Exporting from Sage?..

[kdm3]

Hello everbody...

I write in the hope that someone will be able to assist me with a problem I have currently. I am writing an access application to coordinate inventory, manufacturing/assembly and purchasing at a small company. They use Sage (Line 50) for their accounts and order costing etc. I need to be able to export data from Sage (primarily associated with order details, OrderID, Quantity etc.) for use in my Application. I have very little idea how to go about this, and have found little useful information - so any assistence would be most appreciated.

I thank you kindly for taking the time to read this message!

 

[Uncle Gizmo]

I have looked into this in the past, there is an ODBC link available for sage, but unfortunately it's not free, and generally its only available from certified sage developers.

 

[neileg]

I've used the ODBC link before, and it was free, or at least it came with the Sage package. This was many years ago, however, and things may have changed. Here's an extract from an article on using Excel and ODBC with Sage found here:
http://www.accountingweb.co.uk/cgi-bin/item.cgi?id=13506&d=101&dateformat=%o-%B

So there are two things you must now find out:

a) In which folder is my Sage data located?
b) Is my Sage ODBC driver set up to look at this folder?


When Sage was originally installed on your machine, it offered certain standard “default” values to you – the directory on the disk where the program was to be stored, the chart of accounts you wished to use for the nominal ledger, etc. etc You could either accept these defaults or set up your own. Ninety-nine percent of users simply accept the defaults. The default location for data was c:sfwacctdata. We should expect, therefore, that your data and your ODBC driver are both set to: c:sfwacctdata (upper or lower case, either will do). Note that “directory” and “folder” mean the same thing.


a) where is my Sage data located?
To find out where your Sage data is located, start up Sage. Click on Help at the far right. Then:

About - System Information - Directories. Data Directory should be: c:sfwacctdata. Exit Sage.


b) what data is my Sage ODBC driver set to look to?

Click on Start button. Then: Settings - Control Panel. There are two “ODBC” icons, one entitled just “ODBC” and the other “ODBC Data Sources (32 bit)”.

Click on the ODBC32 Data sources (32bit) icon: The ODBC Data Sources Administrator screen appears

There is a list of “User Data Sources”, such as dBase, Excel, Foxpro, Ms Access.

In the list should be Sage Line50v6, or Sage Line5032v5

[If Sage Line 50 isn’t in the list, the driver isn’t installed. Go to section 5, Appendix 2, Install Sage ODBC Drivers]


Highlight whichever version you have, then select: Configure

The “Data Path” should be c:sfwacctdata


[If the data path is not where your data is located, change it so that it is. For example, suppose you wished to analyse the Sage demonstration data, which in version 6 is located in c:sfwdemodataacctdata.
It would be necessary to amend the data path on the ODBC driver as well to c:sfwdemodataacctdata]

 

[kdm3]

Here's to hoping...

It's a relief to know that it isn't too difficult (he says) to extract data from sage. The company where I am have apparently got some software which already communicates with sage (it deals with contacts and customer details) - but not sure which direction? However, hopefully the required driver will already be installed?!

Anyhow, thanks for the advice, guess I'll just have to try it out (and hope I don't wipe all their data)!?

With great thanks
kdm3

P.S. Is it easy to identify what each field contains, for the purposes of exporting the correct info. I ask because I don't know the structure of sage, is it just a case of 'try it and see'?

 

[neileg]

The ODBC with Sage is read only, so you're pretty safe.

 

[Uncle Gizmo]

The ODBC with Sage is read only, so you're pretty safe.

Ah! I see, the one I was after was both ways, the reason you had to get it from a Sage Developer was something to do with updating seveal Sage tables at once.