Characteristics can be linked to ODBC-compliant data sources (such as MS Excel, text files or databases) using the ODBC Link feature within the Define Characteristic dialog box. Unlike an import, these linked databases can be queried to obtain new data added to the database source.
See also:
Linking and Importing External Data Files for importing and linking data from external sources, including ASCII text files, Excel files or QDB files.
To link a Characteristic to an ODBC-compliant source without opening the Data Source:
Note: ODBC data sources may also be opened directly using the Open Data Source option in the File menu.
1) Select the Data Source tab in the Define Characteristic dialog box.
2) Select the Get data from an external source (ODBC) checkbox.
3) Beside the Connection String textbox, select the Define button to define the ODBC Data Source. Select one of the following Data Sources: Microsoft Access File, Microsoft Excel file, Text file, or Other Data Source.
a) For Access, Excel and Text files, use the Browse button to define the Location of File.
b) For Excel and Text files, select the First Row as Column Headers option if the first row of the file includes parameter descriptors rather than data.
c) For other Data Sources, see ODBC Data Sources.
4) Beside the SQL Statement textbox, select the Define button to open the Define ODBC dialog box to create the Import definition of the particular data to be queried from the data source.
5) Beside the Field Types textbox, select the Define button to open the Define Fields dialog box to specify the field type associated with each of the fields.
6) Use the Skip First y Rows option to ignore a specified number of rows preceding the data specified by the defined query (such as when the first y rows contain header information that should not be plotted). Use the Plot Last x Groups option to limit the queried data to the specified number of groups. Note that the SQL Statement definition described above can be used for more elaborate filtering of the data, such as based on date/time and/or Traceability Field values.
The Test Data Source button can be used to verify the connection to the database.
Data can be viewed the same as other Characteristics in the database using the Show Chart and Show Data options. Likewise, once the Import definition has been defined, its properties can be copied with the other Characteristic properties to create new Characteristics, whose Import definition can be modified.