Nexio® TitleMotion™ GS Data Source Wizard
User Guide Set Up a Data Source
Set Up a Data Source
Use the Data Source Wizard to link the data tags in your objects to an external data source. The Data
Source Wizard displays a list of ODBC sources that are already defined on your system. Select an ODBC source in the Existing ODBC Source list to view the tables associated with that source, then select a table from the Associated Tables list to see a preview of the data in the source’s table.
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Nexio® TitleMotion™ GS Data Source Wizard
User Guide Set Up a Data Source
Data Source Type Options
The Data Source Wizard provides the following options for setting up a data source.
Data Source Type Options
Data Source Wizard Option Description
Use Existing ODBC Data Sources Allows you to use an existing ODBC database, ODBC text file, or RSS/XML data file. These are files that have been added to your system’s ODBC system list, either with the Data Source Wizard or with the
Windows Data Source Administrator.
See Use ODBC Data Sources (on page 13).
Use Existing Non-ODBC Data
Sources
Allows you to use an existing non-ODBC data source.
These are text files which were added to the Data
Source Wizard as non-ODBC sources.
See Use Non-ODBC Data Sources (on page 13).
Create New Text File Data
Source
Create New RSS/XML Data
Source
Adds a new text file to the Data Source Wizard’s list of available data sources. More than one text file can be used in a single data source, and you can choose to handle the sources with the Windows ODBC driver.
See Set Up a New Text File (on page 8).
Adds a new RSS/XML feed to the Data Source
Wizard’s list of available data sources.
See Set Up a New RSS/XML Feed (on page 11).
Set Up a New Text File
To add a new text file to the list of available data sources, select the Create New Text File Data Source radio button and click Next.
In the following dialog you can define one or more text files to use as data sources, and you can choose to handle the sources with the Windows ODBC driver.
Add a Text File with ODBC
Use the ODBC driver to manage a single text file if you want to control user access to the data. The
ODBC driver also gives you control over how the data is managed.
1. Click the Browse button and select a text file. The file’s data is displayed in the Data Source Wizard’s
Data Preview list.
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Nexio® TitleMotion™ GS Data Source Wizard
User Guide
2. Enter a data source name for the text file in the Data Source Name field.
Set Up a Data Source
3. Check the ODBC Handles Text Files checkbox.
4. If only the current Windows user is allowed access to this data, select the User DSN radio button. To allow all users on the system to access the data, select the System DSN radio button.
5. Click the Next button. A new dialog opens with options for managing the text file.
6. The Data Delimiter radio buttons allow you to choose ways of separating each data line into multiple columns.
Select Comma to divide each data line into multiple columns based on the commas in the line.
Select Tab to divide each data line into multiple columns based on the tab stops in the line.
Select Specify My Column Width to specify how many characters can fit into each column. You will set the column widths in the next dialog.
To choose your own character delimiter, select Custom and enter a character in the Custom field. Each data line will be divided into multiple columns based on the occurrences of the custom character.
7. Checking the Set First Row as the Column Headers checkbox sets the first line of the text file to be the column header names. You will not be able to change the names of the headers when this option is checked.
If you don’t check the Set First Row as the Column Headers checkbox, you will be able to name each column header in the next dialog.
8. Choose character set standards with the Character Set radio buttons. Select the ANSI radio button if the text file uses the ANSI character set. Select the OEM radio button if the text file uses an OEM character set.
9. Click the Next button. A new dialog opens with options for formatting the columns. The options available will depend on the delimiter selected and whether or not the first row is set as the column header.
10. Select a data column in the Data Preview list.
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Nexio® TitleMotion™ GS Data Source Wizard
User Guide Set Up a Data Source
If you unchecked the Set First Row as the Column Headers checkbox in the previous dialog, you can type a new name for the column in the Column Header field.
Select a data type from the Data Type drop-down list.
If you select the DateTime data type you must specify how the date and time are stored in the database file. Choose a format from the Format drop-down list.
To use a custom format for dates and times, choose the Custom option and enter date and time formats in the appropriate fields.
If you selected the Specify My Column Width delimiter in the previous dialog, enter the width for the column in the Column Field. Any characters beyond this column width will be moved to the next column.
Otherwise, enter the column’s maximum number of characters in the Data Maximum field.
Characters beyond this limit will not be displayed.
11. Click the Set button to finalize the column parameters you have changed. The data preview window reflects your changes.
