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Connect to Smartsheet Data in Ruby


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

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

About Smartsheet Data Integration

CData provides the easiest way to access and integrate live data from Smartsheet. Customers use CData connectivity to:

  • Read and write attachments, columns, comments and discussions.
  • View the data in individuals cells, report on cell history, and more.
  • Perform Smartsheet-specific actions like deleting or downloading attachments, creating, copying, deleting, or moving sheets, and moving or copying rows to another sheet.

Users frequently integrate Smartsheet with analytics tools such as Tableau, Crystal Reports, and Excel. Others leverage our tools to replicate Smartsheet data to databases or data warehouses.


Getting Started


Create an ODBC Connection to Smartsheet 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.

Smartsheet uses the OAuth authentication standard. To authenticate using OAuth, you will need to register an app to obtain the OAuthClientId, OAuthClientSecret, and CallbackURL connection properties.

However, for testing purposes you can instead use the Personal Access Token you get when you create an application; set this to the OAuthAccessToken connection property.

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 Smartsheet Data

Create a new Ruby file (for example: SmartsheetSelect.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 Smartsheet Source','','') #execute a SELECT query and store the result set resultSet = cnxn.execute("SELECT TaskName, Progress FROM Sheet_Event_Plan_Budget") #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 Smartsheet data with Ruby. To do so, simply run your file from the command line:

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

Ready to get started?

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

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Learn more:

Smartsheet Icon Smartsheet ODBC Driver

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

Access Smartsheet Sheets, Contacts, Folders, Groups, Users, etc. through a standard ODBC Driver interface.

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