DataLynx BI Help

Using DataLynx is straight forward and easy to grasp for everyone. First you need to connect to the database, DataLynx will get tables list and structure. Then you define the connection between the tables (if you want to use the "join tables" feature) and create "Chart Tables". You can use chart tables to create beautiful charts with a click of a button.

No, you are not required to have coding knowledge to use DataLynx. We have taken care of the heavy lifting. Anyone can use DataLynx provided that they have the knowledge to connect to their database.

Yes, when you prepare your tables and charts, you will be provided a link that you can send over email, include in a presentation, or send to anyone.

Yes, you will be provided embedding links to add created tables and charts to your website or company blog.

My Box is the place where your created Charts and Chart Tables are saved. You can view, download, share, and embed them from My Box section.

All DataLynx communication is encryted. The data and passwords are secured using state-of-the-art techniques.

DataLynx currently supports MSSQL (Microsoft SQL Server), MySQL, MariaDB, and PostgreSQL. All remote connections use PDO. PDO_SQLSRV, PGSQL, MYSQL.

Most databases deny remote connections by default. So you'll need to change remote connection settings on your server. you will need to grant wildcard access, because our system connects from different servers.
- Check this link for SSH access granting process
- Check this link for setting up MySQL cPanel/WHM wildcard access.
- Please also make sure that you allow the relevant port in your firewall, more information here.

Needless to say, granting wild card access to your database opens the door for anyone to attempt to connect. However, your database is protected with a password -hopefully- and is still inaccessible for unwanted connections. Moreover, you can grant access as needed only. Once DataLynx connects and fetches your data, you can restore your settings and revoke access.

A data source is the database table where your data is located. When you establish a connection to your database, a list of all tables will show. You can pick the table(s) you wish to use as data source. You may not need all tables for your table / chart creation, so in order to avoid over-crowding the system, only the tables that you set as data source will be available for further use.

That's some of the power of DataLynx. Creating meaningful tables and charts often requires joining multiple tables into one. Simple example, this feature allows you to join table "sales" with table "employees", so you'll have sales list of employee "John" instead of employee "5" as it appears in your original "sales" table. Even more, you can connect virtually unlimited tables as long as they are connected with Foreign Key / Primary Key links.

This button attempts to fetch your latest database records from all data sources. This process automatically updates your existing chart tables and charts. If DataLynx fails to get data from one source, it will skip it and will attempt the next until all your data sources are updated, then it will throw a warning "One or more data sources were inaccessible".

Never. DataLynx reads your database when you click "fetch data". Everything else is done locally, it never connects to your database otherwise. Actually, it is recommended that you create a user with limited accessibility of "select" and "show" privilages.

What is this page about

Here you get to edit your database login information. You can also change the display name of the database an its tables. The display name will be the name used to refer to the database and table throughout the system.

Table structure

The table structure is pulled the first time the connection is established.

Set as data source

Not all tables are needed here, so in order to avoid over-crowding the system, only the tables set as "data source" will be available in the next steps.

Fetch data from source

This button will fetch the latest data from source. Data fetches assume that the structure is maintained. If the structure is changed and you want to pull the new structure, then you'll have to create a new DB profile.

What is this page about

Foreign Keys are used to connect two tables. A Primary Key to a Foreign Key. For example in table "sales" you'd find a column called "emplyeeid", which refers to the ID of the employee who made the sale.

Why we need this

This connection gives us the ability to join 2 or more tables into 1 table, which gives us more flexibility in creating meaningful charts. If we use the previous example, this feature allows us to show that employee "John" made the sale instead of employee "5" made the sale.

What is this page about

Here we create our tables. You can choose from data sources you specified earlier in the database tables. Then join the data sources according to your foreign keys settings.

Why we need this

In this page you get to your first visualization of your data, you can join your data into one table. You can also filter the data and create custom columns.

What can I edit

You can edit you table name and column headers names. You can add columns, hide columns, join DB tables, and filter data.

Filter types

There are four types of filters: Remove row, add prefix, add suffix, and replace row value.

You will have to specify the filter condition. For number and date fields, there are four types of conditions, equal, not equal, greater than, and less than. For other types of fields there are equal and not equal.

Adding columns

Adding columns to the table requires two parameters: name and equation. The equation accepts the four math operators only, ie: +-*/

Where is the table saved

The saved tables can be found in My Box -> My Chart Tables

What is this page about

Here we view our saved tables. Full data is shown here, so your table is ready to be exported, shared, and embedded into your blog, website, and online presentations.

What export option do you have

Chart tables can be exported to Excel, PDF, and more general purpose CSV format.

What is the difference between sharing and embedding

Sharing is a link that you can distribute in emails, social media, ..etc, for people to view your table. Where embedding is used to make the table part of another page, this page could be your company page or blog post for example, among other things.

What is this page about

Here we create the charts. Charts are extracted from Chart Tables created in the previous step. Each chart can have one x-axis and multiple series (datasets)

Chart options

Chart Name: The name that will show on the top of the chart box
Chart Table: The table from which the chart will extract the data
X-Axis: The column from Chart Table that will be our chart x-axis
Inervals: If you choose a date column for X-Axis you'll have the option to pick time intervals
Date Format: If you choose "days" interval you can pick your desired format
Minimum Date: The earliest date limit to show on the chart
Maximum Date: The latest date limit to show on the chart

Series (Datasets)

You can create multiple series in your chart, with two types:
Count rows: Simple count of occurrences (rows) for each of the X-Axis elements
Sum Values: This will prompt selection of column values to sum. Only columns with "number" attribute will show

Chart Types

You can create a different type for each series, There are 3 chart types: Column, Area, and Line Charts

"Customize" button

These are extra options for customization: Theme (dark, light), palette, line stroke, stacking, enabling data labels, x-axis title, and y-axis title

"Re-Draw" button

This button re-draws the chart applying your latest changes