Link to home
Start Free TrialLog in
Avatar of MauriceLSmith
MauriceLSmithFlag for Australia

asked on

4D Database Export to Excel using ODBC

Hi Folks

I am a power user/ certified external consultant of a third party developed industry specific package that is based on the 4D database engine. I'm based in Australia and the package was developed here as well. I want to enhance the standard reports provided by the package by extracting the data via ODBC to Excel. The third party developer is not willing to assist me as they see me as a competitor in terms of consulting income.

I'm an accountant, not a developer and I don't have programing skills. However, I have been around PCs a long time and am not afraid to tinker with software.

I'd love to receive your advice about:
(a) which ODBC to use,
(b) how to configure it to talk to the 4D database
(c) how to extract the data via the ODBC to Excel

Thanks in advance
Ozzie
ASKER CERTIFIED SOLUTION
Avatar of Badotz
Badotz
Flag of United States of America image

Link to home
membership
This solution is only available to members.
To access this solution, you must be a member of Experts Exchange.
Start Free Trial
Avatar of MauriceLSmith

ASKER

Hi Badotz Thank you for your assistance.

I only managed to get to the first part of Point 5 without hassles. When I opened the Data Link Properties box the application is not listed there, I chose the "Microsoft OLE DB Provider for ODBC Drivers" (is this the correct selection?). Then for Step 6 for the "data source name" I pasted in the directory path name to the application database. I entered the user name and password. Then I tested the connection. I received the following error message " Microsoft Data Link Error" "Data Source Name Too Long". No matter what I try in this section I receive the same message.

Your further assistance would be appreciated.

TIA
Make sure, in Step 4, you are on the first tab.

If your app is not ODBC-compliant, or the driver is not listed, then I cannot help you further.

You might search Google for downloadable drivers and try it again?
SOLUTION
Avatar of Mark Wills
Mark Wills
Flag of Australia image

Link to home
membership
This solution is only available to members.
To access this solution, you must be a member of Experts Exchange.
Start Free Trial
That first link, wahty I was trying to say was, you will need to simply apply what it is saying into the new method using the ADO link...
Once you have established a link to the 4D database, or have the ODBC drivers installed, then in Excel you can start to query that database.

As a starting point, use the import external data wizard - found via "DATA" on the menu bar. Use the odbcdriver for 4d, and follow the prompts / directions. You can use MSQuery to get more programatic queries on the database...

And aplogies for the shocking typo's and grammar on the previous posting.