====MSSQL Live Driver Information====

===Source Properties===

When setting up the MSSQL data source, you'll be asked to specify...

^Option^Use^
|Host|The host name or IP address of your MySQL server|
|Port|The port that the MySQL server runs on (see Finding the Port Number below)|
|Database|The name of the MySQL database to use|
|Username|The username (with read-only access) to use to connect|
|Password|The password that goes with the above username*|
|Table|The name of the table to query|
|Lookup Field|The field that gives you the 'name' of the value - used to connect a single ARDI property with a single row in your database|
|Date Stamp|**Optional** - The name of the //date// column in your database. If not specified, //all// rows are inspected. See the 'Date Stamps' below for more detail.|
|Value|The name of the column that contains the value you are looking for|
|Filter|**Optional** - An additional filter to add to the SQL query|

* Note that this password is visible to all administrative users, which is why you should ensure that the user account is //read only// and can not make changes to the underlying database.

===Link Properties===

These are the options that appear when you link a property to a text data source...

^Option^Use^
|Lookup|The value of the lookup column|

===How It Works===

As an example, let's look at a simple database layout...

^Date^Name^Value^
|2016-01-01 12:15|ALPHA_TEMP|24.04|
|2016-01-01 12:15|BETA_PRESS|2891|
|2016-01-01 12:15|BETA_TEMP|16.29|
|2016-01-01 11:15|ALPHA_TEMP|29.04|
|2016-01-01 11:15|BETA_PRESS|2231|
|2016-01-01 11:15|BETA_TEMP|20.29|

If we wanted to connect to the latest values in this table, we would set the columns of our **data source** so that...

  * Lookup Field = //Name//
  * Value = //Value//
  * Date = //Date//

Then, if we had an asset called "Beta", when we linked the "Pressure" property to data, we would set...

   * Lookup = //BETA_PRESS//

The driver checks for the **Lookup Field** that matches the **Lookup** of the data link and returns the value in the **Value** field. 

So in the case above, the driver would check the first three rows, and set the pressure of the Beta asset to //2891//.

===Date Stamps===

The fastest scenario is if you have a 'latest values' table that contains **only** the most recent data.

===Finding the Port Number===

You will often find several //instances// of Microsoft SQL Server running on a single machine. Each of these instances have a unique name, usually added onto their host-name.

For example, one instance might be \\SQLSVR\\RECORDINGDB

While ARDI can use your host-name (ie, SQLSVR in the example above), it doesn't use the instance name to connect. You'll need to find out what //port number// to use.

This is best done using **SQL Server Configuration Manager**, which can be downloaded free-of-charge. Search using your preferred search engine for 'SQL Server Configuration Manager //<version>//', where 'version' is the edition of SQL server you have (2012, 2016 etc.).

Follow the steps below...

{{sqlconf1.png}}

1. Under **SQL Server Network Configuration**, locate the instance you want to connect to and double-click on 'TCP/IP' on the list to the right.

{{sqlconf2.png}}

2. Make sure 'Enabled' is set to 'True' to allow TCP connections to your database.

{{sqlconf3.png}}

3. Under the 'IP Addresses' tab, scroll to the bottom and under **IP All**, check or choose the port number that this instance uses. 

Hit 'OK' when you're done, and your sever should now be accessible to ARDI.