The Data Connections node contains all the configured connections.
To create a new Data Connection right click on the Data Connections node and select New >
Provider. Available data connection providers will be dependent on your installation environment.
Data Connection General
The settings in the section below are common to all data connection providers.
General
Name The name of the data connection. This is used as the URL path to the data connection. The name should only contain alphanumeric characters.
For example if the name is “IPSV” the data connection schema will be available at http://server/virtual_dir/dataconnect/ipsv/schema.aspx [server/virtual_dir are dependent on your environment and
dataconnect is the out of the box path used by the DataConnect httpHandler]
ShortDescription The description of the data connection. This will be used in browse and selection user interfaces to provide the user information about the data connection.
Title The title of the data connection. This will be used in browse and selection user interfaces to provide the user information about the data connection.
General Data Connection Settings
FeedbackEmailTemplate The value of this field will be used in the email generated by users clicking on the Feedback link in browse and selection user interfaces.
ItemTitle The name given to a data item in the browse and selection user interfaces.
For example “ItemTitle” may be “Keyword”.
OwnerEmail The value of this field will be used as the email address generated by users clicking on the Feedback link in browse and selection user interfaces.
OwnerName The value of this field will be used as the email name when users click
metaEngine DataConnect for SharePoint 2007 Configuration Guide (2.4) Page 31 on the Feedback link in browse and selection user interfaces.
PluarlisedItemTitle The name given to more than one data item in the browse and selection user interfaces.
For example “PluarlisedItemTitle” may be “Keywords”.
RowLimit The number of data items that the data service provides in any single call to the either the GetItems method of the data web service or the getitems.aspx data page. [Result paging is not supported in the current release but will be added in future releases.]
The browse and selector controls use these data services to fetch items so this number controls the number of items that will be rendered in a single search. Setting row limit above 1000 may impact the performance of the client side control rendering.
Provider Settings
HistoryProviderEnabled Determines whether a history provider is used by the data connection to retrieve and record a user’s previously used items.
HistoryProviderType The History provider the data connection should use.
MaximumHistoryItems The maximum number of a user’s previously used items that should be returned in data requests (and presented to the user).
MaximumSuggestions The maximum number of suggested items that should be returned in data requests (and presented to the user).
SuggestionsProviderEnabled Determines whether a suggestions provider is used by the data connection to retrieve suggested items for the item selector user interface.
SuggestionsProviderType The Suggestions provider the data connection should use.
Each Data Connection will have a set of “Fields” and “Relationship Types”. The type of data connection you are configuring will determine whether the “Fields” and “Relationship Types” are generated and editable in the Configuration window or whether the provider itself will generate them dynamically at runtime.
Fields
Fields are used by the data connection to determine what properties of a data item a data service returns and how those properties are used by DataConnect user interfaces.
The type of data connection provider will determine if fields are editable and if you can create or remove fields. Note [The provider may not display fields in the designer if they are automatically generated at runtime.]. Each field maps onto a data entry/attribute/column in the underlying data source and has a small number of properties that determines how the field behaves in the browse and selector user interfaces (for example whether it is displayed in the detail pane).
Name The name of the field. The name should only contain alphanumeric characters.
ColumnName Identifies the data entry/attribute/column in the underlying data source the field maps to.
DisplayName The display name of the field used in browse and selector user interfaces.
Filterable Determines whether the field can be used as a query filter in data service calls. The Title field must be filterable.
Hidden Determines whether the field value is displayed in the detail pane of browse and selector user interfaces.
metaEngine DataConnect for SharePoint 2007 Configuration Guide (2.4) Page 32 Every data connection provider must always have an “ID” and “Title” field.
A field named “PreferredItem” (if available) is used to by the selector interface to replace the display title of a selected item with an alternative at the time of selection.
Relationship Types
Relationship Types are used by a data connection to link data items. Relationship types and related items are used in the browse and selector user interfaces to enable a user to navigate between data items.
Hierarchical relationships are displayed in the tree view of browse and selector user interfaces.
