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Adding custom fields

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alien51

Programmer
Jun 10, 2005
14
US
Hi,

I need to add some custom fields to the tables Opmgr and Opmgrfld. Can I do this in Goldmine? If I add these directly using SQL enterprise manager how do I get them to show up on Goldmine forms?

thx
 
You can create one similar to the details tab for 1-to-many relationships.. For what you want to do, however, I think a set of simple GM+View web pages with an external database hook would probably be the best bet.. Then you don't live in a system with strictures like the details tab. Of course, with Details Plus, you can get a lot more out of a details-based tab...



Doug Castell
Castell Computers
(310)601-4738
 
So, I could create an asp page and display it as a GM+View that writes to and displays data from an external database? That sounds like a good way to go. How do I begin actually creating the asp inside GM+View?

Thanks
 
Also, can I have a crystal report that I created outside of Goldmine show up in the list of available reports in Goldmine? The report is drawing data from an external database but I want users to be able to access it while in Goldmine

Thanks
 
Yes (re: asp page)... Basically, you want to create the asp page without a thought to the GoldMine record other than some sort of linkage. So, identify a column that'll match up with GoldMine.. GoldMine has the ACCOUNTNO value in the contact1 database that is unique on the records, as is the RECID value (though the latter COULD change (usually doesn't))

What most people do is use one of the Key fields for the 'customer number' to relate the record out to the other database. This way you can avoid all the weirdness that can ensue with the odd characters in the Accountno and Recid fields.. Then, all you need is to have the GM+View redirect to your .asp page hosted on an internal IIS server and pass, as part of the url, the customer number from Key5... Then it's up to your asp page to grab the value from the url and use it in it's data queries and such... An example redirect would be:
<HTML>
<HEAD>
<meta http-equiv="Refresh" content="0;url=http://www.weather.com/weather/local/&lt;&lt;left(contact1-&gt;zip,5)&gt;&gt;" >
</HEAD>
</HTML>

Notice the <<contact1->zip>> is encoded to work properly with a URL... This code would be the entire code of the page to send the current record's ZIP to weather.com... You could adapt it to similarly pass the key5 (customer number) to your .asp and take it and run with it from there.. :)

As for the crystal report, I'd use the task bar (on the left) to post a link to the compiled report or crystal web to share it with your folks.. Simplest.




Doug Castell
Castell Computers
(310)601-4738
 
Hi,

I have users out in the field who will need access to Goldmine (including the custom GM views I will be creating)on their laptops. These custom views will be drawing data from an external database useing asp. Any ideas on how I can set up their laptops to do this? Will they need internet access to acomplish this?
 
Sure, they'll need internet access.

Preferably, they'd be on your VPN and connect to the same ISS server the in-office people do.

You don't want to tackle the headache of managing the synchronization of your custom database(s)...

Of course, this does mean that the undocked people won't have access to the custom info when not connected to the internet/your VPN...


Doug Castell
Castell Computers
(310)601-4738
 
Hi,

First, I really appreciate all of your help on this. Next, I have another question about the remote users - I just haven't set anything up like this before.

It turns out that they have Goldmine installed locally on their desktop and they connect via vpn to synch with Goldmine at their company.

How can they view my custom GM views running on a web server pulling data from a separate SQL database in their desktop version of Goldmine? Do they need to be connected to vpn or just the internet? If they are connected via vpn and not using remote desktop can they still access the internet?

I hope that makes sense - thanks!

 
First, I mis-types, that's IIS, not ISS.. ;)

Second, yes, GoldMine remote users have their own copy of the program with a local copy of the database. They sync periodically and update, two-ways. It's a very intricate dance, under the hood.

If they're connected to the VPN, by definition, they're on the internet with a secure connection to your network. They're part of the network, they just don't have a 10/100/1000Mbit connection, they have more like a cable/dsl speed connection. Regardless, they can see network resources like an intranet server hosting a few .asp pages that pass queries to an SQL database. It's not uncommon.

The GM+View tab in GoldMine allows one to pass data from the current contact record to a web page. Common uses are for things like passing the contact's address to mapquest or google maps, passing the current contact's zip to weather.com, etc. In your case, I assume you'll be passing a 'customer number' or some other unique identifier to your external database in order to shape a query to return some data. Common uses for these sorts of displays are to show accounting data, marketing campaign data, etc. etc.

If you find that you need assistance with this stuff, I've helped many companies design jsut such systems. It's what I do! :)


Doug Castell
Castell Computers
(310)601-4738
 
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