How To: Read from a Database

A common task in PhixFlow is to read data from a database. This example shows how to read data from a CRM database, which is hosted on a local instance of SQL Server 2008, but the same principles apply for other database platforms on networks or in the cloud.

Step-by-step guide

1. Add a new Datasource to your model and Select the driver class to match your database and check all three checkboxes on the details tab
2. Click on Datasource Instances and add a new instance providing the connection string, username and password as shown below. (For SQL Server, the connection string specifies the Server, SQL Server Instance and Database)
3. Save and close the Datasource.
4. Hover over the Datasource and select Add a new database collector
5. Check both the checkboxes on the details tab and save. 
6. Add a SELECT query to the query string tab and test by clicking the Run query button. You should see results from the table in your query
7. Save and close the database collector.
8. Hover over the database collector and select Create a new stream using the attributes returned by the query
9. View the attribute expressions to confirm that each column in the query has been configured 
10. Run analysis on the stream and view the results

Sample Model for reading from a Database

Connection String for Local Instance of SQL Server

 Attributes configured automatically from the SELECT Query

Model Ref: 003

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