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These steps are required when you convert from a demo/trial Live Forms server installation to a production installation.

While you are demo-ing Live Forms you do not need to do the Database Setup steps discussed below.

Your Live Forms server requires a SQL database for storing users and form submissions. The follow SQL databases have been certified:

  • mySQL5
  • Microsoft SQL Server 2005 
  • Microsoft SQL Server 2008
  • DB2 (v4.1.5)
  • Oracle 10g
  • Oracle 11g (v4.1.5)

The Live Forms server may function with other SQL database types but only the above set has been certified.

The default HSQLDB is ONLY sufficient for demo/trial versions of Live Forms. All other production Live Forms users MUST switch their Live Forms software to a production quality database.

The following steps describe how to change the underlying database from the demo/trial HSQLDB to a production quality SQL database. The database configuration file frevvo.xml is located in <frevvo installdir>/frevvo/tomcat/conf/Catalina/localhost directory.

On This page:

 

Select your database type

  1. First, [[#Install_a_JDBC_Driver | Locate and copy the necessary jdbc driver]] for your database into <frevvo-home>\tomcat\lib.
  2. Edit the file <frevvo-home>\tomcat\conf\Catalina\localhost\frevvo.xml
  3. You will see two data source definitions for each database type. '''name="jdbc/frevvoDS"''' is the form submissions database. '''name="jdbc/userDS"''' is the user database. See the above sample of the HSQLDB data source in the frevvo.xml file.
  4. Comment out the pair of the definitions for the default database (HSQLDB) using the <!-- --> comment characters. The entire section must be commented out:
<!--
  HSQLDB Resource 
<Parameter name="hibernate.dialect" value="org.hibernate.dialect.HSQLDialect" override="false"/>
        <Resource auth="Container"
                type="javax.sql.DataSource"
                factory="org.apache.commons.dbcp.BasicDataSourceFactory"
                name="jdbc/frevvoDS"
                driverClassName="org.hsqldb.jdbcDriver"
                username="sa"                password=""
                url="jdbc:hsqldb:file:${catalina.home}/../data/db/forms"
                maxActive="200"
                maxIdle="20"
                maxWait="10000"
                validationQuery="select 1 from INFORMATION_SCHEMA.SYSTEM_USERS"
                testOnBorrow="true"
                testOnIdle="true"
                timeBetweenEvictionRunsMillis="10000"
                removeAbandoned="true"
                logAbandoned="true"/>
        <Parameter name="hibernate.dialect" value="org.hibernate.dialect.HSQLDialect" override="false"/>
        <Resource auth="Container"
                type="javax.sql.DataSource"
                factory="org.apache.commons.dbcp.BasicDataSourceFactory"
                name="jdbc/userDS"
                driverClassName="org.hsqldb.jdbcDriver"
                username="sa"
                password=""
                url="jdbc:hsqldb:file:${catalina.home}/../data/db/users"                maxActive="200"
                maxIdle="20"
                maxWait="10000"
                validationQuery="select 1 from INFORMATION_SCHEMA.SYSTEM_USERS"
                testOnBorrow="true"
                testOnIdle="true"
                timeBetweenEvictionRunsMillis="10000"
                removeAbandoned="true"
                logAbandoned="true"/>
 -->

Next, uncomment the pair of definitions for your database. Ex: if you are using SQL server, uncomment the definition for SQLSERVER Resource.

