Prelude Newbie

[vuelto]

I am so glad that I found this forum.  Thank you Precision!  Where can a Prelude Newbie like myself go to get technical information about the product that I must now support for my organization?  There don't seem to be many Prelude resources available out there.

[precisonline]

What exactly are you wanting to know?

There aren't many technical resources for the Activant Prelude product other than the online help that Activant provides.  Problem is, there are a LOT of details and no amount of documentation would likely ever be enough.  So, with that in mind, if you have any specific questions, that might help us get the discussion started.

Oh, and you know about the Prelude email group, right?

[vuelto]

Right now I have a need to connect to the Prelude database via ODBC and create a data mart in MS SQL that will be used for reporting in Crystal Reports.  Is any of this possible?  First things first, can I connect to Prelude via ODBC?

Thanks

[precisonline]

Yes, you'll need the Unidata Visual Schema Generator to setup Unidata for ODBC access.  This free tool (commonly on the Unidata clients CD or downloadable with the Unidata clients bundle from IBM) allows you to specify the fields out of your Unidata files that you want to be able to query/update, and also to set the permissions.  I've heard it's possible to do all this without the VSG, but I've never done it that way.

Before mapping the fields with the VSG you'll have to configure the ud_database file to expose your Unidata information to the outside world.  The "Developing Unidata ODBC Apps" document from IBM discusses how this is done.  You'll also need the UCI Configuration Editor (also a free tool from IBM) to setup some client side configuration.

Unfortunately, it's not as straightforward as some SQL databases but it's not all too horrible either.  At the risk of sounding like an upsell, but if you have budget for an hour of training ($120) I can step you through the procedure and probably save you a few hours of messing around.  Just let me know.

[vuelto]

I've got the Unidata ODBC connector setup (had some troubles there because the SQL server is 64bit and Unidata ODBC is 32bit).  I've setup my uci.config to point at our prelude server.  The only thing I don't know is what to put in the database field.  I thought it would be "prelude" but that doesn't seem to work. 

Whenever I try to connect I get an error that says, "Could not login to database prelude as user invalid username or password."  When I change the database name to "non-existant" I get the same error message, given this and the fact that I have verified the username and password, I think I have the wrong database name. 

How can I find the correct database name for my ODBC settings?

Thanks for your help.

PS.  You mentioned an email list in an earlier post.  Where is that list?  Here or at Activant?

Thanks

[precisonline]

First, regarding the database name.  You'll need to find the file named ud_database on your system.  It's in a different place based on whether you're on Windows, AIX, or whatever, and based on what version you're on so I can't tell you specifically where to look but I can tell you that on AIX version 6.1 the file can be found in: /usr/ud61/include

On 7.1 Windows it's in c:\ibm\ud71\include.

That text file defines the accounts in Unidata that are accessible via the various connectors in Unidata.  A definition in this file looks like this:

DATABASE=demo
UDTHOME=C:\IBM\ud71
UDTACCT=C:\IBM\ud71\demo
TRACE_LEVEL=0

The DATABASE is the name of the database you would connect to via ODBC.  The UDTHOME should be the same as $UDTHOME.  UDACCT is the fully qualified path to the directory holding the VOC file.  And TRACE_LEVEL is a debugging thing that, if > 0, will output debugging information to a log.

Once this is defined, you should be able to connect to Unidata via ODBC using the database name as defined.  You can test this connection with the VSG using your root credentials.  You will likely need to use the VSG anyway to setup grant access to the various Unidata tables.

Regarding the email list... That's the IPUG (International Prelude Users Group) list.  Browse over to http://groups.google.com/group/preludeusersgroup and request membership.  Good luck though.  Some people have requested membership and were never added.  Others (like myself) have quit the group over an increasing amount of drama and a decreasing about of actual help.  See http://www.precisonline.com/forum/index.php/topic,189.0.html for more information about this issue.

[Tom Pellitieri]

<blatant plug>

There is also the SB Solutions E-Mail list hosted by the International U2 Users Group.  Their website is http://www.u2ug.org

You can sign up for the lists at http://listserver.u2ug.org

</blatant plug>

--Tom

[precisonline]

Thanks Tom!  I just knew I was forgetting something important!

[vuelto]

Thanks Guys!  Unfortunately I was one of those folks that requested membership and was never given access.


You've set me on the right track and I certainly appreciate it.