ODBC. Getting Started With Sage Timberline Office ODBC

Transcription

1 ODBC Gettig Started With Sage Timberlie Office ODBC

2 NOTICE This documet ad the Sage Timberlie Office software may be used oly i accordace with the accompayig Sage Timberlie Office Ed User Licese Agreemet. You may ot use, copy, modify, or trasfer the Sage Timberlie Office software or this documetatio except as expressly provided i the licese agreemet Sage Software, Ic. All rights reserved. Sage, the Sage logos ad the Sage product ad service ames metioed herei are registered trademarks or trademarks of Sage Software, Ic., or its affiliated etities. All other trademarks are the property of their respective owers. 04/2010 Documet Number:

3 Gettig Started With Sage Timberlie Office ODBC ODBC 3 Purpose This documet presets a overview of Sage Timberlie Office ope database coectivity (ODBC). After you istall ODBC, you should refer to the ODBC Help for detailed iformatio about how to use the driver to access databases. ODBC Overview ODBC is a stadard iterface that serves as a traslator betwee differet database file structures ad differet software. The ODBC driver lets applicatios collect data from databases created i other applicatios. Applicatios that are capable of accessig data via ODBC are commoly referred to as frot-ed applicatios ad ca iclude databases (for example, Microsoft Access), word processors (for example, Microsoft Word), ad spreadsheets (for example, Microsoft Excel). Applicatios such as Sage Timberlie Office products that make their data available through ODBC are referred to as back-ed applicatios. Both the frot-ed ad back-ed applicatios must support the ODBC protocol for them to commuicate with oe aother. The Sage Timberlie Office ODBC driver lets you read most Accoutig ad Maagemet Products ad Estimatig Products records as well as create ad delete some selected records. You caot delete idividual fields, but you ca replace may fields with ew data. See the ODBC Help topic About record topics i TS-ODBC Help for a list of records ad fields that you ca edit. To access the help file, click Start > All Programs > Sage > Sage Timberlie Office > Accoutig > ODBC Help. NOTE: You caot use the Sage Timberlie Office ODBC driver to access Purchasig, Ivetory, or Service Maagemet data. To access Purchasig, Ivetory, or Service Maagemet data through ODBC, use the Pervasive ODBC Egie Iterface ad Pervasive ODBC Cliet Iterface drivers. For more iformatio, see the Pervasive Help at Start > All Programs > Pervasive.SQL V8 > Documetatio > Pervasive.SQL V8. O the Cotets tab, go to Pervasive.SQL V8 > User s Guide > Usig Pervasive.SQL > Settig Up ODBC Data Access. Importat Issues For ODBC Users This sectio cotais importat iformatio. You should read it before you use the Sage Timberlie Office ODBC driver. ODBC Support Policy Sage Timberlie Office ODBC iterfaces with a variety of third-party products. Because other products are ivolved, Sage caot guaratee that our Customer Support ca resolve all ODBC-related problems. Ay multiple-vedor software arragemet requires a

4 ODBC 4 ODBC sigificat level of techical expertise. Techical coflicts betwee databases from differet vedors may require you to seek assistace from a vedor other tha Sage. Importat: Curretly, we test oly Microsoft Office (Access, Word, ad Excel) for compatibility with the Sage Timberlie Office ODBC driver. We do ot test for compatibility with ay other products or programmig laguages, icludig Microsoft Visual Basic for Applicatios, which ca be ru from a macro withi Microsoft Office. Although you may fid success usig aother product, Customer Support ca address oly issues ad problems that relate to the use of Microsoft Office (Access, Word, ad Excel) to access data via the ODBC driver.

5 Gettig Started With Sage Timberlie Office ODBC ODBC 5 Data Loss ODBC processig leaves o audit trail of chages made, ad its misuse ca create utraceable data discrepacies. If Customer Support is uable to reproduce a datadepedet problem usig Sage Timberlie Office software ad data, it is assumed that the problem is specific to a data discrepacy itroduced with ODBC. Poits To Cosider Before You Use ODBC For fields like otes ad memos, Sage Timberlie Office software simply stores the values. Some fields have data depedecy (the value i oe field ca affect the value of aother field). I other fields, the software requires the value to have a certai format or be withi a specified rage. Whe you make chages through a Sage Timberlie Office applicatio, the software hadles depedecies automatically. ODBC does ot hadle depedecies. It is up to you to be aware of these issues ad make ay ecessary edits. To be safe, you should always back up ay database before you modify it through ODBC. Cosider the issues that follow before you write chages to a data file through ODBC: Data Depedecies the values i some fields chage based o the value cotaied i aother field. A example of data depedecy i Estimatig is the item record s labor ad equipmet price fields. These two price fields require the item to have a empty crew field. Whe you eter a labor or equipmet crew ito the item s crew field, Estimatig removes the correspodig cost category s price, because the price is ow derived from the labor/ equipmet rate table for that crew. ODBC will allow you to write a crew to the item record without removig the cost category s price. This results i a ivalid record. Referetial Itegrity some records which reside i oe data file relate to records i aother file. A example of referetial itegrity i Estimatig is the item record. The item record (pei) refereces its phase record, which is stored i the stadards file (pes.dat). This same item may be part of a assembly, which exists i the assembly file (pwa.dat). With ODBC, you ca write a chage to the phase of a give item record. This chage would ot automatically carry through to the assembly file. The assembly would the referece a phase or item that o loger existed. It would eve be possible to assig a phase to the item for which there was o correspodig phase record i the stadards file. A example of referetial itegrity i Accoutig is the relatioship betwee a job record ad oe of its subsidiary category records. Amouts that you eter through a miscellaeous worksheet ito a category s miscellaeous category amout field directly affect the total miscellaeous category amout field i the job record. If you modify oe of those fields through ODBC ad do ot modify the other, the Job Cost Master file becomes out of balace.

