Automation Guide Action-based testing language Built-in actions System actions Database

 connect database

connect database

Description

Open a database connection.

Arguments

• connection string

  String used to open a database connection.

• name

  Connection name (see Notes below).

Notes

• This action is generally invoked as part of a sequence of actions to allow the test to access a data source. (See Testing with databases for more information.)
• The value for connection string may be derived by invoking the action create connection string. The nature of a connection string – that is, the parameters that apply to it – is specific to the type of data source that it targets. More information on connection strings is available from the website www.connectionstrings.com/.
• You may establish multiple concurrent connections to different databases using separate invocations of this action. However, only one database connection may be in use at any given time.
• If connecting to a MySQL database:
  • If any of the associated execute sql calls are to contain multiple queries in their command arguments, the setting Option=67108864; must be included in connection string.
  • If creating a Unicode-supported connection with the FreeTDS ODBC driver, the setting ClientCharset=UTF-8; must be present in connection string.
• The name that you specify in argument name is assigned to the database connection and is available globally throughout your test run set, to be used by the built-in actions use database and disconnect database.
• This action supports the <ignore> modifier. If the string <ignore> is present as the value of any of the arguments, or any argument contains an expression that evaluates to <ignore>, the action is skipped during execution.

Applicable Built-In Settings

The following settings are applicable to this action: remove double quotes from cell.

Applicable Controls

This action is applicable to the following controls: none.

Example:

The following example illustrates the process of connecting to, and using, a database from within a test. After creating a named connection string with the action create connection string, the string is used by this action to connect to the database.

Action Lines

Result

Related concepts

Testing with databases