Edit MY goal is this, I need to do read data from a Remedy Database using a VB .Net app. /Edit
I am trying to read data from the AR System ODBC driver in a VS 2010 VB windows form.
I have added a connection in the data connections via , a system dsn, connection string pulled from a working excel data pull, and built a connection string based via the wizard.
I can test connection, and it comes back 'test connection succeeded'.
When I click ok and the Data connection goes to my server explorer, it expands to tables, view, and procedures and viewing/refreshing those causes errors such as:
Column 'Table_Cat' does not belong to table Tables.
Error [im00][ar system odbc driver] not supported
I am aware there is the api out there, however this has a problem in that the api acts like a login session from the client, which limits you to one login session. This not feasible for the task at hand as the user needs to remain logged into remedy, and the app I'm writing will be read only for data.
The goal is a billboard app that will display certain tickets, kind of like a stock ticker.
There will be no editing of ticket data from remedy, I just need to read the tickets and provide tallies and alerts for our helpdesk.
It seemed so easy when I sat down, but now 4 hours later and a mind numbing amount of irrelevant google results, I'm almost wondering if I'm going to have to report back that it cannot be done with out the api and creating more remedy accounts. Not having to create additional remedy accounts was part of of the request put to me.
Tags: Visual Studio 2010 BMC AR System Remedy ODBC VB.NET
Update
So I have done the code by hand and now seem a few steps forward, but still blind.
Ok, so if i export my excel query it looks like this from the dqy file
export.dqy
DRIVER={AR System ODBC Driver};ARServer=xxxxxx;ARServerPort=xxxxx;UID=xxxx;PWD=xxxx;ARAuthentication=;SERVER=NotTheServer
SELECT "EN:HelpDesk"."Company Name", "EN:HelpDesk"."Call Status", "EN:HelpDesk"."Caller Region", "EN:HelpDesk"."Next Action", "EN:HelpDesk"."Detailed Description(FTS)", "EN:HelpDesk".Device, "EN:HelpDesk"."Submitted-by", "EN:HelpDesk".Impact, "EN:HelpDesk"."Arrival Time", "EN:HelpDesk"."Call Id", "EN:HelpDesk".Market FROM "EN:HelpDesk" "EN:HelpDesk" WHERE ("EN:HelpDesk"."Call Status"<>'Closed') AND ("EN:HelpDesk"."Submitted-by"<>'nis') AND ("EN:HelpDesk".Impact='High') AND ("EN:HelpDesk".Market='DCIN') AND ("EN:HelpDesk"."Caller Region"<>'UK')
First off, these quotes look wrong to me, but it seems to work because if I leave them, executing the command doesn't fail, however it doesn't return data to my data grid view in vb.
Second the EN:Helpdesk looks odd to me but again same results as the quotes.
I have tried changing the quotes to brackets [ ] but receive errors once I do.
Here is my code:
VB Code
Imports SystemM My goal
Imports System.Data
Imports System.Data.Odbc
Imports System.Data.SqlClient
Sub Main()
Dim sql As String
Dim connectionString As String = "DRIVER={AR System ODBC Driver};ARServer=xxx;ARServerPort=xxx;UID=xxx;PWD=xxx;ARAuthentication=;SERVER=NotTheServer"
sql = "SELECT ""EN:HelpDesk"".""Company Name"", ""EN:HelpDesk"".""Call Status"", ""EN:HelpDesk"".""Caller Region"", ""EN:HelpDesk"".""Next Action"", ""EN:HelpDesk"".""Detailed Description(FTS)"", ""EN:HelpDesk"".Device, ""EN:HelpDesk"".""Submitted-by"", ""EN:HelpDesk"".Impact, ""EN:HelpDesk"".""Arrival Time"", ""EN:HelpDesk"".""Call Id"", ""EN:HelpDesk"".Market FROM EN:HelpDesk WHERE (""EN:HelpDesk"".""Call Status""<>'Closed') AND (""EN:HelpDesk"".""Submitted-by""<>'nis') AND (""EN:HelpDesk"".Impact='High') AND (""EN:HelpDesk"".Market='DCIN') AND (""EN:HelpDesk"".""Caller Region""<>'UK')"
Dim bindingSource1 As New BindingSource()
Me.SQLDS_reportresults.DataSource = bindingSource1
Dim myAdapter = New OdbcDataAdapter(sql, connectionString)
Dim commandBuilder As New OdbcCommandBuilder(myAdapter)
Dim table As New DataTable()
table.Locale = System.Globalization.CultureInfo.InvariantCulture
myAdapter.Fill(table)
bindingSource1.DataSource = table
Me.SQLDS_reportresults.AutoResizeColumns(DataGridViewAutoSizeColumnsMode.AllCellsExceptHeader)
End Sub
Project is a windows forms with a button to activate main(), a textbox (textbox1) and a datagridview(SQLDS_reportresults).
