Adding data from an existing data source

You can add data to your app from connections that have already been defined by you or an administrator. These can be a database, a folder containing data files, or a connector to an external data source, such as Salesforce.com.

For more information about:

• Available data sources, see Adding data to the app
• Connecting to data sources, see Connecting to data sources

Do the following:

1. Open your app.
2. Open the Data manager and then click ú. You can also click Add data in the ¨ menu.
3. Click Connections.

4. Select which connection to use.

   Some connections go directly to their data sources, where you select tables and fields to load. For example, connections to Salesforce.com or a database, such as IBM DB2, go directly to the source for data selection.

5. Select the specific data source you want to add data from if the connection offers a selection.

   This differs depending on the type of data source.

   • File-based data sources: Select a file.
   • Databases: Set which database to use.
   • Web files: Enter the URL of the web file.
   • Other data sources: Specified by the connector.

6. Select the tables and fields to load.

   See: Selecting data fields

7. Choose whether to continue to work on the data or to load the data into the app:

   • Click Prepare data to continue to add data sources, transform the data, and associate the tables in Data manager. Date and time fields will be created automatically and mapped to autoCalendar. Data profiling is also performed to provide association recommendations. All fields that are common between tables are auto-qualified.

     Information note Tables are not associated on common field names automatically, and you need to associate all tables in the Associations view of Data manager.

   • Click Load data and finish to load the added data into the app and go to the sheet. This loads the newly selected data from the external data source.

     To reload all the data that you have selected from the external source, use the ô button in the Data manager footer. This ensures you get all the current data from the source for the selections you have made. Reloading all the data can take longer than loading only the new data. If the data you loaded previously has not been changed in the data source, it is not necessary to reload all the data.

     Tables are associated on common field names automatically.

     Information noteDate and time fields will not be created if you use Load data and finish.

   If serious problems are detected, you need to resolve the problems in Data manager before you can load data into the app.