I've been running in circles looking for a way to deliver data from a proprietary flat file database (based on the ProvideX platform) to a client-thick web application that makes RESTful requests and expects JSON responses.
ProvideX and Sage MAS 90 provided an ODBC driver that works for pulling tables, but I can't think of a good way to connect the dots without needing to program a bunch of server-side code.
Before I go down the path of programming custom server-side middleware, does anyone have any bright ideas, (or obvious ideas that I have overlooked)?
I am not locked into any particular architecture at the moment because we are hashing out requirements for the web application, so any ideas would be helpful.
ProvideX/Sage provides a web services module, but I can't use it because my company has refused to invest in the software module and upgrade costs. Let's not let that be a distraction, however, because I am still looking for a way to use the ODBC driver in this question thread.
ODBC-ODBC Bridges exist but all the ones I know are commercial.
Related
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.
I am creating a web interface for an old piece of software running on an Access 2000 DB. There is no support for the Entity Framework Model for Access. Is there a way of making a connection to work with breeze?
Try to use Ado.net, there is no support from breeze to Access
http://www.c-sharpcorner.com/uploadfile/mimrantaj/connect-to-access-database-in-C-Sharp-and-ado-net/
I like your idea of putting EF in front of SQL Server express. But if that doesn't work out, your only serious impediment is finding a way to expose access to your Access (chuckle) over HTTP.
Have you got that figured out? Maybe Web API? Because once you figure that out, it will be "easy".
You do NOT need EF for Breeze clients. EF is a convenient technology for many .NET developers ... but not everyone. All Breeze really cares about is the data.
You will need to get some some metadata describing your service model (meaning whatever you expose as client-facing objects in your HTTP service). You can produce that in many ways. EF is one way (it's easy) but you can also do it in JavaScript.
Back in the MSSQL 2000 timeline, there was an IIS integration layer that allowed HTTP GET commands to make select statements, and there were other SqlXml niceties that worked (not that fast or well but they worked) out of the box. I gave a chance to expose database stuff fairly quickly.
What is the comparable technology for MSSQL 2008/2012? I saw slashDb (http://www.slashdb.com/) and it seems to do that, but I am trying to understand the other options out there. Just SQL Server crud and sproc access.
Thanks.
Yes, SlashDB does exactly that and more. Full disclosure: I am the founder and CEO.
Once SlashDB is installed you would use its web interface to connect it with your database. Depending which database login and database schema you use for that connection, you will have the tables and views from that schema turned into of URL endpoints.
Those URLs can be followed in the browser but they are also API endpoints in JSON, XML or CSV. It works for reading and writing (you can control that in user configuration).
In addition to that you can define a set of parameterized SQL queries. Each query is given a name and instantly becomes an API endpoint too.
In order to help you getting started easily SlashDB is available on AWS and Azure marketplaces, as a Docker container from DockerHub, pre-built virtual machines or as .rpm and .deb packages for installation directly on Linux.
For more technical info please visit: https://docs.slashdb.com
The nearest equivalent may be SOAP/HTTP endpoints, however Microsoft has deprecated them for various reasons and recommends WCF or ASP.NET instead. Although the simplest way to get a quick CRUD setup is probably to use a framework or ORM that generates it for you, like LINQ to SQL or whatever else suits your needs.
I am developing an education app for Kids.
The application is going to contain pictures, stories and video as well.
Including all above contents in the app will surely bloat it and hence i would like store all data on a server that will be accessed by my app.
I haven't used any remote databases (like MySQL or Oracle) with any other iOS app. In fact i am a newbie in developing such kind of apps. Can any one point me to a sample
Connecting to a remote mysql is really not recommended.
The security here is critical.
You should create a webservice and my advice to you is to make sure that the access to the webservice is restricted
The webservice can be your own "protocol" or any other well known protocol like SOAP
By your own I mean, json, csv .... or whatever.
Edit 1
The technology of your webservice should be dependent on many things.
If the system is small, and the code needs to be update very often, I would suggest to do it with PHP and some small(!) MVC framework like CI.
But if its a large system with needs of ACL (access control list) I will probably choose java with spring...
I suggest that : Do not connect to / use database directly from user application. It may causes serious security problems and your app should have native SQL drivers to connect db.
So, create a web service that receive queries from the application and response in XML, JSON or some other strings that easy to parse. This will be much easier than embed native APIs into your apps.
Is it possible to directly access MySql databases through an Adobe AIR/Flex
application?
If not, what is the next best alternative?
I'd have to disagree (though respectfully!) with Abdullah that building an ODBC client into AIR would "cause wierd problems and open up security issues" -- that's often how it's done (e.g., Java and .NET, both of whose runtimes package various ODBC clients) -- but both posters are right: the only way's coding some sort of a service interface into your AIR application (using Flex classes like WebService, HTTPService, and so on) and a complementary server-side interface (e.g., REST via PHP, which would then connect up with your MySQL database). For simple apps, it can be a bit of a pain, but for the moment, that's all we gots. :)
Best of luck!
I haven't tried yes but there are some projects to implement a native driver in AS3 to connect to mysql server. In the end it's just a socket connection and AIR applications are allowed to open socket.
Have a look at http://code.google.com/p/assql/
No, although AIR does have a local (client-side) SQLite database builtin. You don't really want your client apps to have direct access to the server-side database anyways, it can really cause weird problems and open security issues up. You can expose a MySQL database with web services however. This article has a really easy way of doing it.
I would not recommend accessing the database directly. I describe how I'd do it here.
IMHO, the best way to access any Database from a Flex APP (Air or Flash) is to create a webservice. After a few tryouts with PHP, i got into WSDL SOAP webservice build in C# and it´s a beauty! From C#, i got the PostgreSQL, MySQL, SQL-SERVER or Oracle anytime. And using Flex Builder, you can import the WSDL so the objects and webmethod created on the WSDL side will be created for you, with events, listenerers and objects. Try. With C# or Java or any other language, the WSDL SOAP is a great alternative.
Actually, in AIR 2.0, Adobe added NativeProcess functionality. This allows the user to exchange data between applications via the command line's stdin/stdout. The drawback is that you must compile your application as an EXE, DMG, or RPM file as this functionality is not cross platform. MySQL works wonderfully via the command line so this could be a very good option for you. Here's some links on using the functionality.
http://blog.omarfouad.com/?p=277
http://gotoandlearn.com/play.php?id=125
http://gotoandlearn.com/play.php?id=126
http://www.adobe.com/devnet/air/flex/articles/air_screenrecording.html