Conference azur::mcc

Hi Doug

I had the same idea. In past I used DECdecision for customized reports,
but the tool was not stable and it has no future. Therefore we have 
experimented a little bit with MS Excel and I think it should work well.

We could share some work, because the funding of the development of Excel
macros is the main point. We should find some customers who would like
such a solution. I think DECmcc lacks of a simple a flexible reporting
utility and MS Excel is installed at nearly every customer site.


BTW, how did you get the data from RDB into Excel. Because I have not found
any solution here, I used the "Open of Text" function in Excel. The textfiles
were generated from MCC with "show .., to file x.x" comands on recorded data,
where the needed attributes were extracted from the file x.x. I have planned
to write a little parser for this task. If your solution is more elegant, I
would prefer to use your method.

Edgar

> BTW, how did you get the data from RDB into Excel. Because I have not found
> any solution here, I used the "Open of Text" function in Excel. The textfiles
> were generated from MCC with "show .., to file x.x" comands on recorded data,
> where the needed attributes were extracted from the file x.x. I have planned
> to write a little parser for this task. If your solution is more elegant, I
> would prefer to use your method.

I didn't want to work that hard... ;^)

This is what I did on a PC running Pathworks (DECnet) V4.0 and Excel 4.0 
(from the "Microsoft Office" kit):

    - I made certain that the RDB files were on a system that was running
      the SQL Server. 

    - When I opened Excel, I executed the Q+E "Add in" macro ("QE.XLA").  

    - I was then able to select "Set Database from the "Data" pulldown
      menu.  

    - From there, I selected "External Database...", from the "Sources"
      option, I selected "Rdb", then "Logon".

    - At that point I was presented with a "Logon to Rdb".  I entered:
	"Server" (DECnet nodename of the system running SQL Server)
	"User Name" (my acount name on that system)
	"Password" (password for my account on that system)
	"Schema Statement" (schema statement for the Rdb file I want)
			(e.g. declare schema filename "dka0:[doug]mccexp.rdb")

    - From there on, I can just 'suck in' the columns from the Rdb
      structure that I want using SQL queries or 'point-n-click' selections
      of rows & columns on the Excel spreadsheet.

    ... and I know *squat* about Rdb and PCs!

    /doug

Hi Doug

Thanks for your reply. It is a very interesting solution.

We encountered a problem which could not be solved. Sorry we are no RDB experts.
 
>    - At that point I was presented with a "Logon to Rdb".  I entered:
>	"Server" (DECnet nodename of the system running SQL Server)
>	"User Name" (my acount name on that system)
>	"Password" (password for my account on that system)
>	"Schema Statement" (schema statement for the Rdb file I want)
>			(e.g. declare schema filename "dka0:[doug]mccexp.rdb")

Here we got an error message from MS Excel: "Unable to Logon to server RDB"

Login is ok, Database is present and accessible with SQL$.EXE.

Do we need something additional on the server side ?
 
Edgar

Check the netserver.log files on the servers for errors.

If no helpful info there, then follow up on your problem in NOVA::SQL_SERVICES
(that's where the SQL gurus hang out...)

/douig

A casual query to the SQL_SERVICES conference suggests that one be absolutely
certain that you arr running the correct versions of all the related
products...

/doug


           <<< NOVA::NOTES_DISK:[NOTES$LIBRARY]SQL_SERVICES.NOTE;1 >>>
                          -< VAX SQL/SERVICES Forum >-
================================================================================
Note 737.0        XL4 and "Unable to connect to source : RDB"!         3 replies
GIDDAY::HADDAD                                       15 lines  14-JUN-1992 18:01
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
    Folks,
    
    I have a customer who is running SQL Services of V4.0 of Rdb and
    XL4 (a microsoft spreadsheet on a pc).
    
    I think he has got it all set up correctly, however, on accessing the
    database from the pc he keeps getting  from XL4 :" Unable to
    connect source : Rdb" !
    
    Has anyone had to work on XL4 before? Is there anything extra that
    we need to do to get it working? I am trying to get more information
    from the customer as well.
    
    Thanks in advance for any comments/suggestion/etc and cheers,
    Asyat
================================================================================
Note 737.1        XL4 and "Unable to connect to source : RDB"!            1 of 3
SHALOT::DUNCAN "Joe - CIS/EIC Doc. Mgmt. Solution Se" 4 lines  15-JUN-1992 10:31
                         -< Is SQL/Services working? >-
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
    Can the user access the database using other SQL/Services programs?
    (Such as the sample application that comes with SQL/Services.)

    Joe Duncan @ OPA
================================================================================
Note 737.2        XL4 and "Unable to connect to source : RDB"!            2 of 3
GIDDAY::HADDAD                                        8 lines  16-JUN-1992 02:34
                         -< Trying to get more infor. >-
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
    Joe,
    
    Thanks for your reply mate. I am trying to get more infor but the
    customer is not available. As soon as I get it rest assured I shall
    post it here.
    
    cheers,
    Asyat
================================================================================
Note 737.3        XL4 and "Unable to connect to source : RDB"!            3 of 3
GIDDAY::HADDAD                                       14 lines   4-OCT-1992 23:50
           -< When all the correct versions installed,all is okay! >-
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
    FOLKS,
    
    Sorry for the delay, but I guess it is better late than never :-)
    
    After taking some very long time to get the customer to install the 
    correct version of RDB, EXCEL, Pathworks and Mircosoft, everything
    worked and I mean really worked and is working very well.
    
    When there is so many products working together, it is very hard to
    convince some of these customers the importance of having the 
    correct (or compatibile) version of each product!
    
    Thanks again and cheers,
    Asyat

See for more info on Q+E and Rdb , notesfile SQL_SERVICES, note 688

After some tries and experiments we got it ! We have used RDB version 4.1-0 
and MS Excel 4.0.

Here is a cookbook how to access a RDB-Database from EXCEL:

Steps on the Server:

1) In the configuration file SYS$STARTUP:SQLSRV$CONFIG.DAT for the 
SQL-Server you should allow more than 2 processes for the class of your 
database. If you use the default file change the line with "MAX 2" for the 
class "GENERIC" to "MAX 4". EXCEL needs for dubious reasons in some cases 
more than 2 processes for a single command.

2) Make shure that the SQL-Server is on (or restartet after you changed the 
configuration file). The startup file is SYS$STARTUP:SQLSRV$STARTUP.COM.


Steps on the Client (Excel):

1) Open the standard macro qe.xla normally in c:\excel\qe\qe.xla to make 
the SQL related commands available.
2) Choose option Data - Set database. 
3) Choose option "external database"
4) Choose option "sources" ignoring the rest of that window
5) Choose options "Rdb" and then "logon"
6) Fill in the next window as follows: Server: nodename of RDB-database 
(without colon), User Name: VMS-Accountname, Password: password of the 
account, and now be careful, under Schema Statement you have to write full 
SQL-code and not only the database name: eg. declare schema filename 
'database-filename' or attach 'filename database-filename' or any other 
valid attach statement of your current RDB-version.
7) Now the link should have been established and you can close the next 
window to get a list of all database tables.