I have some data in a backend Informix database. I want this data to be available in my Notes documents. In the past I’ve created an agent that pulls the data down into Notes documents and stores it there in Notes so the data is available for various keyword lookups on the form.
For a new application I am working on I need the data to be more up to date. Rather than running my agent more frequently to pull the data down to Notes I’m looking into DECS and/or DCRs. Is this right?
If I have DECS running on the server, and set up the appropriate DCRs and ODBC data sources, I can basically have the same functionality as a dblookup (using SQL or script), except it will pull data from the informix table and not store everything in Notes? I also need to avoid having the ODBC data source set up on each PC - I think the DCR in the database will take care of that, right?
Before I go down this path I want to make sure it’s going to do what I want, otherwise I may be better off just pulling all the data down in an agent on a schedule.
On very general terms (I know this can vary wildly) will performance be better (assuming a very simple design with a few views and one form with a single lookup) reading against 20,000 records on the informix table with DECS and a DCR, or am I better off pulling just the 6,000 or so records I need into Notes, storing them there and doing lookups against it?
Just want to make sure I do this the right way! Any info is appreciated.
Subject: Is This Right? Decs, ODBC, DCR to pull data from backend
Couple o things.
You might want to post this in the Enterprise forum (although I’ve found this forum to provide as good or better help).
DECs is one way. New stuff shows up but if old stuff that has changed isn’t updated. For that you need LEI (and pay $$).
OR…
Check out LCLSX. It’s kind of like ODBC on steroids. I’m pulling down Oracle data for use in Notes apps via hourly agents. The first pass to populate the dbs takes 30 minutes to an hour to drag down 60K records but after that the agents only run for about a minute so it’s pretty efficient and the data is always current. I’m assuming that you can use LCLSX for Informix, and that is just an assumption.
There is code in the Enterprise forum. It’s not well documented, can be painful to set up and get working, is interesting to troubleshoot, but man when it works it is wicked cool.
Subject: Is This Right? Decs, ODBC, DCR to pull data from backend
Not overly sure about this - tin hat on ready - but, you may want to consider what will happen if your users take the Notes App to a local replica. Will it still work? I am not sure - so worth checking it out if replication is a requirement.
Subject: RE: Is This Right? Decs, ODBC, DCR to pull data from backend
Thanks. I actually did think about that. If I end up going with the DECS solution I will most-likely make this a web application because most of our remote users do use local replicas.