public interface DataSourceDeclaration

Creating DataSources

DataSources can be specified in XML format, in which case the Smart GWT server is used to load the DataSource, or DataSources can be programmatically created on the client.

Whether a DataSource is loaded via the Smart GWT server or programmatically created client-side, identical requests will ultimately be submitted to the server. However, DataSources defined in XML are loaded and used by the Smart GWT Server, enabling many features including synchronized client-server validation, request bundling, file upload, and optional automatic SQL/JPA/Hibernate connectivity (see the Server Summary for details).

DataSources can be programmatically created on the client like so:

     DataSource ds = new DataSource();
     ds.setID("supplyItem");
     DataSourceTextField nameField = new DataSourceTextField("itemName", "Name");
     // create other fields
     ds.setFields(nameField, ...);

Reference for all properties that can be set for DataSources, their fields and validators is given in the DataSource class reference.

DataSources defined in XML declare fields, validators and other settings using XML tags:

      <DataSource ID="supplyItem">
          <fields>
              <field name="itemName" type="text" title="Item"/>
              <field name="SKU"      type="text" title="SKU">
                  <validators>
                      <validator type="integerRange" ... />
                  </validators>
              </field>
          </fields>
      </DataSource>

DataSources defined in XML are loaded by using the DataSourceLoader servlet provided by the Smart GWT Server. This can be done as an ordinary HTML <script> tag as you application first loads:

      <SCRIPT SRC=isomorphic/DataSourceLoader?dataSource=supplyItem,employees,worldDS></SCRIPT>

.. or can be done on the fly via DataSource.load().

Alternatively, in JSP environments, XML DataSources can be loaded via a special JSP tag supported by the Smart GWT Server:

      <%@ taglib uri="http://www.smartclient.com/taglib" prefix="isomorphic" %>
      ...
      <SCRIPT>
      <isomorphic:loadDS ID="supplyItem"/>
      </SCRIPT>

When loading an XML DataSource, by default, the ISC Server will look for a file named <dataSourceId>.ds.xml in the project.datasources directory as configured in [webroot]/WEB-INF/classes/server.properties . By default this may be set to /shared/ds or /WEB-INF/ds under webroot.
The location of this directory can be changed, or individual DataSources can be placed in arbitrary locations. For more information, see the documentation for server.properties

The directory containing dataSource defintions should not be made publicly accessible via the webserver. DataSource configuration files can contain sensitive data that should only be read by the server. When loading a dataSource via the loadDS tag or by hitting the DataSourceLoader servlet such data will not be passed to the client.

XML DataSources can also be generated on the fly in case the entire DataSource or portions of it are based on dynamic data. See the server API com.isomorphic.DataSource.addDynamicDSGenerator().

See Also:

DataSource
com.smartgwt.client.docs.LoadDSTag

Interface DataSourceDeclaration

Creating DataSources