1, zipCode FROM ExtAddressInfo WHERE city = 'Springfield'") #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 SAP SuccessFactors data with Ruby. To do so, simply run your file from the command line:

ruby SAPSuccessFactorsSelect.rb Writing SQL-92 queries to SAP SuccessFactors allows you to quickly and easily incorporate SAP SuccessFactors data into your own Ruby applications. Download a free trial today!

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Download a free trial of the SAP SuccessFactors ODBC Driver to get started:

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Learn more:

SAP SuccessFactors Icon SAP SuccessFactors ODBC Driver

The SAP SuccessFactors ODBC Driver is a powerful tool that allows you to connect with live data from SAP SuccessFactors, directly from any applications that support ODBC connectivity.

Access SAP SuccessFactors data like you would a database - read, write, and update SAP SuccessFactors Benefits, Compensation, Jobs, etc. through a standard ODBC Driver interface.

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