Setting the Mapper database connectivity

Note: This option is only available in advanced mode. You only need to set up database connections to import mappings from an old mapper database. You should not to set up a database connection to the current mapper server's mapper database.

One database server can simultaneously run several copies of the SQL Server code. These server codes are called instances. In the simplest case it can be viewed as different database servers hosted on the same IP address. For example, an instance name can be production.

Note: MEC displays the status of the database in the server user interface. This covers issues when the database becomes unavailable or the system goes down. When the database transaction logs are full, the database becomes unusable but this still appears as OK in the database state in the UI.

Setting Mapper db connectivity

  • Database is a collation of tables, views, and others.

  • Schema is a way to structure database tables, it can be thought of as different folders.

One can have Schema_1.Table and Schema_2.Table. The default SQL Server schema is dbo (Data Base Owner). The overall structure is, DB_Server_Name\DB_Instance\DB_Name\Schema\Table.

  1. Select Window > Preferences.
  2. Expand the view of Mapper and select Database Connectivity.
  3. Click New.
  4. Specify this information:
    Alias

    Specify a descriptive name for this connection.

    Host

    Specify the IP address or the host name for the SQL Server.

    Instance

    Specify the name for the SQL Server instance. Default SQL Server instance name is blank.

    Database

    Specify the name of host database to access.

    Use the IEC database name, for example, EC_Storage.

    Schema

    Specify the database table schema name. For MSQL database, specify "dbo"

    Port

    Specify the SQL Server port number.

    Note: Specify port number -1 if you are using a named SQL Server instance.
    Username

    Specify the username to connect to this database.

    Password

    Specify the user password to connect to this database

    Note: You must use proper letter case for the database names. For example, if the database name is MyMecDatabase, do not specify mymecdatabase or variations thereof. Wrong use of letter case can affect the ability to handle name space prefix names that are longer than 16 characters in XML schemas and when storing schema categories in the database.
  5. Click Facts... to verify this information:

    • Max Name Space Prefix Length is 256 characters

    • Support Schema Categories is supported (true).

    • Version Properties is supported (true).

  6. Click OK to add the new connection in the Configured Database locations list.
  7. Optionally, select the new database and click Test Connection to avoid problems in runtime and when you generate mappings.

    This test does not verify that the denoted database is actually accessible.

    Click OK.

    Review the error messages and click OK to return to the Database Connectivity page.

  8. Optionally, select this database and click Make Default.
  9. Click Apply to save the connection settings.
  10. Click OK.

Default database connection preference

In addition to manually creating database and server connections through the Mapper preferences, the Mapper can be pre-configured with a connection of each type through the mapper.properties file. This is useful in the context of a Mapper installation where you want the user to have access to a mapping database and server immediately after the install.

If the mapper.properties file exists in the home directory of Eclipse (eclipse.home.location, where eclipse.exe resides), and the database connection given in the file does not already exist, it will be added automatically.

If the database connection given in the file already exists, confirm whether to update the database connection from the file. This will happen only once when the mapper is (re)started. You can also go to Window > Preferences > Mapper and click Refresh in the Default Configuration group. The user can then change or complement these preferences, if necessary.

When the mapper.properties file is changed, the same functionality is triggered the next time the mapper is (re)started.