REFramework storing a Database connection in the Config

[thorsten-wack]

Hello there,

I want to reuse an existing Database Connection.

The idea is to use

assign
in_Config(“X)”) = dbconnection

to store it in the Config dicitionary

later I want to get the dbconnection out of the config.

assign
dbconnection = convert.ChangeType( in_Config(“x”), in_Config(“x”).GetType)

is not working.

Error Message:
Cannot assign from type ‘System.Object’ to type
‘UiPath.Databse.DatabaseConnection’ in Assign activity Assign.

Any thoughts or ideas to solve this issue?
Is there a way to get this working?

**The workarround to pass the dbconnection as out argument is known. **

Thanks for your help / comments.

[shreyash_shirbhate]

@thorsten-wack

dbconnection

I think this variable should be of type UiPath.Databse.DatabaseConnection

You can try this.

[shreyash_shirbhate]

@thorsten-wack

**The workarround to pass the dbconnection as out argument is known. **

I think this is the most reliable and the robust way you should go with the same.

What’s the problem you are facing while sending it as an out argument?

[thorsten-wack]

Hi I like to pass as few arguments as possible therefore putting almost everything in the dictionary.
Especially if you have several layers in your code I tend to avoid passing an argument multiple times form workflow to workflow.

[Nithinkrishna]

Hey @thorsten-wack

For this case, you can go for serialisation.

Serialise your object to string & then can be saved to config file.

Which can then be utilised in the code back by de-serializing.

Hope this helps

Thanks
#nK

[thorsten-wack]

Hello #nK, could you provide an example for this, please?
I am afraid this is overdoing it
Regards
#T

[Nithinkrishna]

Hey @thorsten-wack

Sure… Here you go,

nmnithinkrishna_SaveDbConnInConfig.zip (2.1 KB)

I don’t see a big deal of overdoing in it. It’s just a one step addition.

I have used dummy props for the activity, whereas in your case you can go with actual values

Hope this helps.

Thanks
#nK

[ppr (Peter)]

@thorsten-wack

( in_Config(“x”), in_Config(“x”).GetType)

Give a try at:
DirectCast(in_Config("x"), in_Config("x").GetType)

[thorsten-wack]

Hi #nK,

I cannot see the activity.

Do I need to install aspecific package?

Error Message
File ‘Main.xaml’ - variable ‘obj_dbConn’: Type ‘ui:DatabaseConnection’ (‘http://schemas.uipath.com/workflow/activities’) could not be resolved and was automatically replaced with ‘UnknownType’

regards
#T

[Nithinkrishna]

Hey @thorsten-wack

It should auto download.

Kindly have a look at the project json for more details.

Btw the packages used are this,

"Newtonsoft.Json": "[13.0.1]",
"UiPath.Database.Activities": "[1.5.0]",
"UiPath.Excel.Activities": "[2.11.4]",
"UiPath.System.Activities": "[21.10.4]"

Thanks
#nK

[thorsten-wack]

Hi Peter,

it worked almost.

this is how I got it to work.
DirectCast(Config(“conn”),DatabaseConnection)

Using the DirectCast together with the Type DatabaseConnection.

For some reason it doesn’t let you use the GetType Method for the Config Object.

Regards
#T

[Nithinkrishna]

Cool @thorsten-wack

Also sorry, Actually I missed to add the de-serialize part, but I guess you should have figured it by this time.

[thorsten-wack]

Hi #nK,

I tried it and there seems to be an issue with the serialize part.

Regards
#T

[thorsten-wack]

the json string is empty

Regards
#T

[Nithinkrishna]

Hey @thorsten-wack

In the serialization, I hope you got the right value and saved it into the config.

The same should be de-serialized now.

Because, I can see when you print the conn string JSON it has nothing in it.

Thanks
#nK

[thorsten-wack]

Hi #nK,

I have not put the Object into the config.

This is how the workflow looks like.

As you can see.

I start off with the connect.
Then I query the DB.
After I log the connection object.
Next the JSON.Convert Action takes place in the Assign activity.
The following log message shows the resulting string is empty.
The result of this Newtonsoft.Json.JsonConvert.SerializeObject(obj_dbConn) is the empty string.

Any idea why this is not working?
When I tried to figure out more about storing a connect in a JSON Object I found some hints, that this might be not a good ide in some cases refering to certain Databases.

I am using SQL Server by the way.

Regards
#T

[Nithinkrishna]

Hey @thorsten-wack

Could you please debug it and check if the DB_Conn object has some value in it before serialization ?

Thanks
#nK

[thorsten-wack]

[thorsten-wack]

str_dbConn now has a length of 2 after serializing the connection

[Nithinkrishna]

Hey @thorsten-wack

I can see there is nothing coming in the db_conn object as appearing in the locals panel.

Thanks
#nK