Connect to database

You can read live customer data from, and write tracking data to, your own database using RocketSales. Your database must support the SQL query language and the ODBC (Open Database Connectivity) standard.

Supported databases

How to connect

To connect to another database:

  1. Click the Connect button on the Contacts tab
  2. Click the Machine Data Source tab
  3. If you already have a DSN set up, double-click it. You’re done. Otherwise, click the New button.
  4. Choose System Data Source and click Next
  5. Choose the driver type and click Next
  6. Click Finish
  7. When the driver configuration dialog comes up, enter any necessary information (e.g. path to file for Access, login and password for SQL Server) and click OK
  8. Click the Contacts tab
  9. Choose a table from the List dropdown on the Contacts tab

What’s written

RocketSales reads, but does not modify, your existing database tables. Instead, it writes tracking data to its own tables in your database. These new tables are called RS_Subscribers, RS_Mailings and RS_System.

The RS_Suscribers table is RocketSales’ master list. Within the program, this table is shown as Main. No matter which table you send from, all email addresses are copied into RS_Subscribers after being checked for duplicates. This table maintains the unsubscribe and tracking information for every user. It also maintains the information which RocketSales uses to prevent duplicate messages going out to the same user during a single mailing.

Open database format

The default RocketSales database is stored in Microsoft Access format at the following location:

If you need to export unsubscribe information, run a report which RocketSales does not provide, or do a complex import into a new table of your own, simply open this file in Microsoft Access 2000 or a later version. The data you need is stored in the RS_Subscribers table.

It’s strongly recommended that you not edit any data in RocketSales’ internal tables, or unrecoverable errors may result.