3.1 Paths

An InfoConnect path is a named collection of configuration settings that allows you to connect to a host. Paths are required for connections to ALC, T27 and UTS terminal sessions. In the Airlines products, paths are also used for holding the settings-specific device access in PTR. Path configuration information is stored in the InfoConnect database. After an administrator has configured paths and deployed InfoConnect with the required transports and a customized database, end users can create sessions using the preconfigured paths.

3.1.1 Configuring Paths

You can create and manage paths using the Path Wizard, the Database Editor, or the InfoConnect Manager. All three tools save changes to the InfoConnect database. Use the procedures below to launch these tools.

You can create a separate connection path for each host connection. Or, if you have a centralized management server and have configured the Terminal ID Manager Add-On, you can create a pooled connection path and specify multiple terminal IDs for a single path. See .Configure Sessions to use ID Manager to Assign Terminal IDs.

NOTE:Some tasks in the Database Editor and the InfoConnect Manager require an administrator logon. By default the administrator account login is an empty string. This configurable password-protection for these tools does not use the Windows administrator logon.

Path Wizard

The wizard takes you through configuration steps in the correct order to ensure that you specify settings in the correct order.

To start the Path Wizard

  1. Start theInfoConnect Workspace.

  2. Open the Create New Document dialog box.

  3. Select an ALC, UTS, or T27 terminal template and click Create.

  4. Click Create Path.

Database Editor

You can start the Database Editor from the InfoConnect Workspace or from the Windows Start menu.

To launch the Database Editor from the Windows Start menu

  1. From the Windows Start menu, go to Micro Focus InfoConnect > Utilities.

  2. Click Database Editor.

To launch the Database Editor from the Workspace

  1. Open InfoConnect Workspace Settings dialog box.

  2. Click Manage Path.

  3. Click Create new Path or Modify the selected path.

    -OR-

  1. Open the Create New Document dialog box.

  2. Select an ALC, UTS, or T27 terminal template and click Create.

  3. Right-click in the list of paths and select Modify path or DB Editor.

InfoConnect Manager

The InfoConnect Manager is an administrative tool that you can use to create and configure paths, as well as to perform additional administrative functions.

NOTE:InfoConnect Manager is an updated version of "INFOConnect Manager 32-bit" in earlier InfoConnect products.

To start the InfoConnect Manager

  1. From the Windows Start menu, go to Micro Focus InfoConnect> Utilities.

  2. Click InfoConnect Manager.

3.1.2 Deploying the Database

When you deploy InfoConnect, ensure that you have included all the required transports and deploy your modified database to the InfoConnect application data folder. This folder location is configurable using the Data Location tab during installation. The default is C:\Users\Public\Documents\Micro Focus\InfoConnect. You can also configure a per-user location for the database.

Because the database stores everything that you've configured up to this point, it can capture and store settings that aren't relevant to or beneficial for all users. If you deploy to a user-specific location, you can create a user-specific database by starting with a clean database each time you configure paths to deploy to individual users. You can do this by moving or renaming your existing InfoConnect database files before you start InfoConnect. That way, the database only includes information relevant to the user.

An alternate approach to deploying the database directly is to deploy an .ini file that you have created using the Export/Import Utility described below. You can use the Utility or the expimp32.exe command line to import the .ini file into the database after product installation. (One option for running commands automatically after the install is to use the Installation Customization Tool. See Create a Chain Installation to Run Additional Programs.)

Two tools are available for managing and moving database content—the Export/Import Utility and the Copy ICS Database Utility.

NOTE:If you configure and deploy settings using the centralized management server, path configuration is included with each downloaded session and these path settings are automatically added to the user’s database. This eliminates the need to configure and deploy the database as a separate step. For details, see Section 11.0, Centrally Manage Sessions.

Export/Import Utility

You can use the InfoConnect Export/Import Utility to export data from any InfoConnect database into a text (*.ini) or comma-separated value (*.csv) and to import data from either of these file formats into an InfoConnect database. You can also create a detail file that provides information about each field in the exported files (such as the maximum number of bytes allowed in each field, the type of data that each field can contain, etc.)

You can use this utility to perform a number of tasks:

  • Create a backup copy of your InfoConnect database so that you can easily restore it should your original database become deleted or corrupted.

  • Edit InfoConnect paths in an exported .ini or .csv file that you can subsequently import into an InfoConnect database.

  • Export path information from multiple InfoConnect databases and then import the data into a single master database.

To launch the Export/Import Utility User Interface

  • Run expimp32.exe. You can run this program by entering expimp32 in the “Search programs and files” box in the Windows Start menu or from a Command window.

To run the Export/Import utility from the command line, run expimp32.exe. It supports the following command line parameters.

