Save ADO Connection Information in a Separate File

You can save ADO connection information in a Microsoft Data Link (.UDL) file. When you do this, HotDocs will look in this file (rather than the component file) for the connection information when it tries to access the database. This is useful if you plan to redistribute the template set to users who may need to edit the connection information, for example, because their database is located in a different folder or on a different server than the one you used to develop the template. Otherwise, storing this information in the component file would make it impossible for HotDocs Player users (who have no component-editing capabilities) to make the required changes.

To save an ADO connection string

1. Using the Database Editor, define the ADO-based connection string. (See Create a Database Component Using ADO.)
2. When finished, click the Save button next to the Connection string field. The Save Microsoft Data Link File dialog box appears.
3. Specify the location where you want to save the file, type a name for it, and click Save. The file is created.
4. At the Database Editor, click the Connection properties are defined by drop-down button and select a Microsoft Data Link (.udl) file.
5. Click the Open button next to the Microsoft Data Link file field and locate the data link file. The component now looks in this separate file for connection information.

To edit a data link file, you or your user can double-click the file in Windows Explorer and make the changes in the Data Link Properties dialog box.

Microsoft Data Link (.UDL) files are plain text files. If you use a data link file to store your connection information, you should be sure sensitive information, such as database user names and passwords, are not specified in the UDL file. Specify this information in the database component instead, where it will be safely encrypted. See Specify a User Name and Password for a Database for details.