6 ODBC 6 ODBC Formattig Sage Timberlie Office applicatios expect the value stored i some fields to be formatted i a certai way. A example of expected formattig i Estimatig Products is the phase record. The Geeral Iformatio scree i your database displays the value etered i the Estimatig phase suffix field. Phases you eter through Estimatig will automatically coform to this settig. Through ODBC, you ca to eter a phase which does ot match the formattig specified i your Geeral Iformatio. Proper use of ODBC requires a thorough uderstadig of these depedecies to make sure referetial itegrity is preserved. Special Cosideratios For Estimatig Users The followig is a brief sample of fields ad record types with which Estimatig users should be thoroughly familiar before they use ODBC. This list is ot complete ad is o substitute for a i-depth uderstadig of the applicatio s records ad fields. Estimatig software is cotiually ehaced to keep up with customer requests ad idustry treds. As a result of these ehacemets, fields ad their attributes chage. Refer to ODBC Help for lists of Estimatig records ad fields. If you create or add to a existig price lik, you must also make applicable chages to the item prices. Each record has oe or more key fields, ad some records have alterate keys. These fields distiguish oe record from aother ad must be uique. For istace, o the subcotractor record, the key field is the sub umber. While two or more subcotractors may have the same address or sub type, each must possess a uique sub umber ad spreadsheet ame (alterate key). You should be familiar with the key fields for ay records you ited to modify through ODBC. I ODBC Help, key fields are marked with (k). Avoid chagig hierarchical flags o existig records. For example, the Group phase field o the phase record ad the Group workpackage field o the workpackage record. Do ot chage values that result from a calculatio. For istace, do ot chage the estimate total amout or sequece umbers i a estimate. Delphi users should be aware that the Delphi Database Egie supports the read capabilities of Sage Timberlie Office ODBC, but does ot fully support the write capabilities. Refer to the ODBC Help topic About the possible characters i Estimatig database records for detailed iformatio o allowable etries to specific fields.

7 Gettig Started With Sage Timberlie Office ODBC ODBC 7 ODBC provides the ability to use o-estimatig tools for data maipulatio ad reportig. Whe you use ODBC to write to Estimatig files, you become resposible for may tasks which Estimatig hadles automatically. ODBC adds power ad flexibility, but demads care ad kowledge. If you elect to write to your Estimatig files, use cautio ad a realistic assessmet of your ow kowledge of the Estimatig system as a guide. Set Up a Data Source Before you ca use the ODBC driver, you must first set up a lik to a Sage Timberlie Office data source. The data source cotais the data a user wats to access ad its associated Database Maagemet System. The data is pulled from a back-ed applicatio, for example, Geeral Ledger. The data is the set to a frot-ed applicatio, such as Microsoft Excel. Each data source you set up has a data source ame (DSN), which you provide. Whe you set up a data source, you specify a particular ODBC driver to be attached to the data source. These drivers are programs that access the iformatio i the database ad traslate it ito a format that the frot-ed applicatio (Microsoft Excel, for example) ca read. You must set up a DSN for each Sage Timberlie Office database. For example, your compay might maitai oe database for its costructio busiess ad aother for its remodelig busiess. Because these databases are stored i separate folders, you must set up a DSN for each database folder. For detailed istructios o how to set up a DSN, refer to the ODBC Help topic Settig up a data source. Use the ODBC Driver After you istall ODBC ad set up a data source, you ca use the driver to access Sage Timberlie Office iformatio from the database. Procedures to collect this data deped o the frot-ed applicatio beig used. ODBC Help provides detailed istructios for accessig ad isertig Sage Timberlie Office data ito Microsoft Query, Excel, Access, ad Word. Refer to the How To sectio o the Help Cotets tab for liks to the applicable topics. Other software maufacturers ODBC-compliat products ca access data through the Sage Timberlie Office ODBC driver. Refer to those maufacturers ODBC documetatio for istructios o usig ODBC.

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