Today we’re taking a look at the IdeaBlade.ibconfig file and discusses its role in the control of data source connections used by the Deltek Cobra 5.n client/workstation. Indeed, what is the IdeaBlade? Let’s start with that question and then expand to some basic concepts concerning the IdeaBlade.ibconfig file.
Context:
Just to give this article a little context, let’s look at the basic architecture of Cobra. As you may already know, Deltek Cobra 5.n is a three tier system. These tiers are:
Database Tier – an Oracle or Microsoft SQL Server instance that points to and manages the Cobra database schema.
Application Tier – the brains of the operation where all the major processing of data occurs. This is the IdeaBlade service you’ll see running on the application server tier.
Client/Workstation Tier – this is the human-readable part of Cobra that the users interact with. It’s a thin interface that handles all the input and output events.
These tiers can be installed on a single machine to run as a standalone; or be installed over multiple machines when a client/server or N-Tier deployment is required; typically for larger multi-user systems.
The IdeaBlade.ibconfig File:
And so now to the IdeaBlade.ibconfig file; Cobra uses this file primarily to determine the selected database and the location of the application server that the workstation should use.
The IdeaBlade.ibconfig file is located in the root of the install directory, typically C:\Program Files (x86)\Deltek\Cobra 5.
If you open the file using a simple text editor such as notepad, the contents are a series of XML keys that describe specific values to the Deltek Cobra client. This file is read during the startup of the Cobra Client/Workstation.
This file should not generally be modified manually. Instead it should be maintained an modified using the Cobra Data Tool. The Data Tool is a utility application available under the Deltek | Cobra 5 | Administration option of the Windows Start menu (assuming the administrative tools have been installed with the workstation).
The Data Tool allows for the creation of new data source configurations; which are in turn recorded in the IdeaBlade.ibconfig file. This allows the client/workstation to be connected to different databases via these additional data sources. For example, you can configure the workstation to login to either a production server or a QA server depending on the current need. For the time being, it is necessary to go into the Data Tool and select your required data source before you start a Cobra session in order to login to that particular database. Such an action changes the <option> and <connection>Persist Security Info=[True or False]; tags in the IdeaBlade.ibconfig file thus advising the client as to the data source it should connect to.
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