Getting data from multiple tables into one

Carbon · General User Joined: 01 Apr 2008 Posts: 5

I'm involved in rolling out a database in a call centre. The phone operatives will enter data via a form into an underlying table. It has become an issue that only one simultaneous instance of the database seems possible at any one time so we're thinking of making separate copies on the individual users' machines and then reconciling the data into a master copy at the end of each day.

Firstly, is this the best solution to the issue?
And secondly, how to do it?

'Export' on the 'File' menu always appears greyed out, can't seem to copy/paste more than one piece of data at a time (can't copy/paste multiple selections), can't see any alternate output formats for Base tables advertised in Tools/Options, an append query over many copies of the database on many machines seems a very complex solution.

Can anyone help?

Thanks

Mark B

Carbon · General User Joined: 01 Apr 2008 Posts: 5

So How How How How How do I do that then?

Carbon · General User Joined: 01 Apr 2008 Posts: 5

A cursory glance over the MySQL website shows that it's far in excess of our modest requirements and the effort wouldn't justify the rewards (this is hardly a major project I'm referring to). So to revise to my original question, can this be done within OpenOffice without the use of further products.

Mark B · Posted: Wed Apr 02, 2008 2:28 am Post subject:

My first boss used to say "short cuts make for long delays" - you can do what you want in OpenOffice, but at some point it will come back and bite you on the bum. It's better to get it right now rather than having to rebuild everything when your system grows - at some point OpenOffice will crash on your users and your data will get trashed.

Use OOo for reports, but don't rely on it for your core data.

If you don't want to build this yourself then why not look into software designed for CRM - for instance SugarCRM which is open source and free.
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Carbon · General User Joined: 01 Apr 2008 Posts: 5

For a project that is likely to expand it would definitely be best to follow your advice to avoid having to rebuild later, but this is really a small scale project capturing a small amount of data from a small amount of users. If there is a simple way of easily appending multpile tables into one or just cutting and pasting it that you know of I would much appreciate it if you could help out. The alternative is likely to be buying more licences for MSAccess (because quite frankly I have enough other tasks in my intray already).

Cheers

JDHeinzmann · Posted: Sun Apr 06, 2008 6:33 pm Post subject: Use MySQL

I would like to add my voice to those suggesting MySQL. I came in as a complete newbie desiring to create only a single-user database and I chose MySQL. The experience was great, and it was easy. And the documentation is fantastic. Even though MySQL is a very powerful database, it is not hard to get it to work for simple tasks. In fact, I am finding the OpenOffice.org Base part of this to be *much* harder. Use MySQL workbench to generate your Schema graphically, export it to a script and use MySQL browser to execute the script and create your database. Then connect to MySQL via ODBC (or JDBC) from Base and away you go.

I have no experience doing what you are requesting in Base. I think I could figure it out in MySQL more easily, but once you have MySQL in place, you have the multi-user problem worked out.

On the other hand, it sounds like, more MS Access licenses might be the best option for you.

Best of luck.
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JD

MySQL 5.0.45-community-nt, OOo 2.3.1, MySQL ODBC 5.1.5, Windows 6.0 SP1.

b4k4 · General User Joined: 09 Nov 2005 Posts: 44

If you insist, then you could export each table to a spreadsheet (open a spreadsheet, drag the table from tables view in base onto spreadsheet), then re-import into base (hihglight cells in calc, then drag into base window).
This would get to be tedious after a couple of days I would imagine, but anything is better than giving money to the empire. Spend those access licenses on a mysql book.

Carbon · General User Joined: 01 Apr 2008 Posts: 5

Thanks for the info, resolves my issue without having to buy any new software/licences. Just to clarify for anyone else reading, drag from and to the icon of the desired table in the database manager window, rather than opening the table to view the data and trying to do it from there (which is what I'd been attempting).