As the code stands, this causes no errors, but my datagridview never populates. Since there are no errors, I'm inclined to think my connection is working , and that my command is being executed,making my problem lay in code, however given the funky use of quotes and en:helpdesk in the sql command, I'm also concerned that is malformed and causing the where portion to return no results.
Anyone have any suggestions / ideas?
I need a way to display these results in app, and right now I don't care how just as long as I can see some data at all.
I've been googling and looked at the vb examples in the api zip but that is not related to opening a odbc connection and I found that of little help in my research.
I almost feel like I'm missing something simple or obvious.
When i run odbcad32.exe my ar system odbc driver shows 7.00.01.02 which is what I assume is installed on everyones machines as I used the remedy install set provided to me by the IT/Software admins to build this dev box.
Related
I am developing a VB.NET update system for a volunteer organisation’s MS Access database. The database is protected by a password as it contains personal information. I have created the application using the VB designer. I need to be able to code the application so that, if the owner decides to change the MS Access password, they will have no need to come back to me to change the code and rebuild the solution. In other words, I do not want the password to be hard coded in the app.config file or the settings.designer.vb file. My code should not need to know the password as a simple call to one of the Fill functions can test any password entered by the user. My problem is that I have found no way to alter the connection string that is tested in the setttings.designer.vb code whenever the database is accessed. I am using Visual Studio 2017.
I have spent a long time searching the web for answers and have tried various solutions involving the configurationmanager without success. I am new to this area so I would be most grateful if anyone here can help.
Here is my latest attempt which still produces an invalid password error even though the third debug statement suggests that the connection string, including the password, has been correctly set.
Public Sub UpdateConnString(connString As String)
Dim configFileMap As New ExeConfigurationFileMap()
Dim config As Configuration = ConfigurationManager.OpenExeConfiguration(configFileMap.ExeConfigFilename)
Dim connStringName As String = "TestConnectionString"
Debug.Print("0 " + config.ConnectionStrings.ConnectionStrings(connStringName).ConnectionString)
config.ConnectionStrings.ConnectionStrings(connStringName).ConnectionString = connString
Debug.Print("1 " + config.ConnectionStrings.ConnectionStrings(connStringName).ConnectionString)
config.Save(ConfigurationSaveMode.Modified, True)
Debug.Print("2 " + config.ConnectionStrings.ConnectionStrings(connStringName).ConnectionString)
End Sub
Just because a connection string is stored in the config file, you aren't required to use it as it is. You can read in that default value and then edit it before using it, e.g.
Dim builder As New OleDbConnectionStringBuilder(My.Settings.DefaultConnectionString)
builder.DataSource = dataSource
Dim connectionString = builder.ConnectionString
You can add or modify any part of a connection string you want that way at run time.
Thank you for your response. Unfortunately, the code throws a compilation error - "DefaultConnectionString is not a member of My.Settings".
Fortunatley I have now managed to find a working solution:
'My.Settings.Item("TestConnectionString") = connectionString
Back Story
I am working with SAGE Mas 200 software, trying to link to it through Access. This software houses date for 300 investors for my company. With EACH investor I have a different investor ID that goes along with my UID and Password upon logging in, therefore EVERY connection string is different.
After many hours of trial and error, I have been successful in connecting via Access to only find out that I can only have one active connection string per database. Since I have 300 investors that I need to pull data from, there is the problem...and I can't figure it out.
I am a newby with VBA so my knowledge is extremely limited. I have read about linking to a 'template' file with the connection strings, but not sure how to format the template file. Can someone show me an example? Also, how would I get it to loop thru each query stored in the database and then pull the appropriate connection string?
Examples
Here is an example of my connection string where 'AAL' is the investor code:
ODBC;DSN=SOTAMAS90;UID=tbard|AAL;PWD=password;Directory=\\mas-200\MAS90;Prefix=\\mas-200\MAS90\SY\, \\mas-200\MAS90\==\;ViewDLL=\\mas-200\MAS90\HOME;SERVER=NotTheServer
The query name for this would be MAS_AAL.
Another investor: SMP, the query name MAS_SMP. Etc, etc, etc...
Can someone be my light at the end of the tunnel and help me out so I don't have to manually run 300 queries. I'm dying over here!!
You can programmatically set the connection string.
There is a MAS 90 / MAS 200 ODBC driver called SOTAMAS90. On MAS installations in the last 5 years, there is both a 32 and a 64 bit driver.
