3 Replies Latest reply: Sep 28, 2012 9:49 AM by Göran Sander RSS

    Extension capabilities: send email, write to DB?

    Simon Saugier Aug 31, 2012 1:37 PM

      I'm hoping I can ask a newbie question without getting too much flak and "Read the manual!"...

      I have a potential client who wants to be able to send an email from QlikView, using some of the data based on the user's current selections. Also, they would like to have a component that allows the user to enter data that will be written to their source DB.

       

      • Is this possible with QlikView extensions?
        • What resource could I read to help me understand more?
      • Which technology would be best: Extensions, OCX, or Workbench?
      • Would this be better done as a macro?
      • Are there any browser compatibility issues around QlikView Extensions?

       

      Thanks!

        • Re: Extension capabilities: send email, write to DB?
          Karl Pover
          Karl Pover Aug 31, 2012 2:04 PM (in response to Simon Saugier )

          Simon,

           

          I haven't dug too deep into extensions, but the usual answer to a QlikView write-back feature is allow the user to export data from QV to a file location that the data source can then import back into its own tables.

           

          What would the e-mail look like?  You can e-mail a bookmark that appears as a link so that the recipient can view the same information in the QV that the sender saw, but I get the feeling that the potential customer asked for something more specific so it would be great if you would add a little more information.

           

          Good luck on the sell.

           

          Karl

            • Re: Extension capabilities: send email, write to DB?
              Simon Saugier Sep 5, 2012 4:45 PM (in response to Karl Pover)

              Karl,

              Sorry for taking so long, just got back some additional details:

               

              Request #1 – Email

              The user needs to fill out an online form within QlikView and the data captured would be sent via email to a monitored inbox.  The form would have dropdowns that would contain QlikView data.

               

              Request #2 – Write data to database

              The user would be able to populate a grid of data and store that data in the source system.  The unedited data in the grid would come from QlikView.  The changed data would need to be updated in the source system.

               

              Ideally, there would be a custom object (is that an extension?) in the QlikView document that would allow users to do the above. Is this possible? Am I on the right track?

               

              Thanks

                • Re: Extension capabilities: send email, write to DB?
                  Göran Sander
                  Göran Sander Sep 28, 2012 9:49 AM (in response to Simon Saugier )

                  Wrt #1:

                  You can send emails using macros. It's not trivial but not that hard either, there are examples in the forum on how to do it (search for "send email from macro" and you will get a bunch of posts about it).

                   

                  #2: I have been told and read on several places here in the forum and in the documentation that ODBC connections are per definition read-only in QV. But when I finally tested it, it worked just fine writing data into a Postgres SQL database over ODBC, as long as the read-only flag in the ODBC driver was not set (obviously).

                  So... should be possible for you to write back to the db (if I understood your question correctly).