Administrator Guide 2017
Export to Access 2003

Export to an Access 2003 database sends all of the data captured on a form into Access database tables.

The unique names defined for documents and for individual items are used to generate and update these tables - one Access table is created for each document with a name that is the unique name of the document. A field is created within the table for each individual item - the field name is the unique name of the item. Additionally, fields are created within the Access database for the customer, location, date etc and further tables are created to hold values for general purpose lists, customers, locations, templates etc.

Each template outputs to only one database, although more than one template can output to the same database.

Main

 Main screen for this action

*Description

A descriptive text to identify this action
*Access database location and filename By default the Access database updated by this action will be created under the filename entered here, in a sub-folder of the root output directory. If preferred, a pathname can also be specified so that it is saved elsewhere and this could be a UNC path, allowing you to update an Access database on the network.  The folder does not have to exist already as magic5 will create the directory if necessary.  Whilst Report processing variables should work here, they are inappropriate.  Please note that the Access filename must end in .mdb or it will not be recognised by the operating system.

Examples include:
  • MyAccessDatabase.mdb
  • Access_dbs/MyAccessDatabase.mdb
  • C:/Access_dbs/MyAccessDatabase.mdb
Use text of list entries rather than list entry id (useful if you have many different list items)

By default magic5 will output its own internal id for a given list, together with an Access database table containing the “text” corresponding to this internal id. This option simply exports the text within the data, which means that every occurence of a list entry is exported in full rather than as a number which points to a single occurence of the full text.

In general it is best to NOT to take this option so as to avoid duplicating data.

However, due to restrictions built into Access it is sometimes necessary to use the text of a list entry instead.  Under these circumstances this option can be enabled.

Conditions

This action will only be triggered if the conditions below are met. Leave blank if it is always to be executed.

Condition (1)-(4) If you wish to only run an action in a particular situation then you can use these conditions to specify them. The action will only occur if both conditions are satisfied. Typical uses are to only run an action or display an item if a particular answer has been given to one of the answers on the template.
For more help on using Display Conditions view the how-to guide.
Disable action

Tick this box to unconditionally disable this action.  This is the same as inserting a display condition that will never be fulfilled (eg. resultValue;xxx;equals;999 where there is no unique name of xxx).
Custom condition using 'and/or'

The text box under “Conditions (advanced)” allows custom conditions. These are tested in addition to any simpler conditions above.

If simple and complex conditions are both added then it will “AND” them together but each can be used on their own.

 

  • Each individual condition is the same as before (see above and how-to guide), but must be enclosed in square brackets.
    [condition type;unique name;test type;value to test] for example [resultValue;Priority;equals;High]
  • or and and test two or more conditions. NB. These are case-sensitive, OR and AND will not work
    • parentheses (curved brackets) give precedence to conditions. For example, to make A and B or C less ambiguous, use either:
      • (A and B) or C
      • A and (B or C)
  •  nesting can be used:
    • Surround each condition with [ and ]
    • Use lower-case or and and
    • Explicitly set precedence using ( and )
    • for example
      • ([resultValue;Priority;equals;High] and [resultValue;City;equals;London]) or (([resultValue;City;equals;Manchester] or [resultValue;City;equals;Leeds]) and [resultValue;Priority;equals;Medium])

Post-action processing (advanced)

After an action has finished running a file can be executed on the server. This could be, for instance, a .exe or a .bat file. Typically this would be used to insert data into another system.

File name to run Enter the full path and filename here.  Ensure that it is correctly spelt and that the file extension (such as .exe or .bat) is also correct.
Command line to run If the file specified above requires additional information on its command line, please enter it here. Contact your magic5 expert for further help.
Folder to run from Enter the full path and folder name that the executable programme needs to be launched from.
URL Instead of running an executable file locally, an http request can be sent to the URL specified here. It can contain standard variables.
HTTP verb Choose the http verb to be sent with the request to the URL specified above.  If you do not know what this is, ask your magic5 expert.
HTTP request body This will be very different in different circumstances and probably needs to defined at the implementation stage. It can contain standard variables and may contain the data entered on the form.
See Also
Output to XML file
Output to CSV file

Templates

Template
Template action