RTView communicates with your database using a direct JDBC connection. Connections require some setup before RTView can communicate with your database.

Once you have setup your database connection, you will need to add your database in the Display Builder from the Application Options dialog on the SQL tab. RTView will attempt to connect to your database. If RTView is unable to connect to your database, this means that either the driver is not setup correctly or that you do not have permission to access the database. NOTE: Databases that have been setup to Use Client Credentials will not connect unless you are logged in and you have objects in your display that are using that connection.

If the connection is successful, and the Get Tables and Columns from Database checkbox is selected in the Application Options dialog, RTView will use information from this database to populate drop down menus in the Attach to Data dialog with available tables and columns. If a Database Repository is found, information from your database will be merged with data from the repository file. If you deselect the Get Tables and Columns from Database checkbox RTView will no longer query your database for this information, but the Database Repository will still be used to populate drop down menus. Using a Database Repository to populate drop down menus makes it possible to specify which tables and columns from your database will be listed in the Attach to Data dialog and gives you the ability to build displays while databases are offline.

Direct JDBC Connection
In order for RTView to communicate with your database using a straight JDBC connection, you must have a JDBC driver for your database. JDBC drivers are available from most database vendors. To make your database driver available to RTView, locate the driver on your machine and define an environment variable named RTV_USERPATH so that it includes the path to the driver class or the jar that contains the driver class. The RTV_USERPATH variable is included in the classpath for RTView. It may contain paths to multiple driver classes. You must know the fully qualified class name for the driver class and the database URL required to connect to your database when you add the database in the Application Options dialog. The database URL typically contains the protocol and sub-protocol strings for your database as well as the path to the database and a list of properties. If you do not know the syntax for your database URL, consult the documentation for your JDBC driver.
 

Database Repository File
A Database Repository file may be used to populate the initial values of drop down menus in the Attach to Data dialog. See Application Options for information on how to create a Database Repository file.

It is possible to edit an existing Database Repository file, however the file name sqlrepository.xml cannot be modified. If sqlrepository.xml is not found in the specified directory or your current working directory, RTView will look in the lib directory. If the Database Repository file is not found, drop down menus will remain empty until databases are added from the Application Options dialog or typed directly into the Attach to SQL Data dialog.

To edit an existing Database Repository file, supported tags and attributes are as follows:
 

Tag	Attribute		Description
sqlrepository	xmlns		Top level tag that includes the namespace attribute xmlns, which must be defined as www.sl.com (xmlns="www.sl.com")
db	name		Database name
	table	name	Table name
		col	Possible column value

An example Database Repository file:

<?xml version="1.0"?>
<sqlrepository xmlns="www.sl.com" version="3.0">
        <db name="SampleDB">
                <table name="production_table">
                        <col>Plant</col>
                        <col>Units in Production</col>
                        <col>Units Completed</col>
                        <col>Status</col>
                        <col>On Schedule</col>
                </table>
                <table name="system_table">
                        <col>System</col>
                        <col>Status</col>
                        <col>%Free Space</col>
                        <col>CPU Usage</col>
                       <col>On Site</col>
                </table>
                <table name="trade_table">
                        <col>Customer</col>
                        <col>Symbol</col>
                        <col>Shares</col>
                        <col>Purchase Price</col>
                        <col>Current</col>
                        <col>High</col>
                        <col>Low</col>
                </table>
        </db>
</sqlrepository>

Excluding Tables From The Attach To SQL Data Dialog
To exclude tables from the Attach to SQL Data dialog, copy the sqlrepository.xml file to a new sqlexcludedtables.xml file and remove the table references that you want to include in the Attach to SQL Data dialog drop down menus. For example:

<?xml version="1.0"?>
<sqlrepository xmlns="www.sl.com" version="3.0">
        <db name="SampleDB">
                <table name="production_table">
                        <col>Plant</col>
                        <col>Units in Production</col>
                        <col>Units Completed</col>
                        <col>Status</col>
                        <col>On Schedule</col>
                </table>
        </db>
</sqlrepository>

Save the sqlexcludedtables.xml file to your RTV_HOME\lib directory. Table information stored in sqlexcludedtables.xml will now be excluded from the initial values of Table Name drop down menus in the Attach to SQL Data dialog.

NOTE: It is not necessary to create a Database Repository file in order to use sqlexcludedtables.xml. RTView will still use the sqlexcludedtables.xml file to exclude tables from the Attach to SQL Data dialog. If you have an sqlexcludedtables.xml file and you click the Save Database Repository button, the new sqlrepository.xml file will not contain any of the tables listed in your sqlexcludedtables.xml file.

To create your own sqlexcludedtables.xml file without creating a Database Repository File, supported tags and attributes are as follows:
 

Tag	Attribute		Description
sqlexcludedtables	xmlns		Top level tag that includes the namespace attribute xmlns, which must be defined as www.sl.com (xmlns="www.sl.com")
db	name		Database name
	table	name	Table name to exclude

NOTE: The file name sqlexcludedtables.xml cannot be modified.