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It is possible to access WitpStaff data tables with OpenOffice Database. This will allow you to create custom forms and reports within the OpenOffice GUI database interface to manipulate the WitpStaff information limited only by your imagination.

[size=-2]Woos[/size]

After all nothing in the database is secret (or I have made a serious mistake). And if people come up with new thing to use the data, maybe someone finally starts to write plugins for WitpStaff

There is a tutorial attached below which explains how to connect to an existing WitpStaff database.

If you do come up with the ultimate database tool, please feel free to post it here so everyone can share.


OpenOffice is a complete suite of full featured Office applications available for free download from http://www.openoffice.org/
(These applications are also compatible with MSOffice - Take that Bill!!!)

How it looks....

I have the db so it opens in open office but when I try to create a form using the wizard I get this error.
Any ideas on what I am doing wrong? It gives me the same error message on all of the tables I tried.

And by the way, thank you for the information. It only took me about 2 minutes to connect to the db.

ORIGINAL: Nomad

I have the db so it opens in open office but when I try to create a form using the wizard I get this error.
Any ideas on what I am doing wrong? It gives me the same error message on all of the tables I tried.

And by the way, thank you for the information. It only took me about 2 minutes to connect to the db.

This appears to be because ACClassBombValues is a Table View (note icon) and not a real Table. Note comment on the first page of the tutorial.

Because this table view is a not a real data table but a composite from other tables, it cannot be treated in the same manner. You will need to consult the OpenOffice documentation for all the details. There are a couple of links in the tutorial as starting points as well as the OpenOffice help files. Google is also your friend.

I must confess I have not explored or the limitations of using these tools but I have used a similar method of extending a FoxPro database with a MSAccess front end and still maintained compatibility with the original FoxPro user interface. I was forced to do this as the original front end was compiled and I could not alter it to meet my needs.

Hope this helped.

The picture below is a quick form I whipped up from the ACClasses table using the form wizard. Note that I was able to add a new entry as well.

I haven't checked to see if the new entry is visible in WitpStaff but it should be. Just be aware that doing this may create database integrity issues if you are not careful.

By the way, the credit for coming up with this idea should go to morphin. [&o]

I just documented the process.... [;)]

Another useful info

You can't directly mix CSV files with the tables from WITPStaff. But you can create another openoffice Base, import (create a link) for the CSV-files and then drag and drop this linked files to the openoffice base that has the connections to the WITPStaff-Tables. So you can join the CSV-Files from witploadAE and the WITPStaff-files and has more game information available.

Another useful tool is sqldeveloper (http://sqldeveloper.solyp.com/index.html). You can create nice ERD with this tool (better than in openoffice base), but unfortunately it has difficulties with upper case/lower case when working with HSQLDB


Andy

In principle including .csv files into the database should be no problem at all. Allowing to directly read in CSV files was one of the features I chose HSQLDB for (see http://hsqldb.org/doc/guide/ch06.html). Now I don't know whether you can use it via Openoffice's interface.

And be aware that the databse schema will change. Typically by adding more columns and tables. For Patch 1 this will you require to create a completely new database anyway, but for previous (smaller) changes in witpDecoder I have sometimes made those changes behind the scenes on an existing DB. I have no idea what will happen to your Openoffice database should I do something like that in the future.

Oh and my name is spelled with a 'k' not a 'c'.

Huh, the furthest I get is a completed installation of OpenOffice then, when I try to open a new database, the following message prior to the whole application abending:

"The application has requested the runtime to terminate it in an unusual way"

Not impressed.  Plenty of reports of this happening, but little specific information as to cause or cure.  Can't see signs of the people who maintain OpenOffice doing much to come to grips with it.

Is there a driver for the HSQL database that can be invoked from any of the high level Microsoft development systems?

<edit>Seem to have found my way through this, so that the WitP Staff tables are now visible. A bit of struggle, but should be worth it - thanks for the tutorial and the tips </edit>

I use an open source sql tool called squirrel that will directly connect to the witp database and you can build sql queries and export to CSVs easily. If anyone is interested I'll put together a little tutorial on how to get it and configure it. It is much lighter than open office, but not as pretty.[8D]