Prerequisites

See Supported Configurations for hardware and software prerequisites for running Ebase Designer.

Designer File Structure

Ebase Designer consists of a single folder UfsClient with the following structure:

UfsClient...

start_ebase_designer.bat bat file to start Ebase Designer

images...

contains images

lib....

contains jar files

properties

contains preferences specific to each user

The start_ebase_designer.bat file must be customized with the configuration information to access the server as specified below. This is the only customization normally required.

Configuring the start designer script

The start_ebase_designer.bat file in the UfsClient folder contains a number of parameters that enable the designer to communicate with the server and these parameters must correspond with the configuration options of the application server under which Ebase is running. The parameters are specified as SET commands at the top of the .bat file.

SERVER_HOST	The hostname or IP address of the server (this parameter must be specified)
SERVER_PORT	The HTTP port of the server (default is 80 if not specified)
SERVER_WEBAPP	The server web application context for the Ebase web application (default is ufs if not specified)

For configuration of proxy servers, see below.

Designer Preferences dialog

The designer appearance can be customized using the Designer Preferences dialog (File -> Preferences):

Form Language tab

Default language: the default language used for the designer. This language is used when configuring texts and is the default language used for form submission from the designer.

Suppress language prompt when submitting forms: when checked, the system will not prompt for a language when submitting forms from the designer.

UI Options tab

lookAndFeel : supported values are:

default	Ebase supplied look and feel (from Jgoodies)
Metal	Java default look and feel
CDE/Motif	Look and feel compatible with XWindows
Windows	Windows compatible look and feel
Windows Classic	Windows Classic compatible look and feel (this option may not be visible)

Override default fonts: enables font name and size to be entered below. This is the default font used throughout the Designer; note that additional fonts can also be specified using the Designer Fonts tab.

Name: the font used by the Designer

Size: the font size used by the Designer

Show tables view for editing: when checked, the tabular view of fields on a page in the form editor is available via Table View tab in the form editor.

Report unexpected errors: when checked, any errors in the Designer will result in a popup window as shown below:

Click Show details to display the error.

Click Send Error Report to send the error to Ebase. Note that this requires internet access.

Uncheck Report unexpected errors to suppress display of this dialog. Check this option if this dialog is showing repeatedly.

Designer Fonts

Note that the default font used by the Designer is specified using the UI Options tab.

Script Dialog Font: the font name and size of the font used by the script editor

Debug Window Font: the font name and size of the font used to display the form execution log

Designer Proxy Options

This tab allows specification of a proxy server to be used for all Http connections made from the Designer. This includes connection to the Ebase server and the import of wsdl and xsd files in the Web Services and XML resource respectively.

In the event that a proxy server is required to access the Ebase Server, it will not be possible to start the Designer to reach this dialog. In this case, the properties file preferences.properties in folder UfsClient/properties can be edited to add the proxy properties shown above. The corresponding property names are:

httpProxyHost

httpProxyPort

proxyRequiresAuthentication (should specify true or false)

httpProxyUsername

httpProxyPassword