Specifications

CHAPTER 5 Defining Reports
Users Guide 181
Using ODBC drivers instead of External
If you have an ODBC dBASE driver and an ODBC text driver on your
computer and you configure ODBC data sources for them, you can access data
that resides in a dBASE file or a tab-separated text file. To configure data
sources, use the ODBC Administrator, a Windows utility that is accessible
from within the Utilities folder in the Database painter.
Accessing data by means of the ODBC drivers is easier than using External as
your data source, because External requires you to specify your data as a result
set. In other words, to use External you have to know your data.
For information on ODBC drivers, see Connecting to Your Database.
❖ To define the data using External:
1 Click External in the Choose Data Source dialog box in the wizard and
click Next.
The Define Result Set dialog box displays for you to specify the first
column in the result set.
2 Enter the name and type of the column.
Available datatypes are listed in the drop-down list. The
number datatype
is equivalent to the InfoMaker
double datatype.
3 Click Add to enter the name and type of any additional columns you want
in the result set.
4 Click Next when you have added all the columns you want.
Now you must import the data values from the file into the report. This is
similar to retrieving data from the database.
❖ To import the data values from an external file:
1 Make sure the Preview view of the report is selected.
2 Select Rows>Import from the menu bar.
The Select Import File dialog box displays.
3 Select the type of files to list from the List Files of Type drop-down list (an
XML, CSV, TXT, or DBF file).
4 Enter the name of the import file and click OK.