Installing DataVision
This section walks you through the installation process. Before creating
or running reports, you need to perform a few one-time operations:
- Install Java.
- Install DataVision.
- Find and install JDBC drivers for each database you will be
using.
- Determine and set the proper Java class path to use when launching
DataVision.
For each database you add after installing and configuring DataVision,
you will have to perform the last two steps again.
Requirements
Aside from JDBC database drivers, DataVision requires Java version 1.2 or
above to run. It was developed using Java version 1.3 and 1.4. The
instructions for installing Java are beyond the scope of this document. For
more information, see Sun's Java site.
Installing DataVision
Extract the distribution from the archive file named
datavision-version.tar.gz (where
version is a version number like ``0.7.9''). When
you do, a directory named datavision-version is
created. You may create or move this directory anywhere you wish.
To extract the DataVision distribution from the command line, type
tar -xzf datavision-version.tar.gz.
To extract the DataVision distribution from a GUI-based program such as
WinZip, open the file datavision-version.tar.gz by
clicking or double-clicking the file or from within the running
application. What happens next will depend upon your operating system and
supporting applications. The directory may be extracted automatically for
you; you may be asked where to put it first. Alternately, the DataVision
archive may be opened and you may need to extract all the files
yourself.
Finding and Installing JDBC Drivers
DataVision depends upon JDBC drivers to communicate with databases. You
must have the correct driver for each type of database (Oracle, PostgreSQL,
MySQL, hsqldb, ODBC, etc.) that you wish to use.
Many drivers may be found by looking on the database developer's Web
site. Here is a list of useful URLs.
See Connecting to the
Database for more information about particular drivers, including
some issues that users have found.
Setting the Java Class Path
A class path is a list of directories or
jar files that Java searches to find all the files
it needs. (The class path does not need to know about your data
files. It tells the Java run time where to find the class files, images,
and properties files DataVision needs to run.) Though there is a
built-in class path that Java already knows about, that class path does not
include the whereabouts of your JDBC drivers or DataVision itself.
The files datavision.sh (Unix) and
datavision.bat (Windows) set the class path before running
DataVision. You need to edit the appropriate one and add the path to your
JDBC database drivers.
Editing the Class Path (Windows)
Open the file datavision.bat with a text editor such as
Notepad. We are going to edit the line that looks like
set CLASSPATH="%CLASSPATH%;lib\DataVision.jar;..."
Add the full path to each of your JDBC driver files to this line,
separating each with a semicolon. For example, if you have installed the
JDBC driver jar file jdbc.jar in the folder c:\foo,
your line will look like
set CLASSPATH="%CLASSPATH%;lib\DataVision.jar;...;c:\foo\jdbc.jar"
Editing the Class Path (Unix)
Open the file datavision.sh with your favorite text editor.
We are going to edit the line that looks like
classpath="$CLASSPATH":lib/DataVision.jar:...
Append the full path to each of your JDBC driver files to this line,
separating each with a colon. For example, if you have installed the JDBC
driver jar file jdbc.jar in the folder $HOME/foo,
your line will look like
classpath="$CLASSPATH":lib/DataVision.jar:...:$HOME/foo/jdbc.jar