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Connect to SharePoint Data in Ruby


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

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

About SharePoint Data Integration

Accessing and integrating live data from SharePoint has never been easier with CData. Customers rely on CData connectivity to:

  • Access data from a wide range of SharePoint versions, including Windows SharePoint Services 3.0, Microsoft Office SharePoint Server 2007 and above, and SharePoint Online.
  • Access all of SharePoint thanks to support for Hidden and Lookup columns.
  • Recursively scan folders to create a relational model of all SharePoint data.
  • Use SQL stored procedures to upload and download documents and attachments.

Most customers rely on CData solutions to integrate SharePoint data into their database or data warehouse, while others integrate their SharePoint data with preferred data tools, like Power BI, Tableau, or Excel.

For more information on how customers are solving problems with CData's SharePoint solutions, refer to our blog: Drivers in Focus: Collaboration Tools.


Getting Started


Create an ODBC Connection to SharePoint 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 the URL property to the base SharePoint site or to a sub-site. This allows you to query any lists and other SharePoint entities defined for the site or sub-site.

The User and Password properties, under the Authentication section, must be set to valid SharePoint user credentials when using SharePoint On-Premise.

If you are connecting to SharePoint Online, set the SharePointEdition to SHAREPOINTONLINE along with the User and Password connection string properties. For more details on connecting to SharePoint Online, see the "Getting Started" chapter of the help documentation

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 SharePoint Data

Create a new Ruby file (for example: SharePointSelect.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 SharePoint Source','','') #execute a SELECT query and store the result set resultSet = cnxn.execute("SELECT Name, Revenue FROM MyCustomList") #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 SharePoint data with Ruby. To do so, simply run your file from the command line:

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

Ready to get started?

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

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Learn more:

SharePoint Icon SharePoint ODBC Driver

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

Access SharePoint data like you would a database - read, write, and update SharePoint Lists, Contacts, Calendar, Links, Tasks, etc. through a standard ODBC Driver interface.

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