<< Click to Display Table of Contents >> Navigation:  Enterprise > Configuration > Deploy Dashboards, Reports, Widgets, and Config Settings for Enterprise

•Deploy for Installation

•Updating, Refreshing or Downloading Dashboards, Widgets, and Config Settings

•Deploying Files

•Deploying and Publishing Reports

•Deploying User Reports via XML Files

 

The deploy process in Enterprise 7 is a means to insert, update, or refresh the database regarding the contents and settings for dashboards (file extension .dashboard), widgets (file extension .widgettype), and settings in the ST_CONFIG table (file extension .dataset) as well as copying any related files (contained in zip files) to the web application. The module can be deployed to the Enterprise site following the below steps or by using the Module Manager Widget.

 

As of EQuIS 7.25.1, the deployment mechanism performs the following actions:

 

•populates or updates database records provided in *.dataset files

•adds new widget types from *.widgettype files

•publishes approved report *.dll^ files and moves them to the bin folder

•saves user report *.XML^ files

•adds dashboards from *.dashboard files (or, if the dashboard's URL property matches a pre-existing dashboard, updates that dashboard)

•for files in a *.zip without a folder structure, unzips the contents and

oprocesses recognized filetypes (those listed above)

omoves other files to new DT_FILE records as Binary Large Objects (BLOBs)

•for files in a *.zip within a folder structure (e.g., my.zip/deploy/, my.zip/bin/, my.zip/formats/), moves those files into the corresponding Enterprise backend folder

 

^ Filetype must be contained within a *.zip file to upload

 

 

Deploy for Installation

 

Before using the application, the default dashboard and widget objects must be deployed:

1.Open the \Enterprise7\deploy\st_config.dataset file in an XML/Text editor.

2.Review the default values, modify as necessary, and save changes.

 

 

3.Open a web browser to the installed web application URL (e.g., http://localhost/equis7/default.aspx).

4.Login using an EQuIS Enterprise administrator account (default account is administrator/admin).

5.After successful login, complete the deployment step by appending "action=deploy" to the Enterprise URL (e.g., https://localhost/equis7/default.aspx?action=deploy)

6.A list of files that were successfully processed will be displayed.

 

Updating, Refreshing or Downloading Dashboards, Widgets, and Config Settings

 

When first installed, the installer will populate the \Enterprise7\deploy\ folder with all of the necessary dashboard, widget, config, and zip files necessary for the version of the application.

 

To refresh a stock dashboard or widget type back to the original state, the dashboard or widgettype file can be deployed again. The \Enterprise7\App_Data folder contains the original installed widget, dashboard, and ST_CONFIG.DATASET deployment files. These can be copied from this folder into the \Enterprise7\deploy folder if any/all of the dashboards or widgets or other files need to be restored. Note that deploying a widgettype file will not update current widgets. It will only update future instances of that widget type.

 

Custom dashboards can be refreshed to a previous state by redeploying the dashboard file. Please see the Create or Transfer a Dashboard article for guidance.

 

Deploying Files

 

The deployment process allows administrators to bulk upload files to DT_FILE, making it possible to deploy multiple data files, PDF files, and report templates in a single step. The final step of deployment will look for any files in the /deploy directory that have a file extension defined in the RT_FILE_TYPE table with a status_flag of 'A', and insert the files into the DT_FILE table. To deploy files as part of the deployment process, create a .zip file containing a /deploy folder with files to deploy and place it in the Enterprise /deploy folder.

 

Deploying and Publishing Reports

 

Report .DLL files can be placed in the /deploy directory to publish the containing reports to the database while keeping the existing report parameters.

 

This feature works similarly to Bulk or Batch Publishing with the following settings:

 

•Store Assembly =  true

•Keep Existing Parameters = true

oWhen republishing a report, any new report parameters are added with default values.

 

The report .DLL files must be signed with a strong name/use an approved public key token registered to ST_CONFIG (see Approve Strongly Named Custom Assemblies for additional information).

 

The following occurs after running the deployment step:

•The report is published or republished, adding and/or updating records in ST_MODULE, ST_REPORT, and ST_REPORT_PARAMETER.

•The report *.dll is moved from the deploy folder to the bin folder.

•Information on the status of the report publishing can be seen in ST_LOG. If error logging is configured, additional information may be logged.

 

 

Deploying User Reports via XML Files

 

Users with administrator permissions can add user reports to a database by deploying an XML file via the \Enterprise7\deploy folder, simplifying user report processes (e.g., transferring user reports between dashboards and the bulk creation of user reports). The deployed user report is saved to the database (i.e., saved to ST_USER_REPORT and ST_USER_REPORT_PARAMETER tables). The deployment of a user report via XML will follow the criteria listed below:

•The name of the base report, that was used to create the user report, must be included in the user report XML.

•If a user report is deployed for a base report that is not published in the target database, the user report will be ignored.

•If a user report is deployed for a base report that is out-of-date and does not include all parameters, the user report will be created without the missing parameters.

•If a user report being deployed has the same name as an existing user report, the deployed user report will be created with the same name but with a different USER_REPORT_ID.

•If the deploy folder contains both a user report XML and the dashboard referencing the user report, that reference will point to the correct user report on the deployed dashboard.

•The XML user reports will no longer appear in the \Enterprise7\deploy folder after the deploy process, whether or not the user report is published successfully.