Connecting to a Microsoft SQL Server database using Flexmonster Data Server

This guide describes how to connect to a Microsoft SQL Server database using Flexmonster Data Server — a server developed by Flexmonster. This server aggregates your data and then passes it to Flexmonster Pivot in a ready-to-show format.

See other ways of connecting to a database.

The approach described below can also be used for connecting to Microsoft Azure SQL databases.

Connecting to the database

Prerequisites

Flexmonster CLI
Install it with the following command:
```
npm install -g flexmonster-cli
```

Now follow the steps below to connect to Microsoft SQL Server using the Data Server.

To learn the specifics of connecting to a remote SQL Server database, see this section.

Step 1. Install Flexmonster Data Server

Get the Data Server with the flexmonster add fds command:

flexmonster add fds -r

This command installs and runs the Data Server as a Windows/Unix service. Besides, the command installs Flexmonster Admin Panel — a graphical user interface for the Data Server.

The Data Server's files can be found in the flexmonster-data-server/ folder in your working directory.

There are also alternative ways to install the Data Server:

Step 2. Add a new index

Now let's create a new index for your data.

Open Flexmonster Admin Panel and go to Indexes > Add New Index. Then, fill in the following fields:

Name. This field defines the index name. It will be used to configure the connection on the client side.
Type. This dropdown menu contains possible data source types. In this case, select Database.
Database type. Select the database. In this case, it should be Microsoft SQL Server.
Connection string. Specify the connection string to your database here. Have a look at the examples of different connection strings for Microsoft SQL Server and Microsoft Azure SQL.
Click Test to check whether the provided connection string is correct.
Note that there are specifics of setting passwords with special characters in the connection string. The Data Server parses such passwords correctly unless the password contains ; or ". These symbols are treated as delimiters, so if your password contains them, enclose it in single quotes (e.g., Pwd='123;"45').
Query. Specify an SQL query to define the subset of data that the Data Server should fetch. The Query can contain a stored procedure.
Refresh time. It defines how often the Data Server should reload the data from the database. The refresh time should be specified in minutes.
By default, the refresh time is 0, which means the Data Server will not reload the data.

Your configurations should look similar to the following:

Sample configuration of a Microsoft SQL Server index

When the index configuration is complete, click Create. The index will be automatically added to your index pool.

Step 3. Embed the component into your webpage

If Flexmonster is not yet embedded, set up an empty component in your webpage:

In pure JavaScript

Complete the Integrating Flexmonster guide. Your code should look similar to the following example:

let pivot = new Flexmonster({
  container: "pivotContainer",
  componentFolder: "node_modules/flexmonster/",
  toolbar: true
});

In React

Complete the Integration with React guide. Your code should look similar to the following example:

<FlexmonsterReact.Pivot
 toolbar={true}
/>

In Angular

Complete the Integration with Angular guide. Your code should look similar to the following example:

<fm-pivot
 [toolbar]="true">
</fm-pivot>

In Vue

Complete the Integration with Vue guide. Your code should look similar to the following example:

<Pivot
 toolbar
/>

Step 4. Configure the report

The report should be configured as follows:

let pivot = new Flexmonster({
  container: "pivotContainer",
  componentFolder: "node_modules/flexmonster/",
  toolbar: true,
  report: {
    dataSource: {
      type: "api",
      url: "http://localhost:9500",
      index: "index-database"
    }
  }
});

Note The index must match the name of the index defined in step 2 (e.g., "index-database").

Display non-Latin characters correctly

If your data contains non-Latin characters, ensure you have set UTF-8 encoding for your data and page so the data is displayed correctly in the component.

About response caching

When Flexmonster Pivot requests data, Flexmonster Data Server sends a response and then caches it. If the component sends the same request again, the server responds with the data from its cache.

The Data Server’s cache has a limit. When the cache does not have enough space for a new response, the Data Server deletes one of the previously cached responses. See how to manage the cache size for the Data Server as a service, as a console application, or as a DLL.

The Data Server clears the cache when restarted.

Configuring Microsoft SQL Server for remote connections

To allow remote access to a Microsoft SQL Server database, сonfigure your SQL Server instance as follows:

Step 1. In SQL Server Management Studio, right-click the server instance and choose Properties > Connections. Then allow remote connections to your server:

Illustration of how to allow remote connections in the SQL Server Management Studio

Step 2. Open SQL Server Configuration Manager and enable TCP/IP for the server instance:

For example, open the SQL Server Network Configuration > Protocols for MSSQLSERVER tab and enable the TCP/IP option

Step 3. This step also requires SQL Server Configuration Manager. In the SQL Server Services tab, run the needed SQL Server instance and SQL Server Browser:

For example, run SQL Server (MSSQLSERVER) and SQL Server Browser services in the SQL Server Configuration Manager

Learn more details on how to run SQL Server Browser.

Step 4. In the Windows firewall, open the port used by the default SQL Server instance for TCP access (1433 port by default).

For a named SQL Server instance that listens on a dynamic port, open the 1434 port for UDP access. If you configured the named instance to listen on a static port, open this port for TCP access. See how to check if the named instance listens on a dynamic or static port.

Learn more about configuring the Windows firewall for accessing SQL Server instances.

Now the Data Server should successfully connect to your Microsoft SQL Server database.

Calling a stored procedure

Follow the steps below to call a stored procedure in the Data Server:

Step 1. Create a stored procedure.

Step 2. When adding a new index, call the stored procedure in the Query field:

exec storedProcedure

Learn more about calling stored procedures in Microsoft SQL Server.

Note Stored procedures allow executing any valid SQL query from the Data Server. To avoid unauthorized access to the database, create a database user with read-only access rights and specify this user in the connection string.

What’s next?

You may be interested in the following articles: