Word Document Generation from DB
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The most common solutions being used are not built for document generation and hence
TL;DR Generate Word/PDF documents from SQL Server, Oracle, and MySQL using SQL queries.
In every organization, the database plays an important role in holding the entire organization’s data. Traditional databases such as IBM, Microsoft & Oracle control close to 80% of the DBMS market. Oracle, MySQL, and SQL server occupy the top positions in the latest DB engine rankings.
For organizations that generate loads of business documents, manual creation of documents from database records is a costly and time-consuming task. Automating the document creation from data sources improves employee productivity.
In traditional databases, data is stored in tables and they have a logical connection among them. Hence, Database solutions don’t have document generation capabilities. Hence organizations look for tools similar to Microsoft Word mail merge that automate the Word/PDF generation from DB data.
Reporting tools such as Tableau, SQL Server Reporting Services, and SAP Crystal Reports are popular choices for the database mail merge. These are good for interactive reports but not for complex document generation. First, you've to design the document template afresh junking the existing templates. Secondly, the document designers in these tools only support limited dynamic fields. They are not business user friendly and working on them is frustrating.
The document templates undergo frequent changes. Hence it’s a good idea for business users to have a DIY database mail merge system. That reduces their dependency on the IT department and gives the flexibility to change templates and generate documents from DB data as-and-when required.
EDocGen is the best solution for business users to generate documents in bulk and on-demand from traditional databases. They can create/edit templates in Word and PDF editors. Utilizing existing Word and PDF templates, they can create business documents from databases.
In this article, we limit ourselves to Oracle, MySQL, and SQL server databases as they are the top three database engines. You can extrapolate this to other databases. The system supports both on-premise (local) and online cloud databases.
Using EDocGen database mail merge, generate documents from databases in two steps.
You can connect to both local and publicly hosted Oracle databases. In the connection screen, select the Oracle database from the drop-down. Then enter the connection URL in "username@hostname[:port]/DatabaseName" format and the password. For a local database, your connection URL would look like root@localhost/oracledb.
For select query, you can use native SQL queries. Writing SQL is a one time job and SQL can be changed easily whenever the template changes. Many business users are adept at SQL.
The next step is to populate this SELECT statement data into the document template.
The system supports the filling of dynamic text, tables, blobs, and images from data into document templates. Briefly, you can
Similar to the Oracle database, you can connect to both on-premise and cloud MySQL databases.
For select query, you can use native MySQL queries to fetch data. Follow the same steps above to
generate documents from MySQL.
As in above two database engines, you can use native SQL Server queries to fetch data. You can generate documents from both on-premise and cloud SQL Server instances.
The system is built for high performance to produce a large number of Word/PDF documents in a few seconds. It supports multi-lingual, very complex document generation.
Users can request the generation of documents and instantly view them on their browsers or use them as part of the workflow. An example workflow is - your web visitor fills a form on your corporate website and the system auto-sends a proposal PDF document to the mail id. With databases, every time a new record is inserted/updated a document conforming to your branding guidelines get created and sent.
EDoGen is API first product with a well-designed REST API. You can connect to your databases to produce documents on-demand.
Oracle REST Data Services (ORDS) enables users to turn their Oracle databases into RESTful API Services. There are a lot of tools and techniques for creating REST API for SQL Server and MySQL.
You can extend the integration to create complex document workflows. You may send the generated documents to cloud storage or E-Sign etc.
EDocGen automates document generation from almost all leading database engines. Give it a try by registering.
Posted by admin
The most common solutions being used are not built for document generation and hence
Posted by admin
Will you ever fill a document manually, if there is a choice to use a system/tool that auto-
Posted by admin
SQL Server's ease of use, availability and tight Windows operating system integration