How to access to Manager data

1

Dear @lubos,

I’m getting a little frustrated in order to get access to my data that is stored in Manager. I know that I can copy it in Excel, export It through batch create, etc etc but since my business, fortunately, is growing I would like to get rid of Excel for reporting and use a BI tool.

I tried the hypothesis to dump data through restful api but I cannot have access to the big transaction table which is fundamental for any kind of analisys. It would be like rewriting Manager from scratch.

Custom reports cannot be used since they are not accessible by adding .JSON to the url. And also, custom reports don’t show UUIDs of the various tables so they cannot be used for additional querying outside manager.

Adding .json to customer list show only fields that are viewable by screen and not other custom fields and, on the other side, custom reports show only customers involved in a transaction again without UUID.

This new API by url don’t support basic authentication.

Report transformation doesn’t have access to all the data viewable in custom reports and don’t support new API, ie adding .json.

The promised access to data through JDBC is in the air since 2017 like a dump in mysql or sqlite (not in glorified version like it is today which is useless).

We have tenths of instruments and no one fully works from beginning to the end and it is clear that any kind of report developed inside Manager will not have one tenth of the functionalities that a specific BI platform like Metabase can provide including the possibility to combine data of different databases, charts etc etc.

All that said, I am asking for a complete solution to this endless issue with an organic tool that:

  1. provides a standard authentication system
  2. provides data in a standardized and tabular format accessible by common BI software (SQL, YAML, CSV)
  3. provides all useful data, ie the big transaction table with all the UUIDs (of the transaction but also of the connects tables like of the clients, suppliers, Inventory items) and all the ancillary tables with UUIDs (clients lost, suppliers list etc etc)
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2

Idk how you got this idea, it only works using basic authentication.

Apart from that, idk why this isn’t an idea. Report outputs accessable using api is a dream. Personally, I prefer JSON over YAML and SQL (in fact, metabase should step up their game with json because it’s everywhere) BUT csv shouldn’t be a problem especially if you consider tsv export is already a feature in manager when you press the copy to clipboard button, automating that using api would be a wonderful idea.

3

Metabase doesn’t support neither json nor YAML. There is something planned for the future but nothing concrete. So I would not consider it.

Redash supports YAML and not json.

I generally prefer Metabase since it is so much easier to setup and to use even if it is not as mature as Redash.

About csv my fear is always to have some incompatibility due to the basicity of the format.

Let’s not forget that Manager uses, as database format SQLite, which is supported by every BI platform so maybe Lubos shouldn’t reinvent the wheel.

4

Personally I would prefer development of the report transformations / liquid programming environment.

The reason is it adds greater benefit to the Manager product because programming done in that environment can be shared among a broader range a Manager users. Most users can load and use a localisation, but very few users can interface Manager to a third party product and develop a customised interface in a business intelligence tool.

Also almost all data is currently dynamically available via report transformations. What could be added is more general filters to reduce the step from custom reports to report transformations. Having access to the environment during data entry would also enhance Manager.

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5

I think that we are talking of something completely different:

Manager will never be able to combine data with external DBs, and big data, put them into charts, maps and so on. Metabase is an open source platform developed with the specific scope of BI. Report transformation, at its best, will be only a querying language and only inside Manager itself.

Also Manager will never produce dynamic reports accessible from public instances etc etc.

6

And, not to belittle Lubos, he created all alone Manager which is a great software that I love so much, but what makes you think that he can reproduce something that took so many “man hours” to be created while he wasn’t able in four years to give us a way to access to the Manager data despite all the promises? Look under this light all my requests during years and his answers.

BTW I don’t see why he should spend time reproducing, partially since it will never put it’s nose outside Manager itself, something that already exists and it is free. Think that this kind of access will permit also easy full reporting under Excel.

7

You are right. I did a test sometime ago and it didn’t work but now all pages work also with basic authentication

8

Idk but logging in can sometimes feel glitchy, I can only describe it as having “hiccups” for lack of a better term.

That’s why I login using my browser and use that key instead. But this shouldn’t be a problem since the end user will not connect directly to manager.api, they will only login to your BI service, I suppose.

9

I use Advanced REST Client to do some test and I can confirm that using header with the key always works while using the login form mode in some pages returns an error. Don’t know why because they should be equivalent. All that said, without the “big table” any kind of BI connection is almost useless… but the complete silence of @lubos on this topic makes me fear that we will never see the light.

10

What key are you talking about? I am unclear as to how the api authenticates. You appear to be talking about Basic authentication using login form or logging in via a header with key.

What big transaction table are you talking about - the General Ledger? Because I am planning to implement an API in the next couple of months, I am keen to see what other people are using the api for to see if this is something that would be of interest to me. At the moment all I am looking to do is allow my clients to view their quotes, orders, invoices and contracts.