In VBA, if I remember correctly, you would do something like this. (This assumes you already have fetched the Investor object you need, and it has properties called username and password):
Dim conn as new ADODB.Connection()
' Set properties of connection string manually
conn.ConnectionString = "DRIVER = SOTAMAS90; UID=" & myInvestor.username & "; PWD=" & myInvestor.password & "; Company=ABC"
conn.Open()
Another approach is to use a single ODBC connection within Access, to set up a linked ODBC table, using Access' Get External Data feature. Then you can treat it like any other Access table, and just query it directly. The problem with this approach is that Access will keep prompting you for credentials, both when you first open the table, and then if you are inactive for a while. I'm told you can save the UID and password in the SOTAMAS90 ODBC connection, but I've never done it.
Hope that helps.
Aaron
I'm interested in setting up an Access db to run a report automatically. To save myself the trouble of going to each client computer and setting up the appropriate DSNs, I'd like to set up the ODBC connections in the VB script itself if possible.
I've googled and checked this site and found some good starter code, but not enough to make all the error messages go away. Can someone complete the code below?
Sub SetupODBC(Str_Server as string, Str_Db as string)
'Str_Server=Name of Server
'Str_db=Name of Database
Dim C as ADODB.Connection
Set C = new ADODB.Connection
C.ConnectionString = ??
C.Open
Debug.print C.State
Exit Sub
Welcome to the board. ConnectionStrings is indeed your friend, but the issue you are having is that you don't have the driver:) Lotus Notes is not a relational database it is a document oriented database. Historically there has not been a way to Access it like it is a relational database for that reason. However IBM eventually got around to writing a sort of translator in the form of NotesSQL. If you follow the link and get the driver you should be able to use ODBC. It is worth noting that Notes exposes itself to COM. So if push comes to shove you can automate the client.
This site is your friend: http://www.connectionstrings.com/access
I didn't follow your question correctly at first. I see you want to create a link from Access to Lotus to report on Lotus Notes data. Well there are a few ways to do so.
I frequently use a method of exposing Lotus Notes data as XML, then accessing that XML from the remote system. You can easily create a Notes Page with the XML start tag, root element, and then insert an embedded view in between the root element. That embedded view then needs to display as HTML and contain columns that resolve to xml tags. For instance, each row of the view would look similar to this:
<Person><FirstName>Ken</FirstName><LastName>Pespisa</LastName></Person>
and your column formulas would be:
"<Person><FirstName>" + FirstName + "</FirstName>"
for the first name column, and for the last name column it would be this:
"<LastName> + LastName + </LastName></Person>"
Note that this assumes that your Notes server has the HTTP service turned on and you can reach the database via a browser.
However as mentioned by other answers, you can use other methods such as NotesSQL and COM. It sounds like you are putting this solution on many workstations, though, and NotesSQL would require you to install the driver on each workstation. The COM method would work without requiring any extra work at the users' desks so I'd favor that solution in this case.
Looks like a great site for my needs, even if it hasn't been updated in a year. But still no cigar. Now, I'm getting "Data source name not found and default driver not specified"
(Obviously, ServerNameGoesHere and DatabaseNameGoesHere are subsitutions)
Sub dbX()
Dim C As adodb.Connection
Set C = New adodb.Connection
C.Open _
"Driver={Lotus NotesSQL 3.01 (32-bit) ODBC DRIVER (*.nsf)};" & _
" Server=ServerNameGoesHere;" & _
" Database=DatabaseNameGoesHere.nsf;"
C.Close
End Sub
I've found a few examples of using vb.net to access an sql database, so far none of them have worked . They all involve using DataReaders. Maybe its the fact that the sql db is not on the same machine as the application.
I was just wondering if anyone had a more comprehensive example of using VB.NET to access a remote sql server.
Thanks!
EDIT:
I've received a few helpful comments an replies already. So far my connection string looks like:
"server=sqlblah.myhost.com;uid=myuser;pwd=pass;database=testdb"
Probably also good to mention their is no editing of the tables a this point, just reading.
Check out the SQLClient class.
One convienent way to access a SQL database is to fill a DataSet object with query data with a DataAdapter object.
Dim sSQL As String = "SELECT * FROM ???"
Dim conn As New SqlClient.SqlConnection("connection string")
Dim da As New SqlClient.DataAdapter(sSQL, conn)
Dim ds As New DataSet
da.Fill(ds, "TABLE NAME")
You can then access the "TABLE NAME" table in the DataSet object.
The "connection string" is obviously your SQL connection string.
Use the sSQL string to query as necessary.
Quick side note - a helpful tool for creating connection strings:-
Open up a text document (notepad, wordpad etc) and save a blank document with the extension ".UDL".
