Dashboard connection string switcher utility
The dashboard connection string switcher utility is a UI tool that helps you to change the connection string details in one or more dashboard (*.Sydx)
files at a time without using the Dashboard Designer application.
Generally, the dashboards are prepared with local server database details, and you may have to update the connection details to a production database server before publishing it to our Dashboard Server application.
System requirements
The system requirements to run this utility is same as Dashboard Designer application. So, refer to the details in the following link.
https://help.syncfusion.com/dashboard-platform/dashboard-designer/system-requirements
How to run the utility
- Open the location where the utility is shipped. The utility is shipped in the following locations of our dashboard platform builds.
Build | Location |
---|---|
Dashboard Designer | C:\Program Files (x86)\Syncfusion\Dashboard Designer\Utilities\DataConnectionSwitcher |
Dashboard Server | C:\Program Files (x86)\Syncfusion\Dashboard Server\Utilities\DataConnectionSwitcher |
Dashboard Designer | C:\Program Files (x86)\Syncfusion\Dashboard Platform SDK\Utilities\ DataConnectionSwitcher |
- Select the
DashboardConnectionSwitcher.exe
file and run the utility by double-clicking it.
The application will be launched with the following screen.
How to select the connection type and input data sources
-
Place all the dashboard files in which you need to change the connection string in an individual folder.
-
Browse the file folder or paste the folder path as an input.
NOTE
If the file path is invalid, you will get the following alert message.
NOTE
If no valid
.Sydx
files are present in the folder, the following alert message will be displayed.
IMPORTANT
Limitation: Only dashboards created with version 3.2 or more can be used as the input to this tool.
- Select the connection type using the Connection Type drop-down option.
It will display the data sources configured with the selected connection type. By default, all the dashboards and data sources configured with the selected connection type will be displayed and checked.
NOTE
If there is no data source matched with the selected connection type, the following alert message will be displayed.
- Click the dashboard node to see the available data sources.
The list of data sources will be shown and selected by default.
-
You can select the required data source by checking the checkbox near the data source name; the unchecked data sources will not be processed and will remain same till next time you open the dashboard.
-
Click
Next
to proceed.
How to enter the new connection details
After clicking the Next
button, the dialog will display options to choose or enter a new connection information of the same selected data source type.
IMPORTANT
Limitation: You can only connect to a different server of the same data source type and it is not possible to change the connection string of two or more different data source types in a single conversion.
-
Enter new server credentials.
-
The new server must be accessible to proceed the data source information in the files, so make sure that the connection is accessible using the
Test Connection
button.
-
Click
Next
to proceed further. -
Enter the output location where you need to save the modified dashboard.
NOTE
Make sure that the output folder exists in your local drive and have permission to save files. In case, the output folder contains the dashboards with same files, the existing files will be replaced with processed files.
IMPORTANT
The input and output folder paths can be same, but it is strongly suggested to save the folders at different locations from the original dashboards location.
After the files are successfully done, you will get the following information.
- You can initiate another connection string changing process by clicking the Start another conversion.
How to handle the schema mismatch
NOTE
Refer to the following Knowledge base article to learn the limitations for retaining schema information.
https://www.syncfusion.com/kb/8663/edit-data-source-connection-and-its-limitations-for-retained-schema
-
Click
Convert
to display the details in the process errors dialog, if the new connection string details differ from the existing connection string information.
-
Expand the data source to see the mismatched column details.
-
You can see two options:
Ignore
andOverwrite
with the mismatch column details.
Ignore: It is the default option. If the data source is ignored, the connection string will not be changed, and the existing data source will be used.
Overwrite: If the data source information is overwritten, the new connection string will be used in the output files.
IMPORTANT
If the overwrite option is used or selected, the file will be saved with the entered connection string. But, when you open the modified SYDX file in the Dashboard Designer application next time, the widgets expression will be cleared due to schema mismatch.
Changing the web data source connection information
CefSharp and its dependency assemblies are required to change the web data source connection information, so make sure that you have checked the option to ship the CefSharp files while installing the Dashboard designer/Dashboard platform SDK builds.
The Cef assemblies are not shipped with the Syncfusion Dashboard Server build, so you can download the assemblies from this link location and place it in your utility folder location by accepting the following license terms.
Acting on errors
If any unexpected error occurs, try to copy the exception information and contact our support by creating a new incident and attaching the error information in the incident.
-
Click
Show Details
to know the occurred error.
-
Click
Copy to Clipboard
to copy the exception details and upload the same information with our support team with the details to replicate the issue.