Elliott 8.6 Databases Convention & Report Desk

← Elliott Version 8.6
Release Date: 08/27/2021
Version: 8.6 

Elliott 8.6 Databases Naming Convention

Starting with Elliott 8.6, the system supports a "Report Desk" feature which is based on the PSQL relational database engine. Databases must be created for Report Desk to work. By default, "Report Desk" expects the following database names be created on the PSQL server:
  • ELI86ROOT - This is based on the DDF files in the <ElliottRoot>\Bin86\DDFROOT\STDDDF folder.  <ElliottRoot> refers to your Elliott root folder like "M:\Elliott7." The EL86ROOT database points to the BTR files in the <ElliottRoot> folder for those tables shared across all companies. This includes Report Desk database tables (i.e., SYRD*.TR files,) security and other miscellaneous tables.
  • ELI86DATA?? - This can be ELI86DATA for the database in <ElliottRoot>\DATA folder (i.e., company 01) and EL86DATA02 - 99 for databases in <ElliottRoot>\DATA_02 - 99 for company 02 - 99 . This is based on the DDF files in <ElliottRoot>\Bin86\DDF40\STDDDF.
Elliott86.exe installation utility can help you to create EL86ROOT & ELI86DATA?? databases automatically on a PSQL server upon the installation of Elliott 8.6 for the first time or for  future updates. If you did not do that, you can also run EL860DB.EXE by browsing to the <ElliottRoot>\Bin86 folder.  Lastly, you can manually create these databases through the PSQL Control Center.  If you did not create these necessary databases, you will not be able to use the Report Desk feature. 

Transactional and Relational DDF Files

DDF Files are the definition of Elliott's database schema. You will need these DDF files in order to access the Elliott database through the PSQL relational engine. There are two types of DDF files: transactional and relational.

Transactional DDF Files
These are *.DDF files in the following two folders:
  • <ElliottRoot>\Bin86\DDF40
  • <ElliottRoot>\Bin86\DDFROOT
It is suggested that you do not use them to create any PSQL database.  Elliott will use them at the transaction engine level.  When a user starts up Elliott 8.6, the system will read transactional DDF files and cache them in the memory, and will then close the DDF files when done.  Therefore, Elliott only opens these DDF files for a short period of time. For this reason, during Elliott 8.6 installation Elliott always updates transactional DDF files since we do not expect any updating conflict.

Relational DDF Files
These are *.DDF files in the following two folders:
  • <ElliottRoot>\Bin86\DDF40\STDDDF
  • <ElliottRoot>\Bin86\DDFROOT\STDDDF
Transactional and relational DDF files are identical. The difference is the folders where they reside. The DDF files in these two folders are used to create ELI86ROOT and ELI86DATA?? databases. These databases will be used for relational engine access from Report Desk, Crystal Reports, Excel Query, Elliott Web Services or any third party application that accesses Elliott's data through ODBC or ADO.NET.  There is a much higher chance of conflict when the installation utility updates relational DDF files. Therefore, during Elliott 8.6 installation, the system only installs relational DDF files if it is a new installation. The system will not install them for updates if the <ElliottRoot>\Bin86 folder already exists unless you choose the "Custom" option. 

Updating Relational DDF Files
Since relational DDF files should be updated too, it is up to our IT to compare transactional DDF files and relational DDF files after the update installation. The easier way is simply to look at the date of the DDF files in the corresponding folders to see if they are changed.  if they are different. The solution is simply to copy those DDF files from the transactional DDF files folder (e.g., <ElliottRoot>\Bin86\DDF40) to the relational DDF files folder (e.g., <ElliottRoot>\Bin86\DDF40\STDDDF):  


But before you do this, you need to check to see if the relational DDF files are open in the PSQL monitor utility.   See sample screen below:



If you can't find the users who opened these DDF files, then you may consider stopping and restarting the PSQL Relational Engine Services to clear the connection.  It won't affect Elliott's operation.  But it will affect all other applications that depend on the PSQL relational engine. Consider doing this during the evening. See sample screen below:



EMK

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