Informix integration with Document Management and CTI
We are considering upgrading our business system which run on an Informix database. We currently have SE5 running on a Sun / Solaris platform. The application is written in Informix 4GL and users access it from PCs using a Telnet emulator. Two of the main user requirements are integration with a document management system and computer telephony integration (CTI). A great deal of effort has been put in to getting the business logic right in the current I4gl programmes and we do not want to rewrite all this code. This email is about how the document management and CTI functionality may be achieved. Firstly CTI. I have undertaken some research in to this and come to two conclusions. One, the CTI software out there which I have found has a client component which runs on a PC (ActiveX, OLE etc) which means writing something to hook our current apps in to it possibly using a screen scraper. Secondly, the server component (which connects to the telephone switch) runs on NT. So my questions on CTI then. Is there any CTI software out there which runs on UNIX servers which integrates with Informix? Which versions of Informix does it integrate with? Could the whole lot be written as part of the app running on the server rather than having to have a PC component. This would both reduce the programming skill set required and (probably) improve performance and reliability. Secondly document management. I have to admit to being a bit weak on this area. If I understand this correctly if we were running IDS then we would have the main basic requirement of any document management system - i.e. Blobs. I have looked at the Informix web site and seen the examples of document storeage systems using Blobs they are very impressive. However, they seem to be written for Unix clients and we are commited to PC clients. My questions on document management then. If we were storing document information in the Informix database what tools could we use to access it? The Informix 4gl apps running on the server which we currently use cannot do this - they are text based. Presumeably we could have a PC based app using ODBC or native drivers which hooked in to the database and extracted the Blobs but we would have the same integration issues as mentioned above in relation to CTI. But are there any other tools which could be used - is the Informix 4gl for Windows capable of this. Or is there something else I could use without the need for a rewrite of our I4gl software? Any advice or pointers to documents with further information gratefully recieved. Please email responses to me as well as posting to the newsgroup. Thanks in advance. Regards Richard Percival. -- Richard Percival Information Link email : richardp@informationlink.demon.co.uk tel : (+44) 171 263 5551 fax : (+44) 171 263 5535
Richard, For the document management piece, you should take a look at Parlance Document Manager from Xyvision. (www.xyvision.com). Their system is primarily focused toward management of SGML and XML documents, but is capable of managing other document/file types as well. The server is UNIX based and is layered on either Informix or Oracle. Clients can be UNIX or Windows (NT, 95, 98). They also have an office in the UK. Best regards, -Dan ____________________________________________________ Dan Dube Vice President ISOGEN International Corp. 15 Constitution Drive, Suite 163 Bedford, NH 03110 Phone: 603-472-2853 Fax: 603-472-2854 Cellphone: 214-505-8004 Richard Percival wrote in message <36934ED6.27275AB6@informationlink.demon.co.uk>... >We are considering upgrading our business system which run on an >Informix database. We currently have SE5 running on a Sun / Solaris >platform. The application is written in Informix 4GL and users access it >from PCs using a Telnet emulator. Two of the main user requirements are >integration with a document management system and computer telephony >integration (CTI). A great deal of effort has been put in to getting the >business logic right in the current I4gl programmes and we do not want >to rewrite all this code. This email is about how the document >management and CTI functionality may be achieved. > >Firstly CTI. I have undertaken some research in to this and come to two >conclusions. One, the CTI software out there which I have found has a >client component which runs on a PC (ActiveX, OLE etc) which means >writing something to hook our current apps in to it possibly using a >screen scraper. Secondly, the server component (which connects to the >telephone switch) runs on NT. > >So my questions on CTI then. Is there any CTI software out there which >runs on UNIX servers which integrates with Informix? Which versions of >Informix does it integrate with? Could the whole lot be written as part >of the app running on the server rather than having to have a PC >component. This would both reduce the programming skill set required and >(probably) improve performance and reliability. > >Secondly document management. I have to admit to being a bit weak on >this area. If I understand this correctly if we were running IDS then we >would have the main basic requirement of any document management system >- i.e. Blobs. I have looked at the Informix web site and seen the >examples of document storeage systems using Blobs they are very >impressive. However, they seem to be written for Unix clients and we are >commited to PC clients. > >My questions on document management then. If we were storing document >information in the Informix database what tools could we use to access >it? The Informix 4gl apps running on the server which we currently use >cannot do this - they are text based. Presumeably we could have a PC >based app using ODBC or native drivers which hooked in to the database >and extracted the Blobs but we would have the same integration issues as >mentioned above in relation to CTI. But are there any other tools which >could be used - is the Informix 4gl for Windows capable of this. Or is >there something else I could use without the need for a rewrite of our >I4gl software? > >Any advice or pointers to documents with further information gratefully >recieved. Please email responses to me as well as posting to the >newsgroup. > >Thanks in advance. Regards Richard Percival. > >-- >Richard Percival >Information Link >email : richardp@informationlink.demon.co.uk >tel : (+44) 171 263 5551 >fax : (+44) 171 263 5535 > >
If you run IDS 9.x, formerly known as Informix Universal Server, you could have document management integrated into the object-relational engine in the form of one of several document management DataBlades. Seth Richard Percival wrote: > Secondly document management. I have to admit to being a bit weak on > this area. If I understand this correctly if we were running IDS then we > would have the main basic requirement of any document management system > - i.e. Blobs. I have looked at the Informix web site and seen the > examples of document storeage systems using Blobs they are very > impressive. However, they seem to be written for Unix clients and we are > commited to PC clients. > > My questions on document management then. If we were storing document > information in the Informix database what tools could we use to access > it? The Informix 4gl apps running on the server which we currently use > cannot do this - they are text based. Presumeably we could have a PC > based app using ODBC or native drivers which hooked in to the database > and extracted the Blobs but we would have the same integration issues as > mentioned above in relation to CTI. But are there any other tools which > could be used - is the Informix 4gl for Windows capable of this. Or is > there something else I could use without the need for a rewrite of our > I4gl software? > > Any advice or pointers to documents with further information gratefully > recieved. Please email responses to me as well as posting to the > newsgroup. > > Thanks in advance. Regards Richard Percival. > > -- > Richard Percival > Information Link > email : richardp@informationlink.demon.co.uk > tel : (+44) 171 263 5551 > fax : (+44) 171 263 5535 -- Seth Grimes Alta Plana database & Web / design & development grimes@altaplana.com http://altaplana.com 301-891-2581
Informix has a web based solution to document management. It sits on top of the 9.x engine. It's called "iSite" in it's current incarnation. Haven't checked the Informix web site for info, but a sales person could get you the info you need. >>Richard Percival wrote: >> >>> Secondly document management. I have to admit to being a bit weak on >>> this area. If I understand this correctly if we were running IDS then we >>> would have the main basic requirement of any document management system >>> - i.e. Blobs. I have looked at the Informix web site and seen the >>> examples of document storeage systems using Blobs they are very >>> impressive. However, they seem to be written for Unix clients and we are >>> commited to PC clients. >>> >>> My questions on document management then. If we were storing document >>> information in the Informix database what tools could we use to access >>> it? The Informix 4gl apps running on the server which we currently use >>> cannot do this - they are text based. Presumeably we could have a PC >>> based app using ODBC or native drivers which hooked in to the database >>> and extracted the Blobs but we would have the same integration issues as >>> mentioned above in relation to CTI. But are there any other tools which >>> could be used - is the Informix 4gl for Windows capable of this. Or is >>> there something else I could use without the need for a rewrite of our >>> I4gl software? >>> >>> Any advice or pointers to documents with further information gratefully >>> recieved. Please email responses to me as well as posting to the >>> newsgroup.