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The External Data Sources settings group comprises:

Prerequisites

Component

Comment

Promo Server

Used for fetching the installed database drivers to list in the Build Connection String form.

See Page Content Filling for the configuration of Promo Server.

Note: For additional prerequisites, configuration and workflow information, see section Promo Server.

Database Connections

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The Database Connections view lists all available database connections. The three action buttons are:

  • New: Allows you to manually enter a connection string. Clicking New adds a new entry to the list of available connections.

  • Delete: Deletes the selected connection.

  • Build connection string: Enables building a connection string.
    Clicking Build Connection String opens a dialog menu for setting all required parameters for successfully connecting to your source.

Note:

  • The Promo Server address needs to be set to scan available drivers.

  • We recommend using database roles with Read Only permission since Viz Channel Branding only reads data from the database.

Creating Database Connections

Before populating page content from database look-ups you must first configure the connection to the external data source. You can then proceed with mapping according to your data source.

To configure the connection to an external data source

  1. In the Settings dialog, click Database Connections.

  2. Click New.

  3. Enter a name for the connection.

  4. Enter the connection string provided by your administrator.

  5. Click OK.

To map from a Microsoft Excel spreadsheet

  1. Perform the procedure To configure the connection to an external data source above.

  2. Click Build Connection String.
    The DB Connection menu is displayed:

    image-20241022-130654.png

  3. For Driver, select an Excel driver, for example, Microsoft Excel Driver (*.xls, *.xlsx, *.xlsm, *.xlsb).

  4. Click the ellipsis to select the desired Excel file.

  5. Enter the database's Username and Password.

  6. Click the Test Connection button.

  7. If the test is successful, click OK.

    Driver=Microsoft Excel Driver (*.xls, *.xlsx, *.xlsm, *.xlsb);DBQ=<filepath>;UID=<username>;PWD=<password>

To map from a Microsoft Access database

  1. Perform the procedure To configure the connection to an external data source above

  2. Click Build Connection String.
    The DB Connection menu is displayed:

    image-20241022-131014.png

  3. For Driver, select an Access driver, for example, Microsoft Access Driver (*.mdb, *.accdb).

  4. Click the ellipsis to select the desired Access Database file.

  5. Enter the database's Username and Password.

  6. Click the Test Connection button.

  7. If the test is successful, click OK.

    Driver=Microsoft Access Driver (*.mdb, *.accdb);DBQ=<filepath>;DefaultDir;DriverId=25;FIL=MS Access;MaxBufferSize=2048;PageTimeout=5;UID=<username>;PWD=<password>

To map from a Microsoft Access text

Preliminary setup:

  1. Create a folder for the text file database, for example C:\Channel32DB.

  2. In the folder, create two files, such as Channel32DB.txt and Schema.ini.
    The structural details for the Schema.ini file can be found at:

  3. In Channel32DB.txt enter a database header for mapping.

  4. In Schema.ini:

    • [v-ind.txt]: Name of txt file database.

    • Format=TabDelimited: This example uses TabDelimited.

    • ColNameHeader=True: If using a header (recommended), set to True.

Note: Another option is not to use a header, in which case you set this parameter to False; the column mapping will then be F1, F2, F3 and F4.

To build a connection string

  1. Perform the procedure To configure the connection to an external data source above.

  2. Click the Build Connection String button.
    The DB Connection window is displayed:

    image-20241022-130850.png

  3. For Driver, select a text driver, for example, Microsoft Access Text Driver (*.txt, *.csv).

  4. Click the ellipsis to select the folder of the desired Access Text file.

  5. Enter the database's Username and Password.

  6. Click Test Connection.

  7. If the test is successful, click OK.

    Driver=Microsoft Access Text Driver (*.txt, *.csv);DBQ=<folderpath>;Extensions=asc,csv,tab,txt;UID=<username>;PWD=<password>

To map from a Microsoft SQL server database

  1. Perform the procedure To configure the connection to an external data source above.

  2. Click Build Connection String.
    The DB Connection menu is displayed:

    image-20241022-131153.png

  3. For Driver, select SQL driver, for example, ODBC Driver 17 for SQL Server.

  4. Enter the database Server name, using the following format: <hostname>:<port> or <IP address>:<port>.

  5. Enter the Database name.

  6. Enter the database's Username and Password.

  7. Click Test Connection.

  8. If the test is successful, click OK.

    Driver=ODBC Driver 17 for SQL Server;Persist Security Info=True;Mode=ReadWrite;SERVER=<hostname>:<port>;DATABASE=<name>;UID=<username>;PWD=<password>

To map from a MySql database

  1. Perform the procedure To configure the connection to an external data source above.

  2. Click Build Connection String. 
    The DB Connection menu is displayed:

    image-20241022-131348.png

  3. For Driver, select MySQL driver, for example, MySQL ODBC 9.0 Unicode Driver.

  4. Enter the database Server name, using the following format: <hostname>:<port> or <IP address>:<port>.

  5. Enter the Database name.

  6. Enter the database's Username and Password.

  7. Click the Test Connection button.

  8. If the test is successful, click OK.

    Driver=MySQL ODBC 9.0 Unicode Driver;SERVER=<hostname>:<port>;DATABASE=<name>;USER=<username>; PASSWORD=<password>

To map from an Oracle database

  1. Perform the procedure To configure the connection to an external data source above.

  2. Click Build Connection String.
    The DB Connection menu is displayed:

    image-20241022-131450.png

  3. For Driver, select Oracle driver, for example, Oracle in OraDB21Home1.

  4. Enter the database Server name, using the following format: <hostname>:<port> or <IP address>:<port>.

  5. Enter the database Username and Password.

  6. Click Test Connection.

  7. If the test is successful, click OK.

    DRIVER=Oracle in OraDB21Home1;SERVER=<hostname>:<port>;UID=<username>; PWD=<password>

Update Service

Update Service is an option that uses your own custom web service for page content filling. Update Service settings are per channel settings. In addition you may define separate update service settings per template.

When configured and enabled on one or more templates, the Update Service prompts Media Sequencer (MSE) to send an XML Payload to a custom web service when a Page is pre-queued for triggering.

The web service can modify the content of the payload and send it back. When Media Sequencer Engine receives the payload parses it and puts the data into the page’s tab field.

This could typically be used for sport results or latest headlines from a feed. Since it relies on a custom web service, the solution can be tailored. This update service is not an existing server solution, it is a path for external modules to be able to integrate and function with Viz Channel Branding and Media Sequencer.

Timeout

A timeout of N seconds may be set on the available actions (Take and Preview).

This is to ensure that a reply is sent back within the configured timeout (default is 5 seconds) for a given action.

If no reply is received within the timeout, the action has not been sent/issued, even though a reply will be received later.

See Also