Integrate with Sage 50 UK Data in JReport Designer

The CData JDBC Driver for Sage 50 UK data enables access to live data from dashboards and reports as if Sage 50 UK were a relational database, allowing you to query Sage 50 UK data using familiar SQL queries. This article shows how to connect to Sage 50 UK data as a JDBC data source and create reports based on Sage 50 UK data in JReport Designer.

Connect to Sage 50 UK Data

1. Edit C:\JReport\Designer\bin\setenv.bat to add the location of the JAR file to the ADDCLASSPATH variable:

   ...
   set ADDCLASSPATH=%JAVAHOME%\lib\tools.jar;C:\Program Files\CData\CData JDBC Driver for Sage 50 UK 2016\lib\cdata.jdbc.sage50uk.jar;
   ...
   

2. Create a new data source by clicking File New Data Source.
3. In the resulting dialog, create a name for the data source (CData JDBC Driver for Sage 50 UK), select JDBC, and click OK.
4. In the Get JDBC Connection Information dialog you will configure your connection to the JDBC driver:
   • Driver: Be sure that the Driver box is checked and fill in the name of the class for the driver: cdata.jdbc.sage50uk.Sage50UKDriver
   • URL: Enter the JDBC URL. This starts with jdbc:sage50uk: and is followed by a semicolon-separated list of connection properties.

     Note: Only Sage 50 UK 2012 and above are supported.

     The User and Password properties, under the Connection section, must be set to valid Sage 50 UK user credentials. These values will be the same used to log in to the Sage 50 UK software.

     Additionally, the URL property, under the Connection section, will need to be set to the address of the company dataset desired. To obtain the address, do the following:

     1. If you have not already done so, open the Sage 50 UK software.
     2. Click Tools -> Internet Options.
     3. Select the SData Settings tab.
     4. Click the Details button next to Sage 50 Accounts. A window is displayed containing a list of company names along with the address to their corresponding datasets.
     5. Set the URL property to the value in the address field next to the company desired.

     Built-in Connection String Designer

     For assistance in constructing the JDBC URL, use the connection string designer built into the Sage 50 UK JDBC Driver. Either double-click the JAR file or execute the jar file from the command-line.

     java -jar cdata.jdbc.sage50uk.jar

     Fill in the connection properties and copy the connection string to the clipboard.

     When you configure the JDBC URL, you may also want to set the Max Rows connection property. This will limit the number of rows returned, which is especially helpful for improving performance when designing reports and visualizations.

     Below is a typical JDBC URL:

     jdbc:sage50uk:URL=http://your-server:5493/sdata/accounts50/GCRM/your-address;User=Manager;
   • User: The username to authenticate with; typically left blank.
   • Password: The password to authenticate with; typically left blank.

5. In the Add Table dialog, select the tables you wish to include in your report (or in future reports using this data source) and click Add.

   Click Done once the dialog has completed loading the tables.

6. In the Catalog Browser, you can create the queries that you will use to populate your reports. You can do this now, or after you create your report. In either case, expand () the data source (CData JDBC Driver for Sage 50 UK), right-click on Queries, and select Add Query.
7. In the Add Table/View/Query dialog, expand () the JDBC URL and Tables and select the table(s) you wish to use in the query and click OK.
8. In the Query Editor dialog, you can select the columns you wish to include or simply click the SQL button and manually input your own query. For example:

   SELECT Name, FinanceBalance FROM TradingAccounts
   

   With the query built, click OK to close the Query Editor dialog. At this point you are ready to add Sage 50 UK data to a new or existing report.

   NOTE: Now that the query is built, you can create a Business View based on the query. With a Business View, you can create Web reports or library components based on the query. For more information on this, refer to the JReport tutorials.

Add Sage 50 UK Data to a Report

You are now ready to create a report with Sage 50 UK data.

1. Create a new report (File New Page Report) or open the Chart Wizard for an existing report.
2. Select the Query (or create a new one; see above).
3. Assign a Category and Value for the chart from the columns in your Query and click Finish.
4. Click the View tab for your report to see the chart.