Connecting Databases to Apps

Transcription

1 Rev Application Note Revisions History Rev Datum Description Initial Version

2 Swissprime Technologies AG, The information contained herein is subject to change without notice. Information in this document is believed to be accurate and reliable. However, Swissprime Technologies AG does not give any representations or warranties, expressed or implied, as to the accuracy or completeness of such information and shall have no liability for the consequences of use of such information. bluepulse is a registered trademark of Swissprime Technologies AG. All other trademarks or registered trademarks referenced herein are property of the respective corporations.

3 Contents 1. Introduction Summary Abbreviations References Reader guidance Data Sources How to connect to a database Prerequisites Database Tables Editing the reader entity Editing the card entity Defining a DNS connection string for Excel file Starting bluepulse Studio Hints Company Confidential of 12

4 1. Introduction 1.1 Summary This document gives descriptions on how to connect Enterprise Databases with Apps, to use bluepulse Apps with data originating from a database instead of BML files or user interface. Possible data sources are those using Microsoft Windows ODBC Connector, such as Excel Sheets, SQL Databases or even text files. 1.2 Abbreviations Acronym SPT BML ODBC SQL Description Swissprime Technologies AG Bluepulse markup language (App definition file) Open database connectivity After SEQUEL = Structured English Query Language 1.3 References Ref Name Author Revision [1] User Manual bluepulse App Definition Swissprime Technologies AG Reader guidance To improve the readability, the following icons are used where special attention is needed: Attention Make sure to read this paragraph carefully Information This paragraph contains additional information or an example for better understanding Error This paragraph explains an error case Online Check for further information Company Confidential of 12

5 2. Data Sources For bluepulse Apps with Type ID or Card, it is possible to define the valid (U)IDs within the BML App definition directly. In many cases however, IDs are already present in enterprise databases, or it is desired to manage valid IDs outside of bluepulse Studio. To support this, bluepulse Studio is adding ODBC connection support to enable retrieving ID data from various data sources supporting the Microsoft Windows ODBC Connector. These can be for example (list not complete): Microsoft SQL Server database Microsoft Access databases Microsoft Excel spreadsheet MySQL database (with ODBC connection driver installed) This document covers two examples of data sources: MySQL database Microsoft Excel 2010 xlsx spreadsheet Company Confidential of 12

6 3. How to connect to a database 3.1 Prerequisites Database connections are so far only possible for Apps of type ID and Card. Thus, you should start from a valid BML file of either type. When installed, bluepulse Studio contains two ID based Apps, which contain IDs within the App definition (BML file, see [1]). For using a MySQL database with this example, you should make sure that you have installed the database locally on the computer you are testing with. MySQL (Community Edition): Also, make sure you have the MySQL ODBC driver installed. MySQL ODBC connector: If you do not want to create the test data base and BML files on your own, you can download a zipfile with all necessary files. ODBC connection test BML-files: The examples hereafter resemble the ODBC connection test BML files from the bluepulse website. 3.2 Database Tables For this example, in the database test we have created 3 very simple tables, which resemble employee access rights management: Figure 1: Structure database "test" Table employee_groups defines two simple columns for which employee IDs will be mapped to later: Figure 2: Table employee_groups Company Confidential of 12

7 Table employees defines the employee names and their employee IDs: Figure 3: Table employees Finally, the mapping table group_mapping maps the employee-table IDs to groups IDs to put employees into the two different groups. Please note that for mapping, database internal unique row-indexes have to be used, not the App- ID values (see red circles below). If one employee shall be member of two groups, 2 entries for the same id are required. Figure 4: Table group_mapping The same data, we have converted into an Excel spread sheet, which is included in the example download zip file. The only difference between the data is, that we have included transponder chip UIDs in the employee table: Figure 5: Excel spread sheet database Company Confidential of 12

8 Please make sure, that when you test with your own transponder chips, these UID will have to be edited to match your card samples, when using with App type Card. 3.3 Editing the reader entity bluepulse reader devices support Whitelist entries for valid IDs when running Apps of type ID or Card. When using bluepulse Studio, these can be selected in groups, which are either defined directly within the Apps BML code (see figure 6), or now also dynamically fetched from the database (figure 8). For this, you should remove anything from the BML in the reader entity definition regarding Whitelist and groups (marked lines). Figure 6: BML defined Whitelist and -groups Change the source from 1004 (pre-defined list) to the value indicating source =database, which is See [1] for more details regarding source identifier. Figure 7: Change source identifier to database Company Confidential of 12

9 Add the database information like in the example below: Figure 8: Database info in BML-File The most important part is the connection string. In the above case, it is not needed, to configure an ODBC data source connection within Microsoft Windows. Once we configure the Excel Sheet as data source for the card entity part, we will show how those are used. Please enter your database user name and password, as you have set when installed the data base. Note, how the <TABLE_...> tags identify the table names in the database, and the <COL- UMN_...> tags the columns to use for bluepulse. The <SOURCETYPE> tag is used to tell bluepulse Studio if characters should be converted into ID values (set to 102) or hexadecimal values should be directly taken from the database (set to 101). See [1] for more details. 3.4 Editing the card entity If you start from the sample ID App Relay, which came with bluepulse Studio, remove any predefined value tags as shown below. Figure 9: Card entity in BML-File Company Confidential of 12

10 Enter the Excel file data source definition like below: Figure 10: Chose database as source Please note that for Excel files as data source, you must add quotes and a $ character at the end of the table name, in order to access the sheets correctly. Additionally the source type must be changed from 1004 (pre-defined list) to 1002 (database). We also changed the default value to the ID of employee Mr. One, so that bluepulse Studio preselects this entry in the user interface. This setting now uses a DSN entry in the connection string, which needs to be configured within Windows settings, which is explained in the next chapter. 3.5 Defining a DNS connection string for Excel file Our example used the connection string DSN=ExcelTest;. This can be configured to access the sample file by opening ODBC-Connections Dialog (could be named differently in your language). Best way to find the ODBC-Connections dialog is to enter the search-string ODBC in Windows search (Windows 7: Start search programs and files). Figure 11: ODBC-Datenquellen-Administrator (named differently in other languages) Company Confidential of 12

11 In tab System-DSN click Add (here: Hinzufügen ) and enter name ExcelTest (description can also be empty), select Excel 12.0 and select the file with the corresponding button, then click ok. Figure 12: ODBC-Setup for Excel 3.6 Starting bluepulse Studio Import your modified App BML file with drag and drop into bluepulse Studio, and start playing with the values. Figure 13: Card dialog bluepulse Studio You can also dynamically add new rows, or change group mappings, and each time you update/install the app, the lists will be newly populated. Company Confidential of 12

12 4. Hints You have seen that it is possible to take reader and card ID values even from different databases. Of course, it is also possible to use the same database for both entities. For ID values, it is also possible, to use the same column for name and value. Then you have to set the <SOURCETYPE> to ASCII (102), else the App installation will fail. Please note, that database entries longer than the value specified within the <SIZE>-tag will be truncated to that size. Company Confidential of 12