NOTE:

  • Unless you include the /S parameter, the Export/Import Utility dialog box appears, displaying the values specified by the command line parameters.

  • All tables in the database are included by default.

  • Unless you specify otherwise, an ini file is the default format, empty tables are not included in the data file, and a detail file is not created.

/D filename

Export the specified data file. The file is created in the current directory unless you specify a different drive and directory. A file extension is not needed.You can include either the /D or the /Icommand line parameter. If you include both, only the /D command line parameter is used.

/I filename

Import the specified data file. The file is imported from the current directory unless you specify a different drive and directory. A file extension is not needed. You can include either the /D or the /I command line parameter. If you include both, only the /D command line parameter is used.

/A directory

Specifies the location of the InfoConnect database to be exported or imported. If you omit this command line parameter, the database specified by the Windows registry is used.

/FC

Use csv format for the data file.

/FI

Use ini format for the data file.

/OD

Create a detail file. If you include the /S command line parameter, you must include both the /D and the /OD command in order to create a detail file. The detail file will have the same name as the data file, but will have a *.dtl extension.

/OE

Include empty tables in the data file.

/OT

Include empty tables in the detail file.

/S

Run in silent mode (no dialog box or message box appears). To run the utility in silent mode, you must also include either the /D or the /I command line parameter.

/B1

Use a 16-bit INFOConnect database.

For example, the following command exports the current database. It shows no user interface and creates a file called icdata.ini.

expimp32 /S /D c:\icdata.ini

The following command imports content from the icdata.ini file into the current database

expimp32 /S /I c:\mypath\icdata.ini

Copy ICS Database Utility

Use the Copy ICS Database Utility to create a copy of an InfoConnect database that is identical to the original database except for the name of the location of the executable files. This can be helpful if you share your InfoConnect products on multiple file servers and want a copy of the same database on each server, with the only difference being the name of the server where the executable files are located.

You can use this utility in conjunction with the Export/Import Utility to help install your InfoConnect products throughout a large network. For example, once you install the products on one file server, you can use the Copy ICS Database Utility to create multiple databases that include only information about the products that have been installed. Then you can use the Export/Import Utility to add appropriate path information to each of the databases. In this way, an administrator in one central location can create databases for multiple file servers.

NOTE:For the Copy ICS Database Utility to work properly, each InfoConnect library registered in the database must exist in the location that you want to specify for the executable files. In other words, the target location must be a mapped directory on the PC running this utility andit must contain all of the libraries registered in the InfoConnect database.To determine the names of the registered libraries, run the InfoConnect Manager and click Librarieson the left, select a library in the list, and then click Examine.

To copy an InfoConnect database

  1. Run the Copy ICS Database Utility.

    You can run this program by entering copics32 in the “Search programs and files” box in the Windows Start menu or from a Command window.

  2. If InfoConnect Database To Copydoes not display the name of the database that you want to copy, click Browseand select the desired database from the local drive or any available network location.

  3. Specify the location where you want the database to be copied by clicking Browsenext to Destination For InfoConnect Database.

  4. In the New InfoConnect Directorytext box, type the location (that is, drive and folder or UNC name) of the executable files that you want to use in the copy of the database that you are creating.

  5. Click Copy.

  6. Repeat steps 2 through 6 for each database that you want to copy.

Running Copy ICS Database from the Command Line

Run Copy ICS Database from the command line using copics32.exe, which is installed to the InfoConnect program folder The default on English language systems is C:\Program Files (x86)\Micro Focus\InfoConnect on 64-bit systems and C:\Program Files\Micro Focus\InfoConnect on 32-bit systems. . It supports the following command line parameters.

NOTE:If /D and /N are both included on the command line, the Copy ICS Database Utility dialog box does not appear when you run the executable file.

Parameter

Function

/I filename

Specifies the name of the InfoConnect database to copy. Be sure to include the correct drive and folder.

If you omit the /I parameter, the database associated with the Windows system running this utility is used automatically.

/D destination

Specifies the folder where the copy will be created.If you omit the /D parameter, the Copy ICS Database Utility runs, displaying the values for any other command line parameters that you have specified.

/N newdir

Specifies the location of the executable files that will be specified in the copy of the database.If you omit the /N parameter, the Copy ICS Database Utility runs, displaying the values for any other command line parameters that you have specified.

/B1

Uses a 16-bit InfoConnect database.If you omit the /B1 parameter, the 32-bit database is used automatically.

Example

To copy your own database to the USER1 directory on file server F: and change the location of the executables to F:\INFOCONNECT, you would type the following on the command line:

COPICS32.EXE /D F:\USER1 /N F:\INFOCONNECT