Alpana Designer allows to access your data by providing a variety of Connection types. Once the appropriate credentials are validated, you will be able to navigate the data structure and retrieve the raw data.
Now, in order to feed your Dashboard with data, you will need to choose what data table from your Connection will become a Data Source.
In a basic workflow, this is enough. However, Alpana Designer lets you compose more complex preparation on your data when needed. For example, you can join tables together, including from multiple Connections, filter data, create Expressions, …
Connections
What is a Connection
The Connection represents how you access the data :
- the Connection type, e.g. : Wonderware Historian, SQL Server, Excel, …
- for server-based Connections : the server address
- for file-based Connections : the file address
- the necessary credentials : authentication mode, user name, password.
How Connections are managed in Alpana Designer
In Alpana Designer, you can :
- Create a Connection
- Edit a Connection to modify one of its parameters
- Delete a Connection to remove it from the current Dashboard
Data Sources
What is a Data Source
The Data Source is a representation of your data that you prepared from your created Connection(s). It’s what your Widgets (and your Dashboard) see.
A Data Source can be created by adding one or more element from one or more Connection(s) and joining them together :
- a data Table
- a data View
- a Stored Procedure
- a Custom Query
On top of that, further data preparation can be made :
- hiding or renaming columns to simplify the Data Source usage
- filtering the Data Source to limit the data
- creating Expressions in order to make more complex calculations
How Data Sources are managed in Alpana
In Alpana Designer, you can fully manage and export Data sources.
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