Driver Management

Version

Application Scenario

You may fail to connect to FineBI or the database due to the lack of the built-in database driver of the corresponding version.

In this case, you can use the Driver Management function to upload the corresponding driver.

Driver Management supports hot swapping, which allows you to use the driver after uploading it without restarting FineBI.

FineBI prohibits you from uploading driver JAR packages through Driver Management by default due to the high requirements of most users for project security.

Therefore, before using the Driver Management function, you need to set the value of SystemConfig.driverUpload field in the fine_conf_entity table of the FineDB database that stores FineBI information to true.

If the parameter value is set to true, drivers can be uploaded through Driver Management.

If the parameter value is set to false (default value),  drivers cannot be uploaded through Driver Management. The error message "The driver JAR package is not allowed to be uploaded. You can modify the value of SystemConfig. driverUpload to enable this function." is displayed when drivers are uploaded.

Creating a Data Connection

Log in to FineBI as the admin and choose System Management > Permission Management > Global Setting.

If the value of External Database is To Be Configured, you can configure the FineDB database.

If the value of External Database is Configured, you can click it to view the information of the external FineDB database.

Create a data connection named FineDB and fill in the obtained database information.

Note:

You are not advised to modify the data connection name. Otherwise, the following template may be unusable.

Mounting a Template to a Directory

1. Download the template: FineDB Field Modification.cpt.

2. Upload the template to webapps\webroot\WEB-INF\reportlets of the project.

3. Choose System Management > Permission Management > Directory Management, click Add Template, set Type to Data EntryType, and deselect any checkbox of Terminal (If you select a checkbox, non-administrator users can view the template.)

Data Entry Preview is used to preview a template into which you need to enter data on the Web. It can be used for you to enter, modify, and view data.

Modifying the Field Through Data Entry

1. Preview the template under System Management > Directory Management, as shown in the following figure.

2. Modify the value of SystemConfig.driverUpload field.

If the SystemConfig.driverUpload field with its value set to true exists on the data entry page, the modification is completed.

If the data on the data entry page is empty, the SystemConfig.driverUpload field does not exist. Add the field and set the field value to true. Click Submit.

Restarting the Project

Restart the project after finishing the above steps.

Log in to FineBI after restart, then you can upload the driver JAR package through Driver Management.

Uploading the Database Driver

1. Log in to FineBI as the admin and choose System Management > Data Connection > Data Connection Management > Driver Management, as shown in the following figure.

2. Click New Driver and enter a name for differentiation from other drivers. Take PostgreSQL driver upload as an example. You can click Upload File to upload the driver JAR package and name it PostgreSQL Driver, as shown in the following figure.

3. Click Upload File to upload the database driver package.

Note:

You can download the database driver in the help document of corresponding databases or get it from the database administrator.

4. Select the uploaded driver from the drop-down list of Driver, and click Save, as shown in the following figure.

Note:

1. If there are multiple JAR packages for a driver, and you are unsure which one to be uploaded, ask the corresponding database administrator for help.

2. The uploaded driver package is located at %FineBI%\webapps\webroot\WEB-INF\drivers.

Using the Driver

Click New Data Connection under Data Connection > Data Connection Management to create a PostgreSQL data connection, as shown in the following figure.

Set Driver to Custom, select the uploaded PostgreSQL driver from the drop-down list, and fill in the database information.

Click Test Connection and wait until the database is successfully connected, as shown in the following figure.

Deleting a Driver

To delete an existing database driver, you can go to the driver management page and click Delete, as shown in the following figure.

The Driver Management function is not available in 5.1.19 and earlier versions, where you can upload drivers manually.

Copy the downloaded driver JAR package and paste it to the %BI_HOME%\webapps\webroot\WEB-INF\lib directory. The driver will take effect after you restart the FineBI server.

Note:

If the driver does not take effect after restart, check whether the drivers of other versions exist in the directory. If so, delete them to avoid conflicts.