With Drupal 7 it is now possible to connect multiple databases of different types. We can now use Views to look at data from Microsoft SQL, MySQL, and other databases regardless of which database is used for Drupal itself. The catch at the moment is that Drupal needs to be installed on a Microsoft machine to use the MS SQL driver sqlsrv, but soon some enthusiastic programmers will have a driver written for whatever other setup you might have.
Challenging the status quo and empowering engineers
My setup: Windows 7, IIS, MySQL and Drupal 7. The drupal site is installed and working properly.
Goal: Migrate data in an Oracle database to Drupal nodes.
Steps:
Create a backup of your site. Chances are good something will go wrong.
Install Oracle Database 11g Express Edition from http://www.oracle.com/technetwork/products/express-edition/downloads/index.html
Install Oracle SQL Developer from http://www.oracle.com/technetwork/developer-tools/sql-developer/downloads/index.html
After successfully implementing OpenOPC to simulate field devices for our factory acceptance testing, I needed a clean way to write to the OPC Server without having to use the Kepware interface to force bits and values. After searching for a suitable UI for Python I landed on PyQT from Riverbank Computing. I am always cautious of webpages that appear to have been last updated in the 90's, but this one seems pretty legitimate.
My boss gave me a challenge to create a simulation for the field devices our PLC will be talking to. We need to simulate the devices for the factory acceptance testing. Originally I though I would use C#, but ran into a pay wall with the OPC Foundation. They want $15,000 before I can download the source code. A lesser entry fee will get me some of the wrappers, but since I can't see the documentation before I pay I don't know if the wrappers will be sufficient. That price was ok before the connected world, but now community supported projects need to be open and collaborative.
If you find yourself in the unfortunate position of having to upgrade ICONICS to SQL Server 2012 because the Microsoft Gold Certified Partner was lax in entering the modern era then this is your guide.
OK so I worked out how to get BizViz working with SQL Server 2012. Basically I
had to perform a bait and switch. I installed BizViz with SQL Server 2005 on a
A simple Google Charts api example of a color coded map. The color intensities are determined by the value in the data array associated with each state.
Finally got around to fixing my PC so the interface is more natural to me. Since I spend about a third of my day on each operating system, Windows, Ubuntu and Mac, I have begun to get annoyed at the differences in the mouse functions. Personally I like the way the new Mac scrolls, it makes it easy for me to move from iPad to Mac and I anticipate all PCs will have touch screens in the near future.
Drupal 7 introduced the ability to use databases other than MySQL. This is a big step towards a server independent drupal. It has been possible to install drupal on Microsoft IIS for a long time, but now we can use a full Microsoft Server.
If you haven't installed node.js, socket,io, express and the other helper programs make sure you do that before attempting to run the program below. The installation directions can be found in my previous post.
After spending several hours working out how to get the basic node.js, socket,io and express demo working I learned a few things. Here is what I learned.
- Rev version matters. Make sure that the correct version of each program is installed.
- All the programs installed with npm need to be installed in the same directory as the node.js files.
- Most tutorials assume that the basic developer tools are installed, eg. g++.