Exporting Data from cybertracker to external database

Support - Classic
1

I have been battling with this so hoping someone can provide insight. we have a central system for managing a collection of monitoring databases, some have cybertracker components to them. We need to get the data from the cybertracker databases into our central system when new tracks are uploaded. We used to do this by exporting and importing spreadsheets but I saw a better way and have now created trouble for myself…

I can get the process working as described here Advanced Topics | CyberTracker Wiki

the problem I have is getting the export table created properly with all of the fields correct. I am sure at some point in the past we could do this automatically but now it seems the “Export” table must exist with all fields correctly pre-configured.

Is there no way to get the field config out of cybertracker programmatically to do this, manually going and doing this (and keeping updated) for 20 databases will be a huge job.

And while I am here is there any way for me to generate the Export Rules file other than the current process which is from within the query view in cybertracker and saving the file? we want all fields so would be great if I could just skip the rules altogether…

Many thanks for any insight.

2

Hi Simon,

Before we go down the route of using the Export table, is it possible to change the design a bit?

For example, everyone can send data to a single server directly from their phone. You could then create and publish reports for them.

Cheers,
-Justin

3

Hi Justin,

thanks for the response - you mean using the ftp option? never tried this before, wasnt sure of the best way forward but am willing to change design to get best trouble free result going forward that we possibly can.

thanks

4

Hi Simon,

There is a newer feature called “Publish”. This lets you distribute a CyberTracker app to everyone and also provides a central place for them to send their data to.

Then the original publisher can download the data from all the devices into their database (on their PC).

Would that scenario work for you?

Cheers,
-Justin

5

Hey Justin,

I have had a quick look at the publish option. It is a great feature that we may be able to use elsewhere but not for our main site. the problem is that connectivity there is a huge problem with a very overworked tiny sattelite link - all database work is processed on site and we remotely access when we can.

The other problem is that this is still not getting data into my external tables - this is really what I am trying to accomplish in a programatic/automated way. The export system did work nicely for me in the past but as I said the export table is not getting setup any more and requires some major manual intervention.

Regards,
Simon

6

Hi Simon,

I’m out in the field right now, so I cannot verify. I’m sure we’ll find a good solution though. Can you wait until late October?

Cheers
-Justin

7

Hey Justin,

Thanks for the assist while in the field - I will continue looking for a way as I need this fairly urgently. Will update if I make progress.

Regards,
Simon

8

I am not finding a way to do this - even pre-creating the fields in the Export table is somewhat hit and miss because I create them and get a very unhelpful error message that its wrong and then have to guess at solutions to fix and then eventually on to the next column - so this definitely isnt the way forward…
Is there some info on reading the blob binary data directly in the database? this would also solve my problem.
thanks,

9

Hi Simon,

In principle it should be pretty easy to build a CREATE TABLE operation where each column is a number or text. Since we support CSV export, there may be a way to create the SQL directly from that.

I would advise against trying to decode the CTX yourself. Better to have CyberTracker do that and export to a format you can read yourself.

I should be able to respond in more detail in 7 days from now.

Cheers,
-Justin

10

I still havent managed this - it is such a painful process doing this manually and I cant hand it over to other people going forward to do this. There definitely used to be a way for ct to create the export table because I have one on a testing database that was setup some time ago - looking at the way it was setup there is no way it was manually done. I am just not finding a way to do this any more.
If there are any other tricks I don’t know about please let me know - really need to find a solution for this.
thanks

11

Hi Simon,

This is a very old pathway, but I do not see a way for it to create the table automatically.

Let’s chat offline, perhaps we can schedule a call and find a way to speed things up: justin@steventon.com.

Thanks!