 <!--
                SQLSERVER Resource  
   -->
  
        <Parameter name="hibernate.dialect" value="org.hibernate.dialect.SQLServerDialect" override="false"/>
        <Resource auth="Container"
                factory="org.apache.commons.dbcp.BasicDataSourceFactory"
                maxActive="200"
                maxIdle="20"
                maxWait="10000"
                validationQuery="select 1"
                testOnBorrow="true"
                testOnIdle="true"
                timeBetweenEvictionRunsMillis="10000"
                removeAbandoned="true"
                logAbandoned="true"
                name="jdbc/frevvoDS"
                driverClassName="net.sourceforge.jtds.jdbcx.JtdsDataSource"
                username="root"
                password=""
                type="javax.sql.DataSource"
                url="jdbc:jtds:sqlserver://localhost/frevvoSubmissions"/>
          <Resource auth="Container"
                factory="org.apache.commons.dbcp.BasicDataSourceFactory"
                maxActive="200"
                maxIdle="20"
                maxWait="10000"
                validationQuery="select 1"
                testOnBorrow="true"
                testOnIdle="true"
                timeBetweenEvictionRunsMillis="10000"
                removeAbandoned="true"
                logAbandoned="true"
                name="jdbc/userDS"
                driverClassName="net.sourceforge.jtds.jdbcx.JtdsDataSource"
                username="root"
                password=""
                type="javax.sql.DataSource"
                url="jdbc:jtds:sqlserver://localhost/users"/>

Configure the Live Forms submissions database

  1. The forms and users databases below must be created with [[#UTF8_Encoded_Database | UTF-8 encoding]].
  2. When using DB2, make sure that you create the forms database with a page size of 8K (the default of 4K is too small).

For your selected database type in frevvo.xml

  1. Locate the '''frevvoDS''' data source url parameter.<nowiki>url="jdbc:jtds:sqlserver://localhost/frevvo"/></nowiki>. You can change the name "frevvo" to whatever you wish, "Live Forms forms" for example. But it must match the database name you create in your SQL server. See [[#Verify_Connection_Url | verify connection Url]] below.
  2. Create a [[#UTF8_Encoded_Database | utf8 encoded]] database "frevvo" (assuming you left the url parameter database name as the default) in your SQL server
  3. In the Live Forms installation locate the script <frevvo-home>/data/sql/forms-<database type>.sql. Ex: for mySQL the script is named <frevvo-home>/data/sql/forms-mysql5.sql
  4. [[#Run_the_SQL_Scripts | Run that script]] in your "Live Forms" database. That will create all the tables required to persist submissions
  5. Set the '''frevvoDS''' data source parameters username and password to a user that has write permissions to the "Live Forms" database.
  6. The submissions database setup is now complete.

Configure the Live Forms users database

For your selected database type in frevvo.xml,

  1. Locate the '''userDS ''' data source url parameter.<nowiki>url="jdbc:jtds:sqlserver://localhost/users"/></nowiki>. You can change the name "users" to whatever you wish, "Live Forms users" for example. But it must match the database name you create in your SQL server. See [[#Verify_Connection_Url | verify connection Url]] below.
  2. Create a [[#UTF8_Encoded_Database | utf8 encoded]] database "users" (assuming you left the url parameter database name as the default) in your SQL server
  3. In the Live Forms installation locate the script <frevvo-home>/data/sql/users-<database type>.sql. Ex: for mySQL the script is named <frevvo-home>/data/sql/users-mysql5.sql
  4. [[#Run_the_SQL_Scripts | Run that script]] in the "users" database
  5. Set the '''userDS''' data source username and password parameter to a user that has write permissions to your "users" database.

Verify the Connection Url

Configuration of the connection Url is key to successfully connection the Live Forms server to your database. Consult your DBA to assist with connection issues.

For both data sources frevvoDS and userDS:


1) verify that the "url" parameter is pointing to the correct server. If Live Forms and the database server are collocated "localhost" may be fine.<br/>
The Url parameters depend on the database type and installation choices made when your DBA installed your database software. Consult your DBA for the correct connection values. For example, SQL server installed on a non-default port and running on a machine named e00sca will require that you add a port number and host name to the Url. For example:

<url>jdbc:jtds:sqlserver://e00sca:59377/frevvo</url>

As of SQL 2000, Microsoft SQL allows installation of multiple [http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/aa176582%28v=sql.80%29.asp SQL named instances]. If your SQL server was installed this way you must use the instance parameter. For example if you database instance was named xyzzy:

{<url>jdbc:jtds:sqlserver://e00sca:59377/frevvo;instance=xyzzy</url>

2) Verify that the users and passwords required to connect to each database are correct.<br/>
3) Make sure that the users configured in the data sources have permissions to read and write to the respective databases.

