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VIM Enterprise with a Local SQL Express Database
VIM Enterprise with a Local SQL Express Database
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Written by VIM
Updated over 6 months ago

Software Requirements

To use VIM Enterprise with a local SQL database on your machine, you will need to install the following software:
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- VIM Enterprise

- Microsoft SQL Server Management Studio (download link)

- SQL Server 2022 Express (download link)

Setup

  1. Once the required software is installed, open Microsoft SQL Server Management Studio. We will use this application to create our database.
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    1. To do this, you can press the Windows key and begin typing “SQL Server Management Studio”, and the application should appear in the startup menu.
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  2. Microsoft SQL Server Management Studio will begin by prompting you to connect to a server.
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    1. In the Login tab, set the Server type to “Database Engine”
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    2. Set the Server name to the locally running SQL Express database. In the dropdown, look for an entry similar to “(machine_name)\SQLEXPRESS”.
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    3. Set the Authentication to “Windows Authentication”.
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    4. Set the encryption to “Mandatory” and check “Trust server certificate”
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    5. Press “Connect”
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  3. Right-click on the “Databases” folder in the left tree view and choose “New Database…”
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  4. Set the name of the database, for example “vim-test” and press the OK button.
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  5. Your new database should now appear among the Databases on the left.
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  6. Minimize Microsoft SQL Server Management Studio.
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  7. Open VIM Enterprise and create or select an existing project.
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    1. Set the project’s Database Connection String to the following value (no line breaks - note that there is a space character in "Integrated Security")
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      ​Data Source=localhost\SQLEXPRESS;Initial Catalog=vim-test;Integrated Security=SSPI;TrustServerCertificate=True;
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      In the connection string above, ensure that the bold values are set appropriately:

      1. SQLEXPRESS must match the name of the running database server.

      2. vim-test must match the name of the database you created.
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  8. Run the project.
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  9. Upon completion, open Microsoft SQL Server Management Studio and expand the vim-test database. You should see a variety of tables.
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  10. Right-click on the dbo.VIM table and choose “Select top 1000 rows…”. You should see one record which confirms that the VIM has been properly inserted into the database
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  11. Open your Power BI report template in Power BI Desktop
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    1. Press “Transform Data”
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    2. Press “Data source settings” > “Change Source…”
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    3. Set the corresponding values then press OK to close the dialog

      1. Server: localhost\SQLEXPRESS

      2. Database: vim-test
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    4. Press the “Edit Permissions…” button
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    5. In the Edit Permissions dialog, Press the “Edit…” button
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    6. In the “Windows” tab, choose “Use my current credentials” and press “Save”
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    7. Press “OK” to dismiss the “Edit Permissions” dialog
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    8. Press “Close” to dismiss the “Data source settings” dialog
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    9. Press “Close & Apply” to apply your data source changes.
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    10. During the loading process, you may be prompted with an Encryption Support dialog indicating that the connection is not encrypted. This is acceptable since you are loading data from your own machine. Press “OK” to continue.
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    11. Upon completion, the report will be updated to display the BIM data sourced from the database.
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      If you have properly configured the Azure Blob Storage container information in your VIM Enterprise project, the 3D model should load successfully as well.
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