Getting started with Flexmonster Data Server

This walkthrough describes how to install Flexmonster Data Server. Flexmonster Pivot can be downloaded here.

Note that this guide is focused on using Flexmonster Data Server as a Windows/Unix service. If you need to reference the Data Server as a DLL, see the following section: The Data Server as a DLL.

The main benefits of using the Data Server as a Windows/Unix service are:

• It has a convenient graphical user interface — Flexmonster Admin Panel.
• It runs in the background and out of sight.
• It starts automatically on operating system startup.
• It’s hard for a user to inadvertently quit the application.

Prerequisites

• Flexmonster CLI
  Install it with the following command:

  npm install -g flexmonster-cli

To start using the Data Server, follow these guides:

• Installing Flexmonster Data Server
• Migrating existing configurations
• Connecting to the Data Server

Installing Flexmonster Data Server

Flexmonster Data Server is available for the following operating systems:

• Windows (32-bit and 64-bit)
• Ubuntu/Linux (64-bit and ARM64)
• macOS (64-bit and ARM64)

Flexmonster CLI downloads the appropriate version of the Data Server depending on your operating system.

To install the Data Server, run the following CLI command:

flexmonster add fds -r

The flexmonster add fds command does the following:

• Downloads the .zip archive with Flexmonster Data Server.
• Automatically unpacks the files in the current folder. As a result, the flexmonster-data-server/ folder will appear in your working directory.

The -r option, which stands for --run, installs the Data Server as a Windows/Unix service and then runs it. Besides, it installs and runs Flexmonster Admin Panel — a graphical user interface for the Data Server.

Now the Data Server is installed as a service on your machine.

Package structure

Let’s have a look at the flexmonster-data-server/ folder’s structure:

Migrating existing configurations

If you have already used the Data Server, you can import your existing configurations in Flexmonster Admin Panel:

1. Open the Admin Panel.
2. Go to the Settings tab.
3. Scroll down and use Import configuration file functionality.

See how it can be done:

Connecting to the Data Server

Step 1. Embed the component into your webpage

If Flexmonster is not yet embedded, set up an empty component in your webpage:

let pivot = new Flexmonster({
  container: "pivotContainer",
  componentFolder: "node_modules/flexmonster/",
  toolbar: true
});

<fm-pivot
 [toolbar]="true">
</fm-pivot>

<FlexmonsterReact.Pivot
 toolbar={true}
/>

<Pivot
 toolbar
/>

Step 2. Configure the report

To connect to Flexmonster Data Server, configure the report as follows:

let pivot = new Flexmonster({
  container: "pivotContainer",
  componentFolder: "node_modules/flexmonster/",
  toolbar: true,
  report: {
    dataSource: {
      type: "api",
      url: "http://localhost:9500",
      index: "sample-index"
    }
  }
});

Note The "sample-index" is the index predefined in the Admin Panel.

Open the webpage in the browser: the pivot table with the sample CSV data is shown.

What’s next?

You may be interested in the following articles:

• Data sources guide
• Flexmonster Admin Panel guide
• Security and authorization guide