Non Standard Databases

If you are trying a different database type and do not see an example in frevvo.xml for  your database, you can create a new data source entry. Hibernate supports the following dialects however Live Forms has only been certified to run with a subset of these databases. For additional dialects see Hibernate documentation. [[#Configure_the_database | See the certified database list above]]:

  •  org.hibernate.dialect.HSQLDialect
  •  org.hibernate.dialect.MySQL5Dialect
  •  org.hibernate.dialect.MySQL5InnoDBDialect
  •  org.hibernate.dialect.Oracle9Dialect
  •  org.hibernate.dialect.OracleDialect
  •  org.hibernate.dialect.PostgreSQLDialect
  •  org.hibernate.dialect.SQLServerDialect
  •  org.hibernate.dialect.Sybase11Dialect

UTF8 Encoded Database

The forms and users databases must be created with UTF-8 encoding.

If you're using a improperly encoded database for frevvoDS or usersDS you may run into one or more of the following runtime issues:

  1. International characters will not work correctly without the proper encoding.
  2. Workflows directed to a specific user may not appear on the user's task list.

Setting the encoding depends upon the database you are using. Please consult your database documentation.

MySQL UTF-8 Example

These commands will create the proper Live Forms and users utf8 encoded database in mySql:

create database if not exists frevvo default character set "utf8" default collate "utf8_unicode_ci";
create database if not exists users default character set "utf8" default collate "utf8_unicode_ci";

You can convert a database and/or table to UTF-8. Using the mySQL configuration file or via the mySQL cmd tool.

Via the configuration file:

mysqld]
default-character-set=utf8
default-collation=utf8_general_ci

Via the mySQL cmd tool:

SET @OLD_UNIQUE_CHECKS=@@UNIQUE_CHECKS, UNIQUE_CHECKS=0;
SET @OLD_FOREIGN_KEY_CHECKS=@@FOREIGN_KEY_CHECKS, FOREIGN_KEY_CHECKS=0;
SET @OLD_SQL_MODE=@@SQL_MODE, SQL_MODE='TRADITIONAL';
--
ALTER DATABASE frevvo CHARACTER SET utf8 COLLATE utf8_general_ci;
ALTER TABLE formsubmission CONVERT TO CHARACTER SET utf8 COLLATE utf8_general_ci;
--
SET SQL_MODE=@OLD_SQL_MODE;
SET FOREIGN_KEY_CHECKS=@OLD_FOREIGN_KEY_CHECKS;
SET UNIQUE_CHECKS=@OLD_UNIQUE_CHECKS;

 

Run the SQL Scripts

What does it mean to run the SQL scripts? The *.sql file is a text file with SQL statements to be executed by the SQL server. Here is one ways to run a SQL script for a mySql database to create the tables needed by Live Forms on a windows box.

  1. Open a Command Prompt window 
  2. cd to <frevvo installdir>\frevvo\data\sql
  3. execute the command: mysql <my_db_name> -u <user_name> -p < forms-mysql5.sql

This will prompt you for the mysql password for <user_name> and then execute the script creating all the required tables.

Install a JDBC Driver

Live Forms's submission and user databases rely on the JDBC API. You can use any relational database as long as you have a JDBC driver for that database, however. [[#Configure_the_database | See the list of Live Forms certified databases]]. If you choose a database that's not in this list you do so at your own risk.

You MUST use the JDBC4 type driver.

