› Data sources › Define data sources › Customize connection strings

Customize connection strings

A connection string specifies information about a data source and the means of connecting to it. The string is passed in code to an underlying driver or provider to initiate the connection. Insight provides an input form for the connection string with the following fields:

  • Database type

  • Provider name

  • Server name

  • Database name

  • User name

  • Password

Use the Additional String property to expand the connection string by adding parameters to it:

  1. In Studio, on the Documents Tree, open Data sources and select the required data source.
  2. In the Property Panel, navigate to Additional string.
  3. Enter the required additional connection parameters.
  4. Save the changes.

Define query timeout

For each connection, you can define the maximum timeout for query execution.

  1. In Studio, navigate to Documents Tree > Data sources, and select the required data source.
  2. In the Property Panel, navigate to Query timeout.
  3. Enter the value of the timeout in seconds.
  4. Click Save.
    If the defined timeout is exceeded and the query is not executed, check the connection and see the log file.

Resolve SQL Server deadlocks

When running a query that uses a connection string to select data from an external source, a SQL Server deadlock may occur. A deadlock is typically resolved when the query is retried successfully to establish the connection.

In Studio, you can use the Property Panel to define the timing and number of attempts to make to connect to an external data source in a deadlock situation.

If a deadlock occurs, all temporary data already collected is deleted, and the data collection process is restarted when the connection to the data source is established successfully.

  1. In Studio, navigate to Documents Tree > Data Sources, and select a data source.

    The connection string appears for the selected data source.

  2. In the Property Panel, in the Other group, adjust these settings:
    1. Time between tries: Set the number of seconds to elapse between each attempt to establish a connection to the data source if a deadlock occurs.
    2. Tries count: Specify the number of attempts to make to connect to the data source if a deadlock occurs. By default, the value is set to 1, which means that the query is not retried if a deadlock occurs.
    These settings are applied to resolve the transient faults as well.