Dear Sharon (and all),
Here are some steps that may help you create an ODBC link between MI and
Access.
These steps are applicable to point data, where you are using longtitude
(xcoord) or latitude (ycoord) coordinates to create the point object.
Lets say you have an Access database (called Mydb.mdb) containing a table
(called 'Mydata') that holds three columns of info - ID, xcoord, ycoord -
and you want to map the table in MI. (there is also some good documentation
in the MI users guide - 'Accessing remote user databases')
1. Ensure you have MI ODBC installed. ODBC is installed if the ODBC toolbar
is available immediately when opening MI or can be added to the interface
through Options/Toolbars.
2. Create a 'Map catalogue'. This is a table that will be written to your
Access database that references, amongst other things, the columns in your
Access table that hold the x and y coordinates. You can create a Map
catalogue by running the 'ODBC catalog' MapBasic program shipped with MI.
Identify the location of the database that you want to create a Map
catalogue for. You will also need to identify the driver (in this case it
will be 'Access') that you are to use to make the connection. Also give
your database a suitable connection name and description.
3. Make ODBC table mappable - this function is available as one of the
buttons on the ODBC toolbar. Identify the database that contains the table
you want to make mapable, and identify the table to be mapped ('Mytable').
You will probably want to specify the the 'Spatial Index Type' as 'XY
coordinates', not 'MapInfo'. Identify the columns in Mytable that contain
your coordinates, select a default symbol and set your projection. When you
'OK' ths operation, this information will be written into your newly created
Map catalogue table that now appears as a table in 'Mydb.mdb'.
N.B. Steps 2 and 3 only have to be carried out once to set up an ODBC link.
4. Now open up selected record from your Access table by performing SQL
queries on 'Mytable' using the 'Open ODBC table'. For example, identify the
table that contains your data (Mytable), acknowledge you want all columns to
be written over to MI (this is the default), and perform an SQL query (e.g.
select records where ID >= 1 and ID <= 10) - you can also save these queries
using the 'expert' button.
5. Your data should now appear in MI.
Any updates made to the Access db Mytable or made in the MI version of the
data will be automatically updated between the ODBC IF YOU HAVE MI V5.0 OR
HIGHER. If you have lower than MIv5.0 you will need to perform refreshes
to the link (e.g. save the changes you make to the MI ODBC table) if you
want these updates to appear in your linked table.
If your records are initially stored as a MI table you can perform a
'Mapinfo table upload' by using the 'MIUPLOAD' mapbasic program (shipped
free with MI) to create the Access table. To perform this step you will
first need to create a blank Access database to which this table of records
can be written to.
N.B for your Access table to be modified you will also need to specify which
column in Mytable is your primary key. The primary key MUST BE UNIQUE, so
in this example will be the column called 'ID'.
I hope this helps.
Regards,
Spencer Chainey
Corporate GIS Manager
London Borough of Hackney
[EMAIL PROTECTED]
P.S. An English soccer team are once again Champions of Europe - Glory,
Glory Man United!
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