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Extracting Group members without COM?
Posted: 18 Oct 06 9:44 AM
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fiogf49gjkf0d Hello folks.
I'm writing a simple interface application to extract some data out of SLX into another database. The subset of contacts to be sent are defined by a group in SLX, and not by a specific SQL query. Basically I want a user to be able to modify a filter in SLX to control what gets sent to the other db.
I have managed to get this working using the COM interface so far, but I was wondering if it's possible to get this information using the OLE DB provider only? Essentially, what I need is some way of getting access to the information (or CONTACTID's) from a particular group.
So far I'm using a bit vb.net like:
Dim SLX As New SlxApplication
Dim groupHandle As String = SLX.BasicFunctions.GetGroupIDs("Contact", "Name_Of_My_Group_In_SLX")
Dim groupCount As Integer = SLX.BasicFunctions.GetGroupCount(groupHandle)
For currentContact = 0 To groupCount - 1
contactID = SLX.BasicFunctions.GetGroupValue(groupHandle, currentContact)
Next
From that I can then carry on and use the contactID to do whatever extraction/manipulation I need to.
The problem with this is that SLX needs to be running for it to work, so I either need some way of getting the SlxApplication to log in without user intervention, or use OLE DB only. (The SLX database, username and password are fixed)
Any suggestion would be greatly appreciated 
Thanks,
Mark |
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Re: Extracting Group members without COM?
Posted: 18 Oct 06 4:21 PM
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fiogf49gjkf0d In a round about way, your question has somewhat been answered. It's possible but you have to decode the BLOB DATA section of the group plugin.
Here's another forum post that may shed some light on things: http://www.slxdeveloper.com/forum.aspx?forumid=7000&postid=3945#3945
Ryan may post an example in C# that decodes the report plugin BLOB and a similar technique could be used to extract the info from a group plugin. You could email Duncan Cook from the post and ask him for his group code, as he claims to have figured out how to parse the group BLOB data. I'm in no way suggesting I don't believe him, I just don't have the code to prove it one way or the other. |
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Re: Extracting Group members without COM?
Posted: 20 Oct 06 6:27 AM
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fiogf49gjkf0d Hmm, that all sounds a little bit out of my depth at the moment. I might just try and work out how to use the COM stuff without requiring an interactive login. |
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Re: Extracting Group members without COM?
Posted: 20 Oct 06 1:08 PM
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fiogf49gjkf0d Completely understandable, it's a bit of a mess when all you want is a column of information. My introduction to the COM interface came from this article: http://www.slxdeveloper.com/page.aspx?id=35&articleid=80 Ryan bypassed the need for authentication by requiring SalesLogix be open before the application would work.
There's another example of how to manipulate the SLXApplication COM interface in the v7 LAN Developer's Reference (on the CD or SupportOnline). I believe the example exists in v6 documentation somewhere, but this is how I found it. I use the Help file and under the SalesLogix OLE DB Provider\Connecting to the SalesLogix Database\The SalesLogix COM Interface, there's a related topic that gives an example in C#. It uses the LogonComplete event because normally when you fire up a new instance of the COM interface, your code wants to execute before SalesLogix can handle it. I would think there would be a way to tap into the login to pass in the admin credentials but I haven't inspected the interface enough to know how to do it.
Good luck, however you decide to pull it off. |
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Re: Extracting Group members without COM?
Posted: 23 Oct 06 5:14 AM
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fiogf49gjkf0d Thanks for those references, I'll have a look
That one from the manual still seems to need an interactive logon though, it just gives the app time to wait while the user logs in. As this is for a synchronisation tool, I really need this to run non-interactively.
I'll keep you posted |
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Re: Extracting Group members without COM?
Posted: 23 Oct 06 6:10 AM
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fiogf49gjkf0d Actually, I suppose I should re-post a more specific question about non-interactive connection to COM in the "COM" section of the forum :D |
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Re: Extracting Group members without COM?
Posted: 03 Dec 06 10:13 AM
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fiogf49gjkf0d You really want to avoid "blob" access as they are subject to change anytime - that is what there is the COM interface, etc.
Point of information on "blobs"... Was doing an upgrade (production cut-over) for a client the past couple of days from 5.2.x to 6.2.5... One of the things we ALWAYS do is to delete from sysdba.USEROPTION on such upgrades since so much changes and every system I've seen has "bad" useroption data (dups, trashed blobs, etc).
After we were done he wanted to "UPDATE UserOption to set everyone's email profile the same. Of course teh first thing I said was.. we NO longer use that table to store UserOption(s)..... and It's "defined" a very diferent way... I reminded him that when I trainied them on (WG) Admin a little while ago that there is an "interface" in ADMIN to do all of this and lock down the user setting.. He still wanted to do it "w/SQL".. my response was.. if you want to.. fine but don't ask me how to do so or how to fix it once it was "trashed" by not using the "correct" method. - He left it alone.. and did it the right way.
What I'm getting at is there are many ways to do things.. but "short cuts" can be very dangerous and unreliable.
--
rjl |
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