Connection Mapping

Overview

FluenceXL Web Edition supports the re-targeting of connections for reports published to the web server.

To enable this feature, the ConnectionMapping.xml file must be created in the Xml subfolder of the FluenceXL Web installation folder.

Using

The ConnectionMapping.xml file can contain:

• one or more connectionmap nodes (for cube connections) each of which must contain a from connection definition and a to connection definition
  • connectionmap can map published connections by setting the appropriate XL3_CONNECTION_TYPE and XL3_WEB_CONNECTION... properties, as found in the published connection file. These take priority over a standard match on server/database/cube (from Version 8.1)
• one or more sqlconnectionmap nodes (for relational connections) each of which must contain a match Regular Expression element and a connectionstring to replace it (from Version 8)
  • Note that as the match is a regular expression any \s must be escaped by using \\. These often occur in named instances.
  • You can have multiple match elements, in which case all must match for the connection to be mapped.
  • sqlconnectionmap nodes may contain an equals element rather than match (from Version 8.1)

After modifying this file, IIS must be restarted.

• New in Version 9: connectionmap and sqlconnectionmap can optionally include a "path" attribute, so the connection mapping only applies to the path specified. The mapping will apply to sub-folders unless there is any mapping with the same path:

 <connectionmap path="Folder\Sub Folder">

• New in Version 2307: sqlconnectionmap can optionally include a "requirespassword" attribute, so the connection mapping will update whether to prompt the user for credentials:

 <connectionmap requirespassword="False">

When a user loads a Report to view, the Web Edition will automatically search for any connections matching a from or match definition, and replace them with the corresponding definitions. For cube connections, the match is done using the Type, Server, Database and Cube of the from connection.

The ID number and name for the connection will be left unchanged.

• New in Version 2312: connectionmap can have the Server, Database and Cube in the <to> section set to * which means that the original value will not be updated.

This allows you to create a connection mapping file that updates all servers, but leaves the database/cube unchanged so that all cubes are mapped between servers with only one entry in the connection mapping file.

• New in Version 2404: sqlconnectionmap elements can have a webconfigconnectionstring element instead of a connectionstring element, specifying a named connection string from the web.config. If desired, this connection string can then be encrypted as described on this Microsoft page:

 aspnet_regiis -pe "connectionStrings" -app "/FluenceXLWeb" -prov "RsaProtectedConfigurationProvider"

Example XML file

This example:

• matches cube connections to the DEVELOPMENT server and replaces them with connections to the PRODUCTION server
• matches the AdventureWorksDW SQL connection to the WSAMZN-RI8SHC08 server and replaces it with the AdventureWorksDW SQL connection on the localhost server
  • you can have multiple match elements for a sql connection, if so all must match
• Note that the database and cube names you map to are case sensitive.

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<connectionmapper>

  <connectionmap>
    <from>
      <connection id="0" name="">
        <type>AnalysisServices</type>
        <variable type="String" name="server"><value>DEVELOPMENT</value></variable>
        <variable type="String" name="database"><value>Demo Database</value></variable>
        <variable type="String" name="cube"><value>Demo Cube</value></variable>
      </connection>
    </from>
    <to>
      <connection id="0" name="">
        <type>AnalysisServices</type>
        <variable type="String" name="server"><value>PRODUCTION</value></variable>
        <variable type="String" name="database"><value>Demo Database</value></variable>
        <variable type="String" name="cube"><value>Demo Cube</value></variable>
        <variable type="Boolean" name="requirespassword"><value>0</value></variable>
        <props />
      </connection>
    </to>
  </connectionmap>

   <sqlconnectionmap>
    <match>.*Data Source=WSAMZN-RI8SHC08.*</match>
    <match>.*Initial Catalog=AdventureWorksDW.*</match>
    <connectionstring>Provider=SQLOLEDB;Data Source=localhost\MSSQLSERVER02;Initial Catalog=AdventureWorksDW;Trusted_Connection=Yes</connectionstring>
  </sqlconnectionmap>

</connectionmapper>

Downloading from Web

You can control whether or not the connection mapping is undone when downloaded as “Live” using a setting in the web.config file, “UnmapConnectionsOnExport”. If true the connections are restored to their original values, if false then the connection mapping is preserved in the downloaded file.

https://help.xlcubed.com/Customising_web_config

See Also

• Bulk Connection Editor for direct remapping of connections in FluenceXL Excel workbooks
• Connection Parameter Web Extension for controlling connection mapping through Web Parameters