Integrate Sage 50 UK Data in the Pentaho Report Designer

The CData JDBC driver for Sage 50 UK data enables access to live data from dashboards and reports. This article shows how to connect to Sage 50 UK data as a JDBC data source and publish reports based on Sage 50 UK data in Pentaho.

Connect and Create a Report

1. Copy the JAR file of the driver, located in the lib subfolder of the installation directory, to the \Report-Designer\lib\jdbc\ folder in the Pentaho directory.
2. Run the report-designer.bat file in the \Report-Designer\ folder to open the Report-Designer UI.

3. Create a new data source with the driver by clicking Data -> Add Data Source -> Advanced -> JDBC (Custom) and then creating a new Sage 50 UK connection. In the resulting dialog, configure the connection properties as shown below.

   • Custom Connection URL property: 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;
   • Custom Driver Class Name: Enter cdata.jdbc.sage50uk.Sage50UKDriver.
   • User Name: The username to authenticate with.
   • Password: The password to authenticate with.

Add Sage 50 UK Data to a Report

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

1. Add the Sage 50 UK source to your report: Click Data -> Add Data Source -> JDBC and select the data source.

2. Configure the query. This article uses the one below:

   SELECT Name, FinanceBalance FROM TradingAccounts
3. Drag a chart onto your report and double-click it to edit the chart. Run the report to display the chart. You can use the results of this query to create a simple chart for the TradingAccounts table.
4. Finally, run the report to see the chart.