Data Odyssey Express. Data sources

Data sources

You must describe data sources before creating mission models and analyzing data. Open the list of data sources by navigating to \Space\Data sources… Then open the folder containing the required data type to look through the list of existing data sources and change their properties (if necessary). You can also click “New…” to create a new data source.

The properties of any data source include:

Source name

An unique data source name. It can consist of letters, digits and the ‘_’ symbol. You cannot change the name of an existing data source. This field is accessible only for a new source.

The data source named DATAMAP, shown here, is not present on the list of sources, but it's created automatically, when the program starts.

Source type

	MS SQL Server Database and ODBC access
	MS SQL Server Database and IIS using HTTP access + XML
	ORACLE and ODBC access
	MySQL and ODBC access
	VFP DBF tables and file-server access
	VFP DBC database and file-server access
	Any type of data source above and DataOdyssey server access using RPC and XML
	Any type of data source above and DataOdyssey server access using IIS, XML and HTTP

After source type selection, the program will generate a typical connection string, if it’s empty for the given source (if the string is not empty and was created by the user, you will have to confirm its substitution for the template). You will only have to replace certain properties in the string with their real values (server name, database, directory, IP-address and etc.).

Connection string

A specially formatted string with certain entries is necessary to connect to the data source. The string format is unique for each data source type. String sample will be displayed below the string field and copied to clipboard after source type selection. Read the detailed description of data source types and connection strings in the corresponding parts of this manual. The list of typical connection strings is the following:

MS SQL Server Database and ODBC access	Driver={SQL Server}; Server=localhost; Database=master; uid=<app_uid>; pwd=<app_pwd>	Replace “localhost” with a real SQL server name or IP-address and “master” with a real database name.
MS SQL Server Database and IIS using HTTP access + XML	Host;nwind	Replace "Host" with a real host or IP and "nwind" with a real virtual directory name.
ORACLE and ODBC access	DSN=ORACLE; UID=<app_uid>; PWD=<app_pwd>; DBQ=ORACLE; DBA=W; APA=T; EXC=F; FEN=T; QTO=T; FRC=10; FDL=10; LOB=T; RST=T; GDE=F; FRL=F; BAM=IfAllSuccessful; MTS=F; MDI=F; CSR=F; FWC=F; PFC=10; TLO=0;	Replace "ORACLE" with a real server name for "DSN=" and with a real database name for "DBQ="
MySQL and ODBC access	DRIVER={MySQL ODBC 3.51 Driver}; SERVER=localhost; DATABASE=test; USER=<app_uid>; PASSWORD=<app_pwd>; OPTION=3;	Replace "localhost" with a real MySQL server name or IP and "master" with a real database name.
VFP DBF tables and file-server access		You should select a directory.
VFP DBC database and file-server access		You should just select a DBC file.
DataOdyssey server access using RPC and XML	Host; Datasource	Replace "Host" with a real name or IP of the server, on which Dataodyssey Express is installed, and "Datasource" with the name of the data source, created on this server in Dataodyssey Express.
DataOdyssey server access using IIS, XML and HTTP	Host; Scripts; Datasource	Replace "Host" with a real name or IP of the server, on which Dataodyssey Express is installed, "Scripts" with the real directory where Foxisapi.dll is located, and "Datasource" with the name of the data source, created on this server in Dataodyssey Express

Preliminary records counting

The given property is created to prevent mission from hanging, when large data selection is requested. This setting can be defined for every data source individually, depending on connection channel performance. If “Local settings” field is checked, the given setting will be taken from the general settings for all sources, which you can change by choosing \Space\Local settings… from the menu.

If you choose “Ask if…”, the program will preliminary calculate the number of selected strings before selecting. If the string number exceeds the limit the program will ask for confirmation to select only the first strings of the fixed limit.

Choose “No” to cancel preliminary calculation of strings.

When you click “Save”, the program will attempt to connect to the data source, using the composed connection string. If an error occurs, the data source won’t be created in the data map (or the properties of an already existing source won’t be altered).