Lesson 2: Set up your MobiLink consolidated database

Your MobiLink consolidated database is a central repository of data and includes MobiLink system tables and stored procedures used to manage the synchronization process. With direct row handling, you synchronize with a data source other than a consolidated database, but you still need a consolidated database to maintain information used by the MobiLink server.

In this lesson, you:

Create a database and define an ODBC data source.
Add data tables to synchronize to remote clients.
Install MobiLink system tables and stored procedures.

Note

If you already have a MobiLink consolidated database set up with MobiLink system objects and a DSN, you can skip this lesson.

Create your consolidated database

In this tutorial, you create a SQL Anywhere database using the Sybase Central Create Database Wizard.

To create your SQL Anywhere RDBMS

Click Start » Programs » SQL Anywhere 12 » Administration Tools » Sybase Central.
Click Tools » SQL Anywhere 12 » Create Database.
Click Next.
Leave the default of Create Database On This Computer, and then click Next.
In the Save The Main Database File To The Following File field, type the file name and path for the database. For example, c:\MLobjexcel\MLconsolidated.db.
Follow the remaining instructions in the Create Database Wizard and accept the default values. On the Connect To The Database page, clear the Stop The Database After Last Disconnect option.
Click Finish.

The MLconsolidated database appears in Sybase Central.
Click Close on the Creating Database window.

Define an ODBC data source for the consolidated database

Use the SQL Anywhere 12 driver to define an ODBC data source for the MLconsolidated database.

To define an ODBC data source for the consolidated database

From the Sybase Central Tools menu, choose SQL Anywhere 12 » Open ODBC Administrator.
Click the User DSN tab, and click Add.
In the Create New Data Source window, click SQL Anywhere 12 and click Finish.
Perform the following tasks in the ODBC Configuration For SQL Anywhere window:
1. Click the ODBC tab.
2. In the Data Source Name field, type mlexcel_db.
3. Click the Login tab.
4. In the User ID field, type DBA.
5. In the Password field, type sql.
6. From the Action dropdown list, choose Connect To A Running Database On This Computer.
7. In the Server Name field, type MLconsolidated.
8. Click OK.
Close ODBC data source administrator.

Click OK on the ODBC Data Source Administrator window.

Create tables for synchronization

In this procedure, you create the RemoteOrders table in the MobiLink consolidated database. The RemoteOrders table contains the following columns:

Column	Description
order_id	A unique identifier for orders.
product_id	A unique identifier for products.
quantity	The number of items sold.
order_status	The order status.
last_modified	The last modification date of a row. You use this column for timestamp based downloads, a common technique used to filter rows for efficient synchronization.

To create the RemoteOrders table

Connect to your database using Interactive SQL.

You can start Interactive SQL from Sybase Central or from a command prompt.

To start Interactive SQL from Sybase Central, right-click the MLconsolidated - DBA database and click Open Interactive SQL.

To start Interactive SQL at a command prompt, run the following command:

dbisql -c "dsn=mlexcel_db"

Run the following SQL script in Interactive SQL to create the RemoteOrders table.

CREATE TABLE RemoteOrders (
    order_id           INTEGER NOT NULL,
    product_id         INTEGER NOT NULL,
    quantity           INTEGER,
    order_status       VARCHAR(10) DEFAULT 'new',
    last_modified      TIMESTAMP DEFAULT CURRENT TIMESTAMP,
    PRIMARY KEY(order_id)
)

Interactive SQL creates the RemoteOrders table in your consolidated database.

Stay connected in Interactive SQL for the next procedure.

Run MobiLink setup scripts

You can find setup scripts for each supported consolidated database in the MobiLink/setup subdirectory of your SQL Anywhere 12 installation.

In this procedure you set up a SQL Anywhere consolidated database. You do this using the syncsa.sql setup script. Running syncsa.sql creates a series of system tables and stored procedures prefaced with ml_. The MobiLink server works with these tables and stored procedures in the synchronization process.

To install MobiLink system tables

Connect to your consolidated database in Interactive SQL if you are not already connected.

Run the following command:
dbisql -c "dsn=mlexcel_db"

Run the following command in Interactive SQL to create MobiLink system tables and stored procedures. Replace C:\Program Files\SQL Anywhere 12\ with the location of your SQL Anywhere 12 installation.

READ "C:\Program Files\SQL Anywhere 12\MobiLink\setup\syncsa.sql"

Interactive SQL applies syncsa.sql to your consolidated database.

Stay connected in Interactive SQL for the next lesson.