How to setup Microsoft Access as a POS system for 3Dcart? - ms-access

I'm helping out with an 3Dcart eCommerce/online store doing basic web administration tasks analyzing their data. Their POS system is manged manually with Excel at the moment, and so updating information has become pretty time consuming. I want to know if it's possible (and if so how) to connect/integrate 3Dcart's database system and be able to use Microsoft Access for the programming in order to be able to merge tables/databases more seamlessly and work more efficiently.
Is this possible? Are their any online resources that show how to integrate Microsoft Access as a POS system (with 3Dcart specifically if possible) or could anyone describe how to do so?

3dcart allows you to import your products using the Import/Export feature from a CSV file. But it seems like there is no way to make it work with Access automatically. Also I've found this service http://www.file2cart.com/shopping-cart-data-import-options/6265-import-excel-to-3dcart
Maybe it will be helpful for you. And finally you can contact these guys Smart POS and ask them for help.

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Amazon MWS and Microsoft Access for a DB Layman?

I have some experience in MS Access, but mostly only as an offline DB tool.
I have begun working with both Seller and Vendor Central at my new company, and am in charge of scrubbing the vast amount of data for trends and whatnot. At the moment our company is solely relying on exporting reports from Seller Central directly, and cross referencing documents. I was hoping to get us started with a rudimentary database hooked into Seller directly. Our company already has a MWS Developer ID, and I see an MWS Access Key and whatnot.
I'm surprised to not finding any resources as to how I should actually connect MWS to Access. I feel confident that I can find some success by dabbling with the API once I get it connected, but I can't actually find any references on how to actually establish that connection.
Any resources you guys can forward me? Maybe I'm searching for the wrong terms. Everything I search just comes up with data service companies advertising their tools.
Well, the interface to AWS is going to be web service based. And access unfortantly does not have a built in web services interface.
So, your choices are:
Write some VBA code to hit/use/consume AWS web services. Web services are just that -a web API. (likly REST services. REST is just a fancy term that you have to type in a given URL.
So, what you looking to search for?
How can I consume web based data in Access.
Say this answer on SO
Making a SOAP request from Access 2007
The main issue is that Access does not have really good tools for consuming web data.
However, most web front "store" applcations tend to have a user area in which you can export the daily sales or data say to csv. You now can import that data into Access (or Excel).
And they often have a report area - you can generate a report, and then download again in some format like xml or csv (and again, import into Access or Excel).
If you don't want to have to maually import the data?
Then you have to code out web requests. And that can be painful.
This unfortantly means you can use say a linked table (ODBC) like you can for Acces say to some database.
So, you can start to write web interface code (it will be SOAP or REST.
Believe it or not, there was a SOAP add-in tool kit for Access 2003. But, no one used it, so they dropped it. (of course now 17 years later -gee, a truckload of people GET IT - and now see the need to consume web data!
So, you question and what to learn about?
You asking how does one consume web services.
Well, using a tool designed to work with web services helps a lot. (that's why I suggest Visual Studio and .net). If they have a WSDL for you? Then you can point Visual Studio at the web (WSDL), and it will crank out a set of "methods" and properites for you. (it will create a class. But then again, did you use and write class objects in VBA? (it does support you creating classes. But the SOAP tool kit (no longer avaiable) would write this code for you!
So, if you want to go beyond their built-in repoting tools (that let you export + download the data in some format like csv for use with Access or Excel)?
Then you have to write writing code to make web calls.
This is not a lot different in the past. If you wanted some data from the accounting system? Well, you can/could/usually do some export with the accounting package to spit out a csv file of some sort. You then import into Access.
However, if you had better skills, you might link up to the database from Access, using ODBC and then write some SQL queries against that data. So, it really comes down to skill level here. Some could not be bothered to learn say SQL and a query. So, they just export the data out of accounting, and then import into access.
The problem is now you can't link to that web site, and use SQL queries of data. You have to use web service calls. (at least if you want to make some of this process automatic).
So, you might be just fine by exporting data/files from the AWS services, and then just import into Excel or Access. As such, you not writing any code, and you just use the Access GUI to import data.
But, some want to just hit a button in Access, and see all the orders and sales from today - and have Access pull that data from the web site with one click.
For some simple data pulls? You could make a web call from Access. But for complex web interfaces? Then you need to use tools that support web interfacing (say like Visual Studio .net).
For a simple data pull? I'll use VBA and MSXML.
But, if the parameters and data call is complex? Then I write it in .net, and THEN expose that code as a consuming library to MS-Access.
So, once you signed up for AWS and what ever web services? Then they will supply you with the web calls, and documentation. You then are free to use your programming tools of choice to interface. But, this can be quite a bit of work. So, you might use VBA, but .net is much better for this type of work. (and it also a lot more difficult to code out).
As a developer who has done this, I would write a "sync" program that connects to MWS, pulls back your data, and then inserts that into MS Access. In my case, it was a C# .NET Core app with SQL Server and I used the available MWS SDK that Amazon provides for free to handle all the API calls to MWS. You can create a schedule so your app pulls the data on an interval, or make it manual where you push a button to sync it into your system.
Of course you can use Java or PHP instead of C#, or you can roll your own MWS API calls. Or like you mention there are several third party vendors that have out-of-the-box ready solutions.
I haven't used MS Access in 20 years or so, so I'm not sure about calling MWS directly. I would gather it could be done, but is probably too much work, but I could be wrong. A .NET app can insert into MS Access, no problem, but also handle the HTTP calls to MWS for you.

