Use External Databases

In many OL Connect Automate projects, it’s useful to retain information outside of the running flows, especially when data needs to be shared between flows, reused later, or presented in a dashboard. This can be done using an external database, a new feature which replaces the built-in Data Repository of OL Connect Workflow.

Database integration in OL Connect Automate

OL Connect Automate can integrate with a variety of popular databases, such as:

  • MySQL / MariaDB.

  • SQLite (lightweight, file-based).

  • Microsoft SQL Server.

  • PostgreSQL.

  • MongoDB (for document-based storage).

Although OL Connect Automate does not include database connectors by default, they can be installed from the Palette Manager (Menu > Manage Palette). Each connector provides one or more node types to execute queries, retrieve data, and handle errors.

Note: If you use OL Connect, a simple way to implement an external database is to use the same database instance as the OL Connect Server. In most cases, this is a MariaDB instance containing a schema named olconnect. However, do not use this schema for custom implementations or solutions.

When adding a custom schema, be aware that it may be deleted during the uninstallation or upgrade of OL Connect, especially if the Remove User Data option is selected. To avoid data loss, always back up your custom schemas before upgrading OL Connect.

Use cases

Day/Week set management

In high-volume production environments, it’s often necessary to group jobs by day or week to form “sets” that are processed together at specific times. A database can store:

  • An unique Job or Batch identifier.

  • The content set IDs for each job.

  • The Job/Batch status (e.g., queued, processed, archived, errored).

  • The creation and completed timestamp.

This enables flows to easily retrieve all jobs belonging to a given day or week and trigger end-of-day or end-of-week batch processing.

The Build daily set processing tutorial demonstrates how to make the database connection and flows.

Capture OnTheGo (COTG) projects

For mobile data collection and form augmentation scenarios, a database provides a persistent, structured backend that can:

  • Store the personalized HTML forms to serve to the COTG app upon request.

  • Save the document ID assigned by the COTG server when dispatching the form.

  • Keep the original data used to personalize the form.

  • Record submitted data, including submission date and current status (e.g., pending review, approved).

This allows a flow receiving augmented data from the COTG app to retrieve the original record for comparison or update.

Print Production Statistics

In production printing, flows may log per-job metrics such as:

  • Composition and output durations.

  • Number of pages generated.

  • Processing errors or retries.

  • Device utilization data.

This information can be stored in a database for dashboards, KPI reporting, or process optimization.