12. Repeat steps 10 and 11 for the rest of the columns.
13. When you’ve finished setting the parameters for the columns, click the Next button to start linking
the columns to the data tags in the layout object. See Link Data Tags to Data Sources (on page 14) to
continue.
Add a Text File without ODBC
You do not need to use the ODBC driver to manage text files. If you choose not to use the ODBC driver, you will not have the formatting options available to ODBC text sources.
Once you have added non-ODBC text files to the Data Source Wizard, you can access them in the future by selecting the Use Existing Non-ODBC Data Sources radio button in the Data Source Wizard’s main window.
1. Click the Browse button and select a text file. The file’s data is displayed in the Data Source Wizard’s
Data Preview list.
2. Enter a data source name for the text file in the Data Source Name field.
3. Uncheck the ODBC Handles Text Files checkbox. The Add Source button and the All Text Sources list appear.
4. Click the Add Source button. The data source is added to the All Text Sources list.
5. Repeat steps 1-4 to add additional text file data sources. Select the sources in the All Text Sources list to view their content in the Data Preview list.
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Nexio® TitleMotion™ GS Data Source Wizard
User Guide Set Up a Data Source
6. When you are finished adding data sources, click the Next button to start linking the sources to the
data tags in your objects. See Link Data Tags to Data Sources (on page 14) to continue.
Set Up a New RSS/XML Feed
If you are accessing an RSS or XML feed, select the Create New RSS/XML Data Source radio button.
After you have selected the Create New RSS/XML Data Source radio button, click Next. A new dialog opens with options for browsing to the data source, giving it a name, and setting its user permissions.
Note: If your layout contains multiple objects that connect to the same RSS feed, all of the objects can share the same source.
If, however, different objects all connect to the same RSS feed, you must create a new source with a unique name for every layout that wishes to use the feed.
1. In the URL/XML File Path field, enter a URL for an RSS feed or an FTP location to access an XML file over a server. You can also choose an XML file manually by clicking the Browse button and selecting an XML/RSS file.
2. Enter a data source name for the XML file in the Data Source Name field.
3. If only the current Windows user is allowed access to this data, select the User DSN radio button. To allow all users on the system to access the data, select the System DSN radio button.
4. Click the Next button.
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Nexio® TitleMotion™ GS Data Source Wizard
User Guide Set Up a Data Source
5. If the data source is being retrieved from a URL or FTP location, the next dialog allows you to enter a user ID and password.
If your data source does not accept authentication, select the No Authentication option.
Select the Anonymous radio button if the data source does not require a specific user ID or password.
Select the Login With the Following radio button if the data source requires a user ID and a password. Enter the login information in the User ID and Password fields.
If the data source is being retrieved from an FTP location, navigate to the proper directory using the FTP File Directory list.
When you have finished entering the login information click Next to continue.
6. Use the next dialog to select the data elements you want to retrieve from the XML file: a. In the Data File Structure list, select the data element you want to link to. b. Click the arrow button to add the element to the list of selected data sources. The element is added as a column in the Data Preview list. c. Repeat to add additional elements to the list of data sources.
7. To remove data sources that you have chosen, select the data source in the Selected Data Source list and click the Remove button.
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Nexio® TitleMotion™ GS Data Source Wizard
User Guide Set Up a Data Source
8. When you have finished adding data elements, click the Next button to start linking the elements to
the data tags in your object. See Link Data Tags to Data Sources (on page 14) to continue.
Select an Existing Data Source
Each time you open the Data Source Wizard, all of the previously-added sources are available to be selected and linked to the data tags.
Use ODBC Data Sources
Follow these steps if you would like to use an existing ODBC database, ODBC text file, or RSS/XML data file.
1. Select the Use Existing ODBC Data Sources radio button.
2. Select a source in the Existing Source list. The tables in that source are listed in the Associated Tables list.
3. Select a table from the Associated Tables list. A preview of the table’s data appears in the Data
Preview list.
4. Click the Next button to start linking the table to the data tags in the layout object. See Link Data
Tags to Data Sources (on page 14) to continue.
Use Non-ODBC Data Sources
If you want to use existing non-ODBC files:
1. Select the Use Existing Non-ODBC Data Sources radio button.
2. Click Next.
3. The next dialog displays all of the existing non-ODBC data sources. Add or remove sources within the
list as described in Add a Text File without ODBC (on page 10).
4. Click the Next button to start linking the data sources to the data tags in the layout objects. See Link
Data Tags to Data Sources (on page 14).
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