In some cases, you can face the issue of Magento data visualization in commonly used tools (e.g. Excel table). Imagine that you have a bookshop and you need to change all the books prices fast. For this, you should just connect your goods database from Magento with an Application where you want to edit all the data.
In this tutorial, we will show you how to connect your Application with Magento database. Here, I will use Devart ODBC driver for Magento as a connectivity solution. OpenOffice Base will be used as a sample Application.
How to install and configure the driver
At first, you should download ODBC driver for Magento.
Once the driver is installed, it needs to be configured. For this, go to Control Panel, open Administrative Tools and click Data Sources (ODBC).
Add the Devart ODBC Driver for Magento to the list of System Data Sources or User Data Sources or File Data Sources, using ODBC Data Source Administrator dialogue.
To do this, click Add button. In the dialogue, which is visible, select ODBC driver for Magento and click Finish.
To configure the driver, specify the connection options in the dialogue, which is visible.
Click OK to complete configuration or go to Advanced settings tab to specify more detailed Connection String.
Sample connection string can look, as shown below.
domain=http://localhost/magento/admin; user: admin; password: admin; apikey=admin11111
How to access Magento database from OpenOffice
You can use this method for both LibreOffice and Excel.
Run OpenOffice and go to File, click New, followed by clicking the database.
Now, select Connect to an existing database and choose ODBC from the list given below.
If you have a username and a password to access your database, input them in the corresponding fields.
Click Finish.
Click Save button to save the database in your local folder.
Now, open your database in OpenOffice.Base.
If you need to display or edit Magento data in a form of a table, click Tables tab on the left. It will open the list of the available tables from which you can select the one you need.
Now, you can manipulate Magento data in OpenOffice. Also, you can build queries, create filters and sort any Magento tables, which you need.