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Connect to Gmail Data in Ruby
Connect to Gmail data in Ruby with ruby-dbi, dbd-odbc, and ruby-odbc.
The CData ODBC Driver for Gmail makes it easy to integrate connectivity to live Gmail data in Ruby. This article shows how to create a simple Ruby app that connects to Gmail data, executes a query, and displays the results.
Create an ODBC Connection to Gmail 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.
There are two ways to authenticate to Gmail. Before selecting one, first ensure that you have enabled IMAP access in your Gmail account settings. See the "Connecting to Gmail" section under "Getting Started" in the installed documentation for a guide.
The User and Password properties, under the Authentication section, can be set to valid Gmail user credentials.
Alternatively, instead of providing the Password, you can use the OAuth authentication standard. To access Google APIs on behalf on individual users, you can use the embedded credentials or you can register your own OAuth app.
OAuth also enables you to use a service account to connect on behalf of users in a Google Apps domain. To authenticate with a service account, you will need to register an application to obtain the OAuth JWT values.
In addition to the OAuth values, you will need to provide the User. See the "Getting Started" chapter in the help documentation for a guide to using OAuth.
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 Gmail Data
Create a new Ruby file (for example: GmailSelect.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 Gmail Source','','')
#execute a SELECT query and store the result set
resultSet = cnxn.execute("SELECT Subject, Size FROM Inbox")
#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 Gmail data with Ruby. To do so, simply run your file from the command line:
ruby GmailSelect.rb
Writing SQL-92 queries to Gmail allows you to quickly and easily incorporate Gmail data into your own Ruby applications. Download a free trial today!
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Gmail ODBC Driver
The Gmail ODBC Driver is a powerful tool that allows you to connect with live Internet E-mail (Gmail), directly from any applications that support ODBC connectivity.
Access Gmail folders and message data like you would a database - read, write, and send E-mails through a standard ODBC Driver interface.
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