Databases: Availability Password & Locations Dialog

This dialog appears when selecting Databanks } Availability, Passwords & Locations from the application’s main menu.

From this dialog you can:

1. Provide new path names (locations) for the files to be used for the several databases that can be accessed by the program.

2. Specify which databases should be ‘available’ for use by the program.

3. Provide new passwords (if changed) needed by the application in order to be allowed to open the database files and fetch information about databanks.

► To instruct the program to use a new database file...

1. Find the ‘Location’ line that corresponds to the database file that you need to change and then click on the ( ) button to bring up a file selection dialog. Navigate to the location of the new database file and select it. Note that if you are setting a new location for the Process, DIPPR or PPDS database, the ‘Location’ line may be hidden. You will have to make sure the ‘Available’ checkbox is shown as checked (for that database) and then, click on the () button. This will present the ‘Location’ line and the corresponding ( ) button.

2. Make sure you exit the dialog by clicking on the “OK” button. This will action will:
(a) Attempt to register this new datasource (if it wasn’t used before) or change the DSN’s location path on the ODBC (User) registry. If this action is successful, it will proceed to include this new datasource as a possible source for data for all of your object databanks that may have data in this (new) database.

Should you even decide to revert to the locations where the application originally copied the database files (during installation), then you can clicking on the Reset All button:

located at the bottom right corner of the dialog. Note that even though the application ‘remembers’ the location where the installation script copied the database files during installation, there is no guarantee that the files are still there and have not been deleted (or relocated) by this or any other user of the PC.

Data Source Names

Since all databases that serve as sources for information to SuperPro Designer are supplied as MS-Access^® relational database files, they must be registered as ODBC sources before they can be used by the application. This process happens during installation of the program (for all but the PPDS databases - those will only be registered by the user after visiting this dialog). If the location of any of the registered databases changes (e.g. a new path name is specified by the dialog above), then the application needs to update the ODBC registry. This will happen when you exit the above dialog with OK. The data source names (as kept by the ODBC registry and under the User Profile) are shown below and should never be changed:

for Designer (or System) Database	SPD System DB v12
for User Database	SPD User DB v12
for Process Database	SPD Process DB v12
for DIPPR Database	SPD DIPPR DB
for PPDS Database	SPD PPDS DB
for PPDS BIP Database	SPD PPDS BIP DB

The data source names cannot be changed from any of SuperPro Designer interfaces and the user should not attempt to modify them from the ODBC registration applet of Windows. If you do so, SuperPro Designer will fail to find and access the databases and will not function properly.

Database File Names

Behind each data source, there must be a file (in MS-Access® format) that contains all the databanks used by the application. As part of the installation files, you receive copies for the ‘Designer’, ‘User’, ‘Process’ and ‘DIPPR’ demo databases (‘Process’ database is initially empty). These files are copied to a directory supplied by the user during installation. By default, the installation utility will create a subdirectory named “DBases” under the application installation directory and copy the database files there. However, you may overwrite this behavior and set any destination path (including network locations). The names of the database files as they are originally registered during installation are:

for Designer (or System) Database	PDSystem.v12.accdb
for User Database	PDUser.v12.accdb
for Process Database	PDProcess.v12.accdb
For DIPPR DB	Dippr.DemoV.mdb

The original names of the database files (as shipped from Intelligen) contain the version number of the database (‘v12’ etc.). It is the same version number as the application’s major version number.

The data source names (DSNs) for the EnviroPro Designer application are slightly different than the names shown above. Instead of “SPD xxx” the names starts with the prefix “EPD xxx”. So, the system database for EnviroPro Designer is “EPD System DB v12”, the user database is “EPD User DB v12” and so on. Please note that the MS-Access that contain the information accessed have the same names in both applications.

A small (5-component) demonstration version of DIPPR is also copied to your database installation directory. It is simply there to demonstrate the capabilities of SuperPro Designer in terms of accessing the DIPPR database. In order to take advantage of this feature, you will have to order (if you don’t already own) a copy of the full DIPPR database.

The names (and locations) of the database files can be modified after the installation is completed, without having to run the installation again. You can use the Databases: Availability Password & Locations Dialog to accomplish that. Note that you could chose to modify not only the location but also the names of those files.

Since all the user-entered data are kept in the ‘User’ database, all information entered by the user can now be carried over from one SuperPro Designer version to another. Make sure you keep a copy of your user database file (PDUser.v12.accdb) in a safe location and before you upgrade to a new build or a new version of the application. To find out how to make data kept in a ‘User’ database file after a new version is received, see Accessing Older SuperPro (User) Databases.

Any ‘PPDS’ database format files that contain Pure Component properties and/or Binary Interaction Properties can become accessible as well. These database files an be those provided by the PPDS Thermodynamic Property Suite itself or they can be other database files which are created by the user using the PPDS application (and contain data consistent with PPDS format).

It should be made very clear that purchasing a license to SuperPro Designer does NOT include purchasing the rights to own and use the PPDS database. Intelligen, Inc. simply provides the means to access (import) data from a PPDS database, provided that the owner of SuperPro Designer has purchased and maintains an active license for the use of PPDS databases.

Database Passwords

The database files (MS-Access^®) for all data sources as supplied with the program are protected with a password. Furthermore, in order to access some information in those databases, the program must also use a user-name identifying the user as he or she is to be known to the database. Users are not allowed to alter the contents of the ‘Designer’, the ‘DIPPR’ or the ‘PPDS’ database. The passwords on the files as shipped by Intelligen, are:

for Designer (or System) Database	Please contact Intelligen
for User Database	“changeme”
for Process Database	“changeme”
For DIPPR DB	Unknown

To change the user-name used for database access you must visit the Application Settings Dialog: Miscellaneous tab. All of the above files can, of course, be opened directly using MS-Access 2010 (or later). Since we do not assume that you should modify the Designer or the DIPPR database, their passwords are not revealed. If needed, you can obtain the password for the ‘Designer’ database after contacting Intelligen. The appropriate user-name and the password needed to access the full DIPPR database should be revealed to you once you purchase the full version. A password may be provided even for the ‘PPDS’ databanks if those database files are password protected.

If you open the ‘User’ database file with MS-Access^® and change the file’s password, you will have to inform the application about the new password, otherwise, SuperPro Designer will not be able to open the file. In other words, you will not be able to access any databanks contained in the corresponding file (user-defined component and mixtures, heat transfer agents, etc.). The same holds true for the DIPPR (full version) relational database. To inform SuperPro Designer about the new password, click on the button to bring up the Update Database Password Dialog and supply the new password.

To find out how you can change the password protecting any of the other MS-Access^® database files, see Changing A Password from MS-Access®.

If you open the User DB file with MS-Access^® and modify its contents, you must be absolutely certain that you do not modify any of the structures of the relations (tables) in the file. You may add / remove / edit the values of fields but you should not modify the names of those fields. Of course, you may add more fields and/or relations, but keep in mind that they will not be used by Pro-Designer. Before you do any such modifications of the User DB, it is strongly recommended that you keep a backup copy.

For information on the Process Library database and folder, please see Processes Databank and The Process Library Root Folder (PLRF).