When a data item is explicitly retrieved by its ID (e.g. getitembyid.aspx) any related items for each relationship type are returned.
The type of data connection provider will determine if relationship types are editable and if you can create or remove relationship types.
Name The name of the relationship type. The name should only contain alphanumeric characters. The name is used to specify the relationship in data service calls to GetChildItems and GetTopLevelItems.
Description A description of the relationship type.
DisplayName The display name of the relationship type used in the tree view of the browse and selector user interfaces.
Directional Specifies whether the relationship is directional. This can be used by data connection providers to determine how to query for related items. It is also used by the browse and selector user interfaces to determine the display of related items displays labels. This is always true for hierarchical relationships.
FromLabel The heading label used for items from a data item to related items. For example in a parent-child relationship the FromLabel may be “Parent Item” or “Broader”.
IsHierarchy Specifies whether the relationship type is a hierarchy. This is used by the browse and selector user interfaces to determine if the relationship should be displayed in the tree view.
RelationshipKey The linking or “foreign key” used to retrieve related items. This is chosen from the available fields in the data connection. Typically a data
connection provider will retrieve items where the column specified in the RelationshipKey field equals the column specified in the Id field.
ToLabel The heading label used for items from related items to a data item. For example in a parent-child relationship the ToLabel may be “Child Item” or
“Narrower”.
metaEngine DataConnect for SharePoint 2007 Configuration Guide (2.4) Page 33 Xml Data Connection
To create a new XML Data Connection right click on the Data Connections node and select New >
XML Data Connection. Fill in the core data connection provider properties.
An xml data connection sources data from an xml file. The file can be specified by URL, absolute file path or a file path relative to the web application directory.
Data items are retrieved and filtered from the data source using XPath queries. The XML data connection must be configured with a valid XPathToItem that identifies the path to a data item. In the simple xml file below the XPathToItem would be “Departments/Department”.
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8" ?>
<Departments>
<Department>
<DeptID>123</DeptID><DeptName>Department 123</DeptName>
</Department>
<Department>
<DeptID>124</DeptID><DeptName>Department 124</DeptName><ParentDept>123</ParentDept>
</Department>
</Departments>
[Note – the xml data connection does not currently support the use of namespaces. Additionally only elements and attributes that are direct child of the data item can be used as Fields. It is recommended that a XSL transform file is used to remove namespace declarations. Use of namespaces in the source xml file will mean no results are returned.]
To specify a new xml data connection:
11. Choose an xml data file using the file selector.
12. If the xml file uses no namespaces, with all required information contained in child elements and child attributes of the data item click yes to the question below. *Note: Clicking ‘Yes’ will delete current Fields and Relationship Types and generate new ones] If the xml data file requires a transformation file click no.
metaEngine DataConnect for SharePoint 2007 Configuration Guide (2.4) Page 34 13. If the xml data requires transformation choose an XslTransformFile using the file selector.
14. Click yes to the dialog to generate a new schema.
15. Click the button in the XPathToItem field to open the XPath selector dialog to choose an element for the data item. Highlight the required element and select OK.
16. Selecting an element will generate new Field nodes for each possible child element and attribute of the data item element.
17. Edit the fields as required. Every data connection provider must always have an “ID” and
“Title” field.
18. Remove fields that will not be used in the detail view or in relationships.
19. Create Relationship Types as required.
20. If required change the xml data and/or xml transformation file location to be a URL or a filename relative to the configuration directory.
Xml Data Connection Settings
MinutesToCache The duration that the xml data file and transform file should be cached for.
XmlDataFile The path to the xml data file. The file can be specified by URL, absolute file path or a file path relative to the web application directory.
XPathToItem The XPath that identifies a data item with the file.
metaEngine DataConnect for SharePoint 2007 Configuration Guide (2.4) Page 35 XslTranformFile The path to the xml transform (XSL) file used to transform the xml
data file before data queries are performed. The file can be specified by URL, absolute file path or a file path relative to the web application directory.
metaEngine DataConnect for SharePoint 2007 Configuration Guide (2.4) Page 36