This will give you a "Data link Properties" mini app.
Open up the app and change the provider in the "Provider" to whichever provider you need (in this case OLE DB Provider for SQL Server).
You then need to build up the connection in the connection tab.
Once you have chosen the criteria (ServerName (the drop down list will show you all visible Servers), Security permissions,Database (this drop down list will be populated based on the server chosen)) you can test your connection (to make sure you have permissions etc).
Click ok to close the App, rename the file to have a ".txt" extension and re-open in a text editor, hey presto, one built up connection string (as below).
Provider=SQLOLEDB.1;Integrated Security=SSPI;Persist Security Info=False;Initial Catalog=YOURDBNAME;Data Source=YOURSERVERNAME
I have the following code:
Dim obj As New Access.Application
obj.OpenCurrentDatabase (CurrentProject.Path & "\Working.mdb")
obj.Run "Routine"
obj.CloseCurrentDatabase
Set obj = Nothing
The problem I'm experimenting is a pop-up that tells me Access can't set the focus on the other database. As you can see from the code, I want to run a Subroutine in another mdb. Any other way to achieve this will be appreciated.
I'm working with MS Access 2003.
This is an intermittent error. As this is production code that will be run only once a month, it's extremely difficult to reproduce, and I can't give you the exact text and number at this time. It is the second month this happened.
I suspect this may occur when someone is working with this or the other database.
The dataflow is to update all 'projects' once a month in one database and then make this information available in the other database.
Maybe, it's because of the first line in the 'Routines' code:
If vbNo = MsgBox("Do you want to update?", vbYesNo, "Update") Then
Exit Function
End If
I'll make another subroutine without the MsgBox.
I've been able to reproduce this behaviour. It happens when the focus has to shift to the called database, but the user sets the focus ([ALT]+[TAB]) on the first database. The 'solution' was to educate the user.
This is an intermittent error. As this is production code that will be run only once a month, it's extremely difficult to reproduce, and I can't give you the exact text and number at this time. It is the second month this happened.
I suspect this may occur when someone is working with this or the other database.
The dataflow is to update all 'projects' once a month in one database and then make this information available in the other database.
Maybe, it's because of the first line in the 'Routines' code:
If vbNo = MsgBox("Do you want to update?", vbYesNo, "Update") Then
Exit Function
End If
I'll make another subroutine without the MsgBox.
I've tried this in our development database and it works. This doesn't mean anything as the other code also workes fine in development.
I guess this error message is linked to the state of one of your databases. You are using here Jet connections and Access objects, and you might not be able, for multiple reasons (multi-user environment, unability to delete LDB Lock file, etc), to properly close your active database and open another one. So, according to me, the solution is to forget the Jet engine and to use another connexion to update the data in the "other" database.
When you say "The dataflow is to update all 'projects' once a month in one database and then make this information available in the other database", I assume that the role of your "Routine" is to update some data, either via SQL instructions or equivalent recordset updates.
Why don't you try to make the corresponding updates by opening a connexion to your other database and (1) send the corresponding SQL instructions or (2) opening recordset and making requested updates?
One idea would be for example:
Dim cn as ADODB.connexion,
qr as string,
rs as ADODB.recordset
'qr can be "Update Table_Blablabla Set ... Where ...
'rs can be "SELECT * From Table_Blablabla INNER JOIN Table_Blobloblo
set cn = New ADODB.connexion
cn.open
You can here send any SQL instruction (with command object and execute method)
or open and update any recordset linked to your other database, then
cn.close
This can also be done via an ODBC connexion (and DAO.recordsets), so you can choose your favorite objects.
If you would like another means of running the function, try the following:
Dim obj As New Access.Application
obj.OpenCurrentDatabase (CurrentProject.Path & "\Working.mdb")
obj.DoCmd.RunMacro "MyMacro"
obj.CloseCurrentDatabase
Set obj = Nothing
Where 'MyMacro' has an action of 'RunCode' with the Function name you would prefer to execute in Working.mdb
I've been able to reproduce the error in 'development'.
"This action cannot be completed because the other application is busy. Choose 'Switch To' to activate ...."
I really can't see the rest of the message, as it is blinking very fast. I guess this error is due to 'switching' between the two databases. I hope that, by educating the user, this will stop.
Philippe, your answer is, of course, correct. I'd have chosen that path if I hadn't developed the 'routine' beforehand.
"I've been able to reproduce this behaviour. It happens when the focus has to shift to the called database, but the user sets the focus ([ALT]+[TAB]) on the first database. The 'solution' was to educate the user." As it is impossible to prevent the user to switch application in Windows, I'd like to close the subject.