Database-related Features

Accessing a Database

To use DiversityNavigator you can use one of the existing databases. A list of databases are pre-configured if you get a new DiversityNavigator distribution. If you want to manually configure database connection, here is a short list of databases you can access:

Alternatively you can set up your own database, using PostgreSQL.

Database connections

The tree in the "Database" tab sheet in the navigation frame is used to connect the client to one or more databases. The connection to a database is established by selecting a database name (e.g. Collections UBT) with the left mouse button and by subsequently activating the context menu by clicking the right mouse button. Selecting "Edit connection properties" shows up a dialog providing the connection name (e.g., "Users (DivColl) UBT"), and editable fields with the driver class, database URL, database user name, and the password. If the OK button is clicked the client connects to the database – presumed that a correct connection profile is given.

The fields in the dialog have the following meaning:

Connection name

The name you give to the connection. This should be descriptive, it can contain blanks.

Driver class

The Java class name for the JDBC driver. For example, for a postgres database, this is org.postgresql.Driver.

Database URL

The URL that is used to specify the database connection. It has a prescribed format:

jdbc:driver:databasename

The string jdbc is fixed. The driver part is relatively variable, in the example shown above it is postgresql. The databasename contains the host IP and the port as well as the name of the specific database: 141.84.65.158:5432/collections.

Is this descripton really correct??

Database user

The name of the user connecting to the database

Database password

The password required to connect to the database. As can be seen above, the passwort is not shown when it is typed.

The tree of the Project tab sheet in the navigation frame is used to connect the client to several databases pertaining to a certain project. In the project tab sheet, the individual databases in the subtrees below the project names are displayed by clicking on the plus sign beside any names. The database connection dialog is the same as explained above.

The present experimental version of the client allows connection with two PostgreSQL databases over the internet via JDBC: a) "Checklists HBG-M" (jdbc:postgresql://141.84.65.158:5432/checklists) and b) Collections UBT (jdbc:postgresql://141.84.65.158:5432/ubt-collection).

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