XLSQL for using Excel (XLS) as datasource in VC

Question

Hi Benjamin,
Hope you are having a good day. I know its been a while since you worked on this piece ([url] DATE issues when using BI JDBC Excel datasource in VC;url] ) but we are trying to do the same thing you had done. Use xlSQL to connect to an excel file as a datasource for VC modeling.
We want to use the BI Java connector. I have loaded the JAR files and when we get to the Manage Connections, not sure what we enter for the Driver, URL, Schema, username and Password.
What I now see if that the Connection Test (for the BI JDBC system) works fine with the following:
Driver: com.nilostep.xlsql.jdbc.xlDriver
Connection URL (Unix box): jdbc:nilostep:excel:/reports/spec (this is the folder where I have the xls file)
FixedSchema: (should my excel file name go in here?)
FixedCatalog: (should my excel sheet name go in here?)
Username: none used
Password: none used
When I do all of this and search for TABLES in VC on that system, it says None found. Any light shed on this would be very helpful.
Thanks,
BR

Answer 1

Hi,
The most important guideline we used was this document:
How Tou2026Configure a BI JDBC System for Visual Composer Version 1.03 u2013 March 2006
LINK: http://www.sdn.sap.com/irj/scn/go/portal/prtroot/docs/library/uuid/6209b52e-0401-0010-6a9f-d40ec3a09424?quicklink=index&overridelayout=true
Follow all the steps... Some remarks about the steps in this document:
Step 7: add all additional .jar files that are in the /lib folder of the xlsql driver package
Step 11 - 14:  ... skip this, after step 15 restart the whole j2ee cluster, this is really needed to load the .jar files
Step 15: although optional and not the configuration you need to get it working for VC it is handy to configure this as it allows you to use the JDBC test page for debuging etc.
The only 2 parameters you need to configure with this step is:
Driver: com.nilostep.xlsql.jdbc.xlDriver
Connection URL: jdbc:nilostep:excel:/reports/spec/
...Now restart the j2ee cluster...
After the restart you can use the following url to see if the driver works: http://<hostname>:<port>/TestJDBC_Web/TestJDBCPage.jsp
Continue the configuration to allow VC to access the driver you need to configuer a System object in the portal...
Follow Step 16 an onwards...
Step 26: Again only fill in the following:
Driver Class name: com.nilostep.xlsql.jdbc.xlDriver
Connection URL: jdbc:nilostep:excel:/reports/spec/
Step 29,30 and 34,35: Usermaping Type can be left untouched
Additional step (do this after step 33): To make the system visible in VC you must set the portal permission for the user that use VC to Read + Enduser. Also when used in runtime later the enduser should have Read+ Enduser permission to use the system object. We used the built-in group Authenticated User for this and set the permissions on this group to Read+Enduser.
This should do the trick...
FAQ 1 - after uploading a new (or overwriting an existent) XLS file to the folder the changes are not visible, how to solve this?
ANSWER 1 -  restart the JDBC connector via /nwa > manage > applications > (search for jdbc) > Stop / Start
FAQ 2 - after deleting a XLS file the data is still querieable, even after the restart of the jdbc driver?
ANSWER 2 - this is some kind of caching bug, deleted files are only deleted when you restart the J2EE engine.
FAQ 3 - after a restart of the jdbc driver, the first query firred in VC returns an error.
ANSWER 3 - this is because the first time the XLS files are read and writen into a HSQLDB in memory database, this takes more time. after this the calls are made on this in-memory-copy of the XLS data.
Hope this helps you...
Cheers,
Benjamin Houttuin
Edited by: Benjamin L.F. Houttuin on May 26, 2011 8:04 PM