Access Live IBM Informix Data in Excel (Desktop) via Connect AI

Microsoft Excel is a widely used spreadsheet software application, primarily used for tasks related to data management, analysis, and visualization. When combined with CData Connect AI, you gain immediate access to IBM Informix data directly within Excel, facilitating data analysis, collaboration, calculations, and more.This article shows how to connect to IBM Informix in your Connect AI instance and access and update live IBM Informix data in Excel spreadsheets.

CData Connect AI provides a pure cloud-to-cloud interface for IBM Informix, allowing you to easily access live IBM Informix data in Excel for the web. Simply use the Connect AI Add-In to query live data (or write your own). Using optimized data processing out of the box, CData Connect AI pushes all supported query operations (filters, JOINs, etc) directly to IBM Informix, leveraging server-side processing to quickly return IBM Informix data.

Configure IBM Informix Connectivity for Excel

Connectivity to IBM Informix from Excel is made possible through CData Connect AI. To work with IBM Informix data from Excel, we start by creating and configuring a IBM Informix connection.

1. Log into Connect AI, click Sources, and then click Add Connection
👁 Adding a Connection

2. Select "IBM Informix" from the Add Connection panel
👁 Selecting a data source

3. Enter the necessary authentication properties to connect to IBM Informix.

   Set the following properties to connect to IBM Informix

   • Server: Set this to the name of the server running IBM Informix.
   • Port: Set this to the port the IBM Informix server is listening on.
   • Database: Set this to the name of the IBM Informix database.
   • User: Set this to the username of a user allowed to access the database.
   • Password: Set this to the password of a user allowed to access the database.
   👁 Configuring a connection (Salesforce is shown)
   
4. Click Save & Test
5. Navigate to the Permissions tab in the Add IBM Informix Connection page and update the User-based permissions. 👁 Updating permissions
   

With the connection configured, you are ready to connect to IBM Informix data from Excel.

Access Live IBM Informix Data in Excel

The steps below outline connecting to CData Connect AI from Excel to access live IBM Informix data.

1. Open Excel, create a new sheet (or open an existing one).
2. Click Insert and click Get Add-ins. (if you have already installed the Add-In, jump to step 4).
3. Search for CData Connect AI Add-In and install the Add-in. 👁 Install the Add-In
   
4. Click Data and open the CData Connect AI Add-In.
5. In the Add-In panel, click Authorize to authenticate with your CData Connect AI instance 👁 Authorizing the Add-In
   
6. In the CData Connect AI panel in Excel, click Import 👁 CData Connect AI panel in Excel
   
7. Choose a Connection (e.g. Informix1), Table (e.g. Books), and Columns to import 👁 CData Connect AI panel in Excel
   
8. Optionally add Filters, Sorting, and a Limit 👁 Choosing a Connection, Table, and Columns
   
9. Click Execute to import the data 👁 Executing the Query
   

Update IBM Informix Data from Excel

In addition to viewing IBM Informix data in Excel, CData Connect AI also lets you update and delete IBM Informix data. Begin by importing data (as described above).

1. Update any cell or cells with changes you want to push to IBM Informix (your changes will be in red)
2. In the CData Connect AI Add-In panel, select Update
3. Optionally highlight the cell(s) you wish to update and select an update option ("Update All" or "Update Selected") 👁 Executing the update (Salesforce is shown).
   
4. Click Execute to push the updates to IBM Informix, and a notification will appear when the update is complete

Live Access to IBM Informix Data from Cloud Applications

Now, you have a direct, cloud-to-cloud connection to live IBM Informix data from your Excel workbook. You can add more data to your workbook for calculations, aggregations, collaboration, and more.

👁 Imported data (Salesforce is shown)


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