When working with Perl and MySQL, one of the most reliable ways to establish a connection is through ODBC (Open Database Connectivity). This approach provides flexibility, as ODBC acts as a bridge between your Perl application and the MySQL database. In this post, we’ll walk through how to set up a simple Perl script that connects to a MySQL database using ODBC.

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Prerequisites

Before we start coding, make sure the following are in place:

1. Perl installed on your system.
2. MySQL ODBC driver configured with a DSN (Data Source Name).
   • On Linux/Unix, you can configure this in /etc/odbc.ini.
   • On Windows, use the ODBC Data Source Administrator.
3. Perl modules:
   • DBI — a generic Perl database interface.
   • DBD::ODBC — the ODBC driver for DBI.

You can install the modules via CPAN if they aren’t already installed:

cpan DBI

cpan DBD::ODBC

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The Perl Script

Here’s a simple Perl script that demonstrates how to connect to a MySQL database using ODBC:

#!/usr/bin/perl

 

use strict;

use warnings;

use DBI;

 

# Define the DSN, username, and password

my $dsn = ‘DBI:ODBC:your_dsn_name’;

my $username = ‘your_username’;

my $password = ‘your_password’;

 

# Connect to the database

my $dbh = DBI->connect($dsn, $username, $password, {

RaiseError => 1,

PrintError => 0,

AutoCommit => 1,

}) or die “Failed to connect: ” . DBI->errstr;

 

print “Connected to the database successfully!\n”;

 

# Example query

my $sql = ‘SELECT * FROM your_table_name’;

my $sth = $dbh->prepare($sql);

$sth->execute();

 

# Fetch and display results

while (my @row = $sth->fetchrow_array) {

print join(“, “, @row), “\n”;

}

 

# Clean up

$sth->finish();

$dbh->disconnect();

 

print “Disconnected from the database.\n”;

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Breaking It Down

1. Connection String:
   The $dsn specifies the ODBC DSN you’ve configured, prefixed with DBI:ODBC:. Replace your_dsn_name with the DSN you set up for your MySQL database.
2. Connection Attributes:
   • RaiseError => 1: Automatically die on errors.
   • PrintError => 0: Prevents warnings from being printed automatically.
   • AutoCommit => 1: Ensures changes are committed immediately.
3. Query Execution:
   The script prepares a simple SELECT * query, executes it, and prints the results row by row.
4. Cleanup:
   Always call $sth->finish() and $dbh->disconnect() to release resources properly.

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Why Use ODBC?

Using ODBC adds a layer of portability to your applications. If your database backend changes in the future, you can update the DSN and driver without rewriting large portions of your Perl code. This is particularly useful in environments with multiple types of databases or when migrating systems.

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Final Thoughts

With just a few lines of Perl code, you can connect to a MySQL database using ODBC and start running queries. While this example demonstrates a basic SELECT, the same connection can be used for inserts, updates, and more complex operations.

Whether you’re maintaining legacy Perl applications or building new scripts to interact with MySQL, ODBC gives you a stable, flexible way to manage database connectivity.

 

Summary: You have an email node going out to users with an attachment from a network path, but it seems to be failing.

Here is the email node, notice the network path by \\

This same email node will fail when you try to add an attachment like this by saying the file “does not exist”

One way to properly attach a file to the email node is to use IPA FileAccess nodes to read and then write the file to Landmark so it could be attached locally.

1. FileAccess Node 1 (read) will need to be set to the Main configuration so it can read the file from your LSF server (assuming that is where your file exists).
2. FileAccess Node 2 (write) will need to be set to the System configuration so it can write it to your Landmark server. If your file will be on landmark automatically or by some other means, skip this step.
3. Now simply remove your existing \\ attachment network path and add a local Landmark path like D:\lawson\fileAttachmentName.txt

Done! Now just run and test it to make sure it works.

When working with date and time values in MySQL, it’s common to store durations in days. However, sometimes you need to present those days as a more human-readable format—like years and months. For example, showing “2 years, 3 months” instead of “825 days.”

Here’s a simple way to achieve this using a MySQL formula.

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Converting Days to Years and Months

Since MySQL doesn’t have a built-in function to directly convert days into years and months, we can use arithmetic with division (/) and modulo (%) operators.

SELECT

FLOOR(days / 365) AS years,

FLOOR((days % 365) / 30) AS months

FROM

your_table;

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How It Works

• FLOOR(days / 365)
  Divides the total days by 365 to get whole years.
• (days % 365)
  Gets the leftover days after subtracting the full years.
• FLOOR((days % 365) / 30)
  Divides the leftover days by 30 to approximate months.

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Example

Suppose your table looks like this:

CREATE TABLE durations (days INT);

INSERT INTO durations (days) VALUES (400), (825), (1200);

Running the query:

SELECT

days,

FLOOR(days / 365) AS years,

FLOOR((days % 365) / 30) AS months

FROM durations;

Would produce:

days	years	months
400	1	1
825	2	3
1200	3	3

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Notes and Limitations

• This method assumes 365 days per year and 30 days per month. It’s an approximation, not a precise calendar conversion.
• If you need exact calendar-aware calculations (e.g., accounting for leap years or exact month lengths), you’ll need to work with MySQL date functions and actual date values instead of raw day counts.

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Final Thoughts

Converting days to years and months in MySQL can be done easily with simple math functions. While the above approach works well for approximations, consider whether you need exact date-based calculations before choosing the method.

If you often store durations in days, this formula provides a quick way to present data in a more user-friendly format.

Most Lawson v10 systems has moved to Infor Security Service web portal to manage user provisioning etc.

 

However, Lawson Security Administration is still necessary for security reports, identity information, among other tasks.

 

When logging into Lawson Security Admin, you may receive this error and wonder why all of a sudden?

In order to resolve this, stop and start IBM and Lawson services in the proper order (your server names will differ from below but be similar under Windows Services.

STOP – Lawson and Websphere Services

1. IBM WebSphere Application Server V8.5 – Infor10Prod-Appserver
2. IBM WebSphere Application Server V8.5 – lsfappCellManager01
3. IBM WebSphere Application Server V8.5 – Node Agent-Infor10Prod
4. insight Environment “Prod”

 

Verify JAVA processes are down.

START – Lawson and Websphere Services

1. insight Environment “Prod”
2. IBM WebSphere Application Server V8.5 – Node Agent-Infor10Prod
3. IBM WebSphere Application Server V8.5 – lsfappCellManager01
4. IBM WebSphere Application Server V8.5 – Infor10Prod-Appserver