Data ServicesUser Interface: Data Services

Click Data Services Data Services from the navigation menu to display options for managing data services. A data service is a connection to a database, a URL, or a file external to Spectrum that can be used to retrieve data for use in a label. Using Spectrum, a Data Service AdministratorClosed A local administrator who creates and configures data services for use by Designers who configure Database data sources and Alternate data sources. can configure and manage data services for use by Designers. A DesignerClosed Person who creates and designs label templates, forms, and applications for use by Data Providers. can create a Database data source or an Alternate data source that is associated with a data service and use that data source to incorporate data from a database or a file into a label template.

When creating the data service, you can specify the type of data service. You cannot change its type.

  • JDBC Data Service: Select to create a read-only connection to a database.
  • JDBC Update Data Service: Select to create a connection to a database that allows you to save changes to the database.
  • File Data Service: Select to create a connection to a text file, an image file, or an XML file that is on the same server as Spectrum, that is on a mapped drive, or that is accessible via a UNC path that does not require credentials.
  • HTTP Data Service: Select to create a connection to a text file, an image file, or an XML file, or data that is accessible via HTTP or HTTPS.
  • Link Data Service: Select to store a connection URL and credentials for accessing a database so that these parameters can be used by multiple JDBC or JDBC Update data services.
  • SOAP Web Service Data Service: Select to configure a connection to a web service.
  • Serial Number Data Service: Select to maintain the behavior of LPS style serial numbers or to add an incremented value to each printed label in a print job that is persistent across multiple jobs.

For an existing data service, you can view its status (started or stopped). You can also view information about when and by whom the data service was created and most recently modified.

Important! To enable Spectrum to connect to most types of databases, you must install a third-party Java Database Connectivity (JDBC) API driver on the computer where Spectrum is installed. For more information, see Add a JDBC Driver to Spectrum.

For more about the specific options available when configuring the various types of data services, see the following: