CMS Software Support products store data in a database format
that is ODBC-compliant. ODBC stands for Open DataBase Connectivity,
which is Microsoft's standard for providing Windows application
software access to database files. What this means to cms2 customers
is that software products from other vendors can query data directly
from our database files. This allows another product, such as
Seagull Bartender, to open our database, read specific data fields
and use them to create reports. ODBC is capable of doing this
without the need to export the data first using the Data Exchange
module. The Microsoft "Jet" database engine is used to access the
cms2 data files.
To allow ODBC data access to the cms2 data files, most applications
require that you set up a "Data Source" in the ODBC Control Panel
Applet. (This applet is found inside the Administrative Tools group
in Windows NT, 2000 and XP.) To create a data source on a
workstation, customers should:
1- Open the ODBC Data Sources Control Panel applet
2- Click on the System DSN tab at the top, then click on the Add
button to create a new data source.
3- Select the "Microsoft dBase Driver (*.dbf)" from the list, click
on Finish at the bottom.
4- An ODBC dBase Setup form will appear. Enter a name and
description for the data source that makes it clear that you are
connecting to CMS data files.
5- Change the Database Version to dBase IV to match the format of
the cms2 database files.
6- Uncheck the "Use Current Directory" checkbox, click on the
Select Directory button and navigate to the location of the cms2
company data files for the company that the customer wishes to query
data from; click OK to complete the setup.
7- The new Data Source should now appear in the list of System Data
Sources on the System DSN tab. cms2 data files will now be
accessible from other ODBC-compliant software products.
8- To test the function of the data source, use Access or the Query
Editor feature in Excel to read data from the cms2 data source.
ODBC-compliant software will read or query from a Data Source;
wherever this can be done, your new Data Source will be available
for use.
This feature allows customers to get data into another application
without the extra step of defining and performing a Data Exchange
export. It can used to pull out AR customer data to create custom
labels, to create custom reports inside an Excel spreadsheet, or
numerous other uses.
FYI
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