The Live Forms download package comes with several pre-installed drivers. Look in <frevvo-home>/tomcat/lib and you will see (among other jar files) the following pre-installed driver jar files:

  • hsqldb-2.2.4.jar - HSQLDB driver
  • postgresql-9.0-801.jdbc4.jar - Postgress driver

If you don't find what you need pre-installed you will need to locate a driver compatible to your database. Usually you can download your driver from the internet. Try one of these locations

  • [http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/sqlserver/aa937724 SQL Server JDBC Driver]
  • [http://www.oracle.com/technetwork/database/features/jdbc/jdbc-112010-090769.html Oracle]
  • [https://www-304.ibm.com/support/docview.wss?uid=swg21363866 DB2]
  • [http://dev.mysql.com/downloads/connector/j/ Mysql]

Once you have the driver you need, copy it to <frevvo-home>/tomcat/lib.

* [http://www.oracle.com/technology/software/tech/java/sqlj_jdbc/index.html Oracle]
* [https://www14.software.ibm.com/webapp/iwm/web/preLogin.do?lang=en_US&source=swg-dm-db2jdbcdriver IBM DB2]
* [http://dev.mysql.com/downloads/connector/j/5.1.html MySQL]
* [http://rmijdbc.objectweb.org RmiJDBC]

Changing Submission database naming and escaping conventions

In specific situations, your organization may require a certain naming convention for database objects (all uppercase, or at most 32 chars, or a specific name escaping convention) and the good news is that It is possible to change some of these parameters in Live Forms by setting a couple of specific web context parameters.

However, the bad news is that this is not completely supported by Live Forms at this point. The main reason is that we cannot guarantee that all the existing functionality that we test before each release will work correctly for a given database when any of these settings is changed.

Note also that the following settings affect only the frevvoDS database schema (and not the userDS schema) and that any changes to these settings will force Live Forms to create a schema that is different than the pre-generated scripts found in frevvo/data/sql/forms-*.sql when the schema is initially empty (you have to start from an empty schema).

How can you make database object names are uppercase or lowercase? You can affect this by  editing the frevvo/tomcat/conf/Catalina/localhost/frevvo.xml and adding the following parameter:

<Parameter name="teneo.naming.strategy" value="uppercase" override="false" />

How can you make sure that all database object names have a max length (e.g. Oracle specifies a max of 32 chars)? You can affect this by  editing the frevvo/tomcat/conf/Catalina/localhost/frevvo.xml and adding the following parameter:

<Parameter name="teneo.naming.max_sql_name_length" value="30" override="false" />

How can you specify a custom name escape character? You can affect this by  editing the frevvo/tomcat/conf/Catalina/localhost/frevvo.xml and adding the following parameter:

<Parameter name="teneo.naming.sql_name_escape_character" value="" override="false" />

 

Moving the forms database

Typically you should not need to move the forms database as these instructions only apply to Live Forms's built-in HSQLDB which should not be used for production use.

This information applies ONLY to the pre-installed demo database HSQLDB. When using the Live Forms tomcat bundle installation and the default configuration settings, the forms and users database is written to the <frevvo-home>\data\db directory. You may wish to locate the databases outside of <frevvo-home>. To do this:

  1. Edit <frevvo-home>\tomcat\conf\Catalina\localhost\frevvo.xml
  2. You will see two data source definitions for each database type. jdbc/frevvoDS is the form submissions database. jdbc/usersDS is for the user database.
  3. Configure the HSQLDB jdbc/frevvoDS Resource
  4. Change <nowiki>url="jdbc:hsqldb:file:${catalina.home}/../data/db/forms"</nowiki> to an absolute directory e.g. <nowiki>url="jdbc:hsqldb:file:c:\tmp\frevvo-data\forms"</nowiki>
  5. Configure the HSQLDB jdbc/userDS Resource
  6. Change <nowiki>url="jdbc:hsqldb:file:${catalina.home}/../data/db/users"</nowiki> to an absolute directory e.g. <nowiki>url="jdbc:hsqldb:file:c:\tmp\frevvo-data\users"</nowiki>

Failure to configure this resource correctly will cause issues trying to create new forms, view submissions and submit forms.

 

 

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