Adding MySQL functionality in LabView

I am new to LabVIEW and trying to make a small project. In LabVIEW from one device, I am measuring some values and then need to store them in database. Initially, I used Excel to store data. But now I need to add MySQL functionality to store data and then later retrieve when need for analyzing.
I look for NI toolkit but it is expensive. I need some free and open source solution for my project.
I search over SO and google to find any examples where I can start and make it work, but I couldn't find any.
If someone suggest me some resources or having some example code that I can use to achieve my goal. thanks in advance.
Take a look at LabSQL. This works in LabVIEW 2017, allowing connection to a MySQL database without NI's LabVIEW Database Connectivity Toolkit.
I normally use the Database Connectivity Toolkit, but I did confirm I could get this to work in 2017 as well (though connecting to a MSSQL database instead of MySQL).
The only thing that tripped me up at first was not using the Create Connection before Open Connection (because I was used to the aforementioned toolkit). I didn't try anything complicated; I just ran a simple selection query. But it looks like everything should work pretty similarly to the toolkit. As adambro said, if you have a more specific question, maybe we can help with an answer.
I would suggest you could use SQLite. It is a fairly easy toolkit. You can download it via the VI package manager. By dr. James Powell. SQLite is excellent in storing data locally.
Use the SQLite browser from sqlitebrowser.org.
Also a nice way to learn SQL!

Saving SQL Queries in SharePoint

Trying to determine if it is feasible to use SharePoint as a SQL Query development repository...
We do quite a bit of query development in SQL Server 2012 for data analysis/discovery and it would be great to be able to share valuable queries among team members without having to constantly email SQL back and forth. The email flood is just an ugly mess that we need to stop.
Ideally, it would be great to be able to save directly to SharePoint within SQL Server (File > Save > Save to SharePoint) and then allow SharePoint to do version management for the team. I know there are pretty robust tools out there for version management but we are currently just looking for something lightweight at this point and something that can be implemented quickly to test our options out.
Is something like this feasible (saving directly to SharePoint through SQL Server)?
If not feasible (or heck, if it is just a bad idea) what low cost/no cost options are there for sharing code/sql between team members? And better yet, something that we can get up and running very quickly...
Thanks in advance for your input and insight!
Great idea, think I might make one myself.
Say you have
http://my.sharepoint.dom/cool_repos/sql
You should be able to access the same through explorer using
\\my.sharepoint.dom\cool_repos\sql

Migrating from SalesForce to Dynamics using SSIS

I need to migrate my company's data from SalesForce to Dynamics, using SSIS. This has been attempted by others in the past using Scribe, and has apparently been unsuccessful, because there were fields we wanted to enter which Dynamics wouldn't let us because they were system generated (such as Created Date.) Nobody at my company is exactly sure how to go about using SSIS to migrate from SalesForce to Dynamics...they just know that they want it done that way and they do not think any third party tool will be helpful. I'm having an extremely hard time finding ANYTHING online that isn't an advertisement for a third party tool. Does anyone know of some kind of guide or tutorial, or really any information at all on using SSIS to do this kind of migration?
The consulting firm that I work for has successfully used Scribe to migrate from SalesForce to CRM. Had some hoops to jump through, but it worked.
And as far as the created date goes, there is the override date field to use. I guess you could use SSIS, I'm just not sure it's going to be any easier.
I have used Kingsway Soft's SSIS Toolkit with a lot of success in the past. They have a free trial available here along with documentation for how to use the toolkit in SSIS.
http://www.kingswaysoft.com/products/ssis-integration-toolkit-for-microsoft-dynamics-crm
They support both Dynamics CRM and Salesforce so you should be able to pull from salesforce, transform the data if necessary and push to Dynamics CRM.
You can use this along with Daryl's suggestion for overriddencreatedon and migrate data across pretty simply.
I have used talend in the past to migrate from other CRM systems in to salesforce. Not sure if this will help you in doing the vice versa.
It's a powerful tool and you can perhaps check it out. Use the opensource version.
Before you select the technology... do you have a full mapping of all source tables/fields to target tables/fields? without this you can't do anything. That's why you normally engage an external consultant, because they know all this stuff already.
The issue isn't the tool, it's the mapping. If you don't know what goes into those fields, a tool isn't going to help unless it has some product specific controls that generate those values for you.

How to integrate Visual FoxPro w/ MySQL for eCommerce website?

I'm working on an eCommerce website for a small merchant. This merchant uses Opera (which is based on Visual FoxPro) to manage his in-store inventory, and would like the online store inventory to reflect the in-store inventory.
I'm guessing that my first step is to set up a way to regularly transfer the information from the VFP database to a MySQL database on the website's server. Is there an established process for this? Am I even approaching this problem from the right angle? I've heard a lot about ODBC, but am unsure as to how to implement it or if it's what I'm looking for in this situation.
If it wasn't obvious by this point, I'm in over my head here, and would appreciate any and all advice you may have, including links to articles or tutorials that can help improve my general understanding of all the moving parts here.
Thanks much.
Co-worker developed synchronization process between VFP and MSSQL2008. WCF service which took input directly from VFP.
On other project - as far as i remember, when we tried ODBC .NET data adapter, it had problems with encodings and foreign languages. That's why we used COM+, serialization for communication with .NET.
But it seems to me you are using PHP (eCommerce=>Drupal=>PHP) so you are in completely different situation.
In your case, i would start with checking out if Opera (i guess it's this Opera) provides built-in export and eCommerce provides built-in import. Mostly because it might be tedious work to sync data manually from 2 apps coded by someone else. Then i would research if i/o can be joined and automated (something like scheduled task on win environment). Unfortunately, can't help much more because i'm unfamiliar with those tools, products and technologies.
Anyway - it seems to me like quite hard and dirty task and i wish you good luck. :)
Depend on what is that you are using to implement the website.. in general it is pretty easy with ODBC (In Java , I did it using the jdbc-odbc bridge)