The Ed-Fi “Classic Dashboards” are no longer supported through the Ed-Fi Alliance. You can still receive support and maintenance through the Ed-Fi vendor community. Please look at any of the vendors’ dashboard solutions on the Registry of Ed-Fi Badges or the Ed-Fi Starter Kits if you are looking for a visualization solution to use with the Ed-Fi ODS. This documentation will remain available to assist existing Classic Dashboard implementers.

Dashboard Connection Strings

Owned by Itzel Torres
Mar 31, 2019
2 min read

The Ed-Fi Dashboards can be configured to connect to databases in different ways. Two illustrative connection string approaches are shown below.

Approach 1: One Connection String per Local Education Agency

The default configuration is one Local Education Agency per database. The as-shipped configuration sample data is set up to connect to the Glendale ISD datastore.

  <connectionStrings>
    <!-- NOTE: Add new connection string placeholders for deployment in Web.connectionStrings.config -->
    <clear />
    <add name="Application_Db" connectionString="Database=EdFi_Application; Data Source=(local); Persist Security Info=True; User Id=edfiPService; Password=edfiPService;" providerName="System.Data.SqlClient" />
    <!-- Depending on the setup that you require we support various types of DB separation.-->
    <add name="GlendaleISD" connectionString="Database=EdFi_Dashboard; Data Source=(local); Persist Security Info=True; User Id=edfiPService; Password=edfiPService;" providerName="System.Data.SqlClient" />
    <!-- If historical information is going to be displayed you will need a DataWarehouse-->
    <add name="DataWarehouse" connectionString="Database=EdFi_DashboardDW; Data Source=(local); Persist Security Info=True; User Id=edfiPService; Password=edfiPService;" providerName="System.Data.SqlClient" />
  </connectionStrings>

Approach 2: One Connection String for Multiple Local Education Agencies

The Dashboards also support a single connection string for multiple LEAs. In this approach, the connection string setup requires a few preliminary steps in code.

First, edit the code in EdFi.Dashboards.Presentation.Web.Utilities.CastleWindsor.ConfigurationSpecificInstallerBase.cs (if this file does not exist then you need to add it and create a new ConfigurationSpecificInstallerBase class that inherits from the Core implementation):

public class ConfigurationSpecificInstallerBase : Core.Utilities.CastleWindsor.ConfigurationSpecificInstallerBase

Next, override the default implementation of RegisterIDbConnectionStringSelector:

protected override void RegisterIDbConnectionStringSelector(IWindsorContainer container)

Also edit the code in EdFi.Dashboards.SecurityTokenService.Web.Utilities.CastleWindsor.ConfigurationSpecificInstallerBase.cs. Specifically, in the RegisterIDbConnectionStringSelector method you need to replace:

container.Register(Component
	.For<IDbConnectionStringSelector>()
	.ImplementedBy<LocalEducationAgencyContextConnectionStringSelector>());

...with the new code:

container.Register(Component
	.For<IDbConnectionStringSelector>()
	.Instance(new NamedDbConnectionStringSelector("Multi_LEA")));


In the Web.config files for both EdFi.Dashboards.Presentation.Web and EdFi.Dashboards.SecurityTokenService.Web you need to add a connection string for Multi_LEA that follows this pattern:

<add name="Multi_LEA" connectionString="Database=LEA_Dashboard; Data Source=(local); Persist Security Info=True; User Id=userName; Password=passWord;" providerName="System.Data.SqlClient" />


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