Example: Connect LibreOffice Through Manifold to an ESRI GDB

This example continues on from the Example: Connect Through Manifold ODBC to a Third Party example topic.   Please read that topic first.

 

In the Example: Connect Through Manifold ODBC to a Third Party example, we showed how with Release 8,  we could use an ODBC connection to a Manifold .map to connect through the .map project to a third party, external data source, an ESRI GDB file geodatabase.  We used Manifold facilities as an intermediary to give Release 8 capabilities it does not have on its own, to link into data stored within an ESRI file geodatabase.    The ESRI GDB file database used is the same one created as a Manifold data source in the Example: Connect to an ESRI GDB File Geodatabase topic.

 

We can do the same with any other reasonably ODBC-capable application.  In this example we use LibreOffice Base, the open source LibreOffice competitor to Microsoft Access, to connect to an ESRI GDB file database through Manifold.   We use the same water_distribution ODBC data Source utilized in the Example: Connect Through Manifold ODBC to a Third Party example.

 

The Manifold ODBC driver is automatically installed when installing Manifold using a Windows Installer installation package, but it is not automatically installed when running a portable installation.  When using a portable installation we must install the Manifold driver using the Help - About dialog.  See the Installations topic for a quick guide to using portable installations and to installing the Manifold ODBC driver. 

Connect using LibreOffice Base

Launch LibreOffice Base.   We will be using Version: 6.0.5 (x64).

 

 

 

 

In the first step of the new database wizard, we click on Connect to an existing database and choose ODBC.  Press Next.  

 

 

 

 

Clicking the Browse button in the resulting pop-up dialog we choose the water_distribution ODBC data source that was created in the Example: Create an ODBC Data Source with Windows topic.   Press OK and then press Next.

 

 

 

 

No password is required so we leave that blank.   We press Test Connection and when the test is successful we press OK and then Next.

 

 

 

 

This is just an example, so we won't bother registering the data source as a database in LibreOffice.   We press Finish.

 

LibreOffice opens a Save As dialog.  We choose a name for this new database, New Database.odb and press Save.   It then opens in LibreOffice Base.

 

 

 

 

LibreOffice Base provides a highly appealing and clean view of the tables within the data source.   We are using LibreOffice to connect through Manifold with ODBC to look into tables that are stored within an ESRI GDB file geodatabase.

 

 

 

 

If we click open the wHydrant table we can see it is the same table that we previously viewed in Release 8.    As with Release 8, we have a "live" connection through Manifold into the table within the ESRI file geodatabase.   We can edit the table with LibreOffice Base, just as if it were a local table within LibreOffice.    The Manifold connection is fully read/write.

 

Notes

Rasters (Images) in File Geodatabases - To connect to Esri file geodatabases, Manifold's built-in connection to file geodatabases uses Esri code within Esri's API for connections to file geodatabases.   Esri's API does not allow access to rasters in file geodatabases, so Manifold's file geodatabase data source will not show any raster (image) contents of a file geodatabase.  If we would like read-only access to rasters in file geodatabases we can use Manifold's ability to connect to file geodatabases through GDAL, an optional open source package that can be installed and used together with Manifold.  Recent versions of GDAL include a module that can connect to rasters in file geodatabases.  The GDAL raster geodatabase module is not Manifold code and it is not Esri code.  It was written by third parties who have attempted to reverse engineer Esri's internal raster geodatabase format.  The module is not supported by either Manifold or Esri.

 

Videos

Manifold Viewer - View GDB Faster than ArcGIS Explorer - ESRI's ArcGIS Explorer product is a free viewer that allows ESRI people to view ESRI GDB Geodatabases, along with other data.  Unfortunately, ESRI has stopped producing Explorer and has replaced it with ArcGIS Earth, which cannot connect to and display ESRI GDB Geodatabases.  The video compares Explorer to Viewer side-by-side so ESRI users can see that if they need to continue viewing GDB Geodatabases for free they can reliably use Viewer for fast, high quality GDB viewing.

 

See Also

Example: Convert an ESRI File Geodatabase into a .map Project - How to convert data in ESRI's current file geodatabase format into a  Manifold .map project in a single step.  We convert ESRI's example NapervilleGas GDB geodatabase, all 857 files, into a single, unified Manifold .map project.

 

Example: Create an ODBC Data Source with Windows - How to create an ODBC data source (a DSN) using dialogs built into Windows 10.

 

Example: Connect to Manifold from Release 8  - Step by step procedure to connect from Manifold System Release 8 to a Manifold .map file using Manifold's ODBC driver.

 

Example: Connect to an ESRI GDB File Geodatabase - Connect Manifold to an ESRI GDB file geodatabase, display the contents, make a selection in the GDB and overlay in a map.

 

Example: Connect Through Manifold ODBC to a Third Party  - With Release 8, use an ODBC connection to a Manifold .map to connect through the .map project to a third party, external data source, an ESRI GDB file geodatabase.  We use Manifold facilities as an intermediary to give Release 8 capabilities it does not have on its own, to link into data stored within an ESRI file geodatabase.

 

Example: Connect to Manifold from QGIS - Step by step procedure to connect from QGIS 2.8.9 to a Manifold .map file using Manifold's ODBC driver.