Setting up a Citadel 4 Database as an ODBC Data Source for Lookout or LabVIEW DSC.
Print- Shut down all ODBC applications, such as databases, spreadsheets, word processors, and Microsoft Query, before you run the ODBC applet.
- Click the Windows Start button and select Settings » Control Panel.
- Run the ODBC Administrator applet. It might be called ODBC or ODBC Data Sources or something similar, depending on your operating system version number.
- Select the User DSN tab or the System DSN tab, depending on which type of data source you want to create. User DSNs are only visible to the user who created them on the current machine. System DSNs are available to all users on the current machine.
5. Click on the Add button. The following dialog box appears.
6. Select National Instruments Citadel 4 Database, then click Finish.
7. In the National Instruments Citadel ODBC Setup dialog box, fill in the Data Source Name, Description, and Database Path fields.
a. The Data Source Name is the name that ODBC applications use to select your data source.
b. Description is a free-form text string you can enter to describe the data source.
c. Database Path should match the location of the Citadel database you intend to access. Use a fully qualified path to a remote computer if you are accessing the Citadel database on a remote computer, such as \\Tripper\c:\lookout\database.
- The Data Source Name must be different from any other ODBC data source name. The Description is arbitrary. The Database Path gives the location of the folder where the data for this source is stored.
In Lookout 4, it is possible to configure multiple Citadel databases. If you do so, you probably want to configure one ODBC data source for each. If you used the Options » System dialog box in Lookout to configure a default Citadel database on the local computer, you should create a data source for the location specified in the Default Path field in the Lookout System Options dialog box. If you used File » Modify Process in Lookout to configure a different database for a process, you probably want to create a separate data source for that process using the location specified in the Citadel Database Folder field of the Lookout Modify Process dialog box.
In LabVIEW Datalogging & Supervisory Control module the default database path is the data folder under LabVIEW. Verify the database location at Tools » Datalogging & Supervisory Control » Configure Tags... The Tag Configuration Editor will open and select Configure » Historical... Create a data source for the location specified in the Data Directory.
8. Click on OK in the Setup dialog box, then click on OK in the ODBC Data Source Administrator dialog box.
Note: Some applications are not completely ODBC compliant. If you plan to use Microsoft Query, Microsoft Access, or Visual Basic, make sure Maximum Column Name Length does not exceed 62 characters. These applications cannot handle longer names. Applications that are completely ODBC compliant can handle names up to 126 characters long. All traces whose names exceed the Maximum Column Name Length are excluded from queries.
Because Lookout objects may include network path information in their names, and because you can arrange Lookout objects in hierarchies inside your processes, you may find it easy to exceed the 62 and 126 character limitations of ODBC. Consideration given to naming and organizing objects can minimize the risk of encountering this difficulty.
Note: If you plan to use Microsoft Access or Visual Basic, select Convert special characters to force Lookout names into an accepted format by replacing characters within the names with the characters in the following table. The special characters changed in Lookout 4. If you are converting Lookout processes from a version earlier than Lookout 4, you might need to rewrite any SQL queries you set up in your processes.
Special Access SQL Characters
Special Character | Converted Character |
period ( . ) | at sign ( @ ) |
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