Niels Hartvig's umbraco blog

I bought Godspeed into the Mainsteam with Spleen United on iTunes. It's the best new band I've heard for a very long time - I can only recommend that you go buy it if you like bands like Depeche Mode (there's free previews on iTunes if you're curious) - five out of six stars (on a good day even six).

In the premium version of umbracoStats it's possible to use external databases for the reports.

This means that you can use umbracoStats for other things than just umbraco data. And it's very simple to do - here's how to show data from the legendary Northwind database:

Add a connection string to a web.config appSetting
First you'll need to add a connection string as an appSetting variable in your web.config. In this sample I've added a connection to the Northwind db on my local machine:
<add key="northwind" value="Server=127.0.0.1;Database=northwind;User ID=northwind;Password=northwind;Trusted_Connection=False"/>

The next step is your report
To make umbracoStats use the northwind connectionstring, simply add the key in a "db" attribute to the query element (not case sensitive):
<QUERY db="northwind" />

This will make umbracoStats use the connnection string from your web.config with the appSetting matching the contents of the db attribute - in this case "northwind". So every report element of your report can come from different databases.

Finally you'll need to place your report file in the "/umbraco/plugins/stat/reports" folder. umbracoStats will automatically list your report on the dashboard and in the tree.

Download the full Northwind sample report here.

So umbracoStats is done, and development of umbraco v3.0 is going well. So what's next in the pipeline for a guy like me who doesn't sit still?

Yes - finally my many thoughts on writing a book on implementing sites and developing web applications using umbraco is turning into reality. Release is expected late fall and don't worry - a professional translator/copywriter is on the project ensuring that it will be better English than you're used to on this blog :)

It will be a no nonsense book around 150 pages very inspired by the books from the Pragmatic Programmer. Let me know if you have wishes for topics that should be covered...

Fixes the following bugs:

• Premium versions fail in print mode
• Filter reports failed when running umbraco in virtual directories
• Broken images when insuficient data (replaced with info text)
• Path Filter failed when filtering on document type without also selecting a node
• Path Filter failed when filtering on the top root node (content)

Added features:

• Min and max values are shown on sparklines when hovering
• The drop down with sub reports are now sorted by order instead of alphabetically
• Ip visitor list now includes link for looking up in ripe database
• Signup (member) list now includes link to editing the member

All new orders and downloads will get v1.0.1, if you already ordered you can download an upgrade here:
http://umbracostats.umbraco.net/downloads/umbracoStats1_0_1_upgrade.zip