Select a Destination Database

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Select a Destination Database

Just as there are two ways in which you can select the origin database, there are two ways in which you can select the destination database.

• Manually enter the path to the destination database in the Selection field.

• Click the Select button to browse to the location of the destination database.

If you wish VTS to create a new Access database file or Excel file as the destination database, you can use either of the methods above to indicate the location, name, and extension for the database. VTS will automatically generate one for you.

Locate the Destination Database By Entering the Path

If you choose to manually enter the path, you must use the full path to the destination database, including the drive letter, and the extension of the destination database (e.g. "C:\\Database Files\My Destination Database.mdb").

Note: The path is not case sensitive, however, you must correctly enter spaces in directory names and database file names where they appear.

Once you have correctly entered the full path to the destination database, press the Enter key. The Database Conversion Utility will search for the destination database.

Locate the Destination Database Using the Select Button

If you prefer to locate the destination database by browsing your directory structure, you may use the Select button to do so.

Click the Select button in the Destination section of the Database Conversion Utility. The Select Destination Database File dialog opens. Use this dialog to browse to the location of the destination database.

Note: The Files of Type drop-down list that appears at the bottom of the Select Destination Database File dialog is configured to display Access Databases by default. Change the selection of the Files of Type drop-down list to locate Excel files or all files if the destination database is not an Access database.

Once you have located the destination database, click the Save button. If the destination database file already exists, then the dialog shown below opens, asking if you wish to replace it.

Note: Click the Yes button. At present the destination database will be left untouched. No conversion will occur until you have clicked the Convert button in the Database Conversion Utility. Despite the message that appears on the dialog shown above, you will not be replacing the existing destination database, you will be adding data to it.

The full path to the destination database will automatically appear in the Selection field in the Destination area of the Database Conversion Utility, along with information about the selected destination database.

Create a New Destination Database

If no destination database matching the name and extension specified is found, VTS will inquire as to whether you wish one automatically generated in the specified location when you begin the conversion process (see Convert the Origin Database's Data to the Destination Database.)

Determine the Status of the Destination Database

Once you've located the destination database using either the manual path entry or browse methods described above, the Destination area and the ODBC Status Report areas will display information about the destination database. An example is shown below.

In this example, the database file type is identified to the left of the Select button in the Destination section (in this example, the destination database is an "MDB File"), while the status of the search is identified to the right (in this example, the origin database file is "Found".)

The Status section beneath the Destination section provides statistics on the number of tables and records in the destination database file. As you can see from the example above, there are five "other" tables for a total of 5 tables in the destination database. There are 4 records in the "other" table for a total of 4 records.

The ODBC Status Report section of the Database Conversion Utility displays information about the scan of the destination database including the SQL command or query performed, and any error code. The error code appears at the bottom of the scrollable ODBC Status Report list. If an error has occurred, the error code and an error state and message will be displayed.

Note: If the destination database was not located, no status report will be displayed in the ODBC Status Report area, however, when you click the Convert button, you will be given the option of having VTS generate a destination database automatically for you, using the name, extension, and location specified in the Destination section.

Duplicated Data

If you will be converting data to an existing destination database, and some of the records in the destination database have the same first field or primary key as the records in the origin database, the records in the origin database will overwrite the matching records in the destination database.

Any new records (appearing in the origin database but not in the destination database) will be added to the destination database, and any existing records (appearing in the destination database but without duplicate records in the origin database) will be left untouched.

For example, review the sample data below.

Origin Database

Name	Area	Description
AI10_1	Pumping Station	Tank Level
AI10_2	Pumping Station	Tank Pressure
DI20_1	Pumping Station	Pump Status

The sample origin database above has 3 records: 2 analog input tags and 1 digital input tag.

Destination Database Before Conversion

Name	Area	Description
AI10_1	P Stn	Level
AI10_2	P Stn	Pressure
DO10_1	P Stn	Pump Control

The sample destination database above has 3 records: 2 analog input tags and 1 digital output tag. Note that the names of the 2 analog input tags match those of the 2 analog input tags in the origin database, while their areas and descriptions differ from those in the origin database. The destination database also has a digital output tag, while the origin database does not.

Destination Database After Conversion

Name	Area	Description
AI10_1	Pumping Station	Tank Level
AI10_2	Pumping Station	Tank Pressure
DI20_1	Pumping Station	Pump Status
DO10_1	P Stn	Pump Control

After the conversion process is complete, the destination database consists of 4 records: 2 analog input tags, 1 digital input tag, and 1 digital output tag. Note that Area and Description data that existed for the two analog input tags has been overwritten with the data from the origin database, as the tag names were found to match. The digital input tag from the origin database was added to the destination database, while the digital output tag was left untouched.