CaseTalk Manager Installation

The CaseTalk Manager requires a SQL Server installation to upload and download project files. This is a manual and multi-step process.

Database Script

The CaseTalk Manager is available for download after you received the correct credentials. After downloading and installing the server edition of CaseTalk, a subdirectory is created called SCRIPTS.

In that folder you'll find all the instructions and Database Server Scripts you need to build your server environment. Please read further instructions in the accompanied install.txt file. You may either build a new database installation, or upgrade the existing database to the latest version.

Connection Configuration

The first time the CaseTalk Manager is started it'll prompt for connection details. As system administrators it is possible to configure these through the CaseTalkManager.ini file, located in the roaming profile folder %APPDATA%\CaseTalk12.

[Settings]
Server=0

[CaseTalk]
Application=Y:\CaseTalk.XE\develop\apps\CaseTalk\build\CaseTalk.exe

[db|0]
name=Default
dbuser$=ADDECC
dbpwd$=ADC0CCDED9C8DFC6C8D4
DataSource=ARIES5WIN7
Catalog=CaseTalk
OdbcParams=MARS_Connection=yes;AnsiNPW=yes
OdbcDriver=ODBC Driver 17 for SQL Server
active=True

[db|1]
name=TCIP
dbuser$=ADDECC
dbpwd$=ADC0CCDED9C8DFC6C8D4
DataSource=10.211.55.14\SQLEXPRESS
Catalog=CASETALK
OdbcParams=MARS_Connection=yes;AnsiNPW=yes
OdbcDriver=ODBC Driver 17 for SQL Server
active=False

[db|2]
name=Azure
dbuser=CaseTalk
dbpwd=mypassword
DataSource=my.database.windows.net
Protocol=tcp
Port=1433
Catalog=CASETALK
OdbcParams=Persist Security Info=Fals;MultipleActiveResultSets=False;Encrypt=True;TrustServerCertificate=False
OdbcDriver=ODBC DRIVER 17 FOR SQL SERVER
OdbcLibrary=msodbcsql17.dll
active=False

The configration file consists of a few sections:

Settings: The default active server connection to be used
CaseTalk: File reference to be able to find and start the Modeler
db|<n>: One of N connection configurations

The DB<N> sections contain the following options:

name: The connection name as displayed in the user interface
dbuser: The database username (The examples show a $ at the end indicating the value is encoded. This can be a plain text line which require the $ to be absent).
dbpwd: Database login password
DataSource: The SQL Server instance location
Protocol: This can be empty to let the driver decide, or set to tcp or np.
Port: Default (and if empty) this is 1433, but can be another configured port on the server.
Catalog: The database instance name in SQL Server
OdbcParams: Optional driver parameters (see Encryption Settings below)
OdbcDriver: SQL Server driver name to be used
active: This is a legacy parameter and a duplicate of the settings section.

SQL Server Driver

Please consult the microsoft webpage to find the appropriate driver with your SQL Server installation:

Possible standard names for OdbcDriver, through already installed drivers, are:

ODBC Driver 18 for SQL Server
ODBC Driver 17 for SQL Server
ODBC Driver 13 for SQL Server
SQL Server
SQL Server Native Client 10.0
SQL Server Native Client 11.0

To use a specific ODBC DLL, edit the CaseTalkManager.ini file and add the line ODBCLibrary to refer to the DLL instead:

[db...]
...
OdbcDriver=
OdbcLibrary=msodbcsql17.dll
...

Encryption Settings

Starting with ODBC Driver 18, Microsoft changed the default connection encryption from optional to mandatory. This means connections to SQL Server are encrypted by default. When the server uses a self-signed certificate (common for on-premises installations), this can cause connection failures such as:

SSL Provider: The certificate chain was issued by an authority that is not trusted.

CaseTalk handles this automatically: when ODBC Driver 18 or newer is detected and no explicit encryption settings are present in OdbcParams, CaseTalk adds Encrypt=yes;TrustServerCertificate=yes to ensure connections succeed with self-signed certificates. Connections using ODBC Driver 17 or older are not affected and retain their existing behavior.

To override the automatic defaults, add Encrypt and/or TrustServerCertificate to the OdbcParams line in CaseTalkManager.ini:

Scenario	OdbcParams value
On-premises with self-signed certificate (default for Driver 18+)	`MARS_Connection=yes;AnsiNPW=yes;Encrypt=yes;TrustServerCertificate=yes`
On-premises with CA-signed certificate	`MARS_Connection=yes;AnsiNPW=yes;Encrypt=yes;TrustServerCertificate=no`
Disable encryption (not recommended)	`MARS_Connection=yes;AnsiNPW=yes;Encrypt=no`
Azure SQL (always encrypted, CA-signed)	`Encrypt=True;TrustServerCertificate=False`

Note: If Encrypt or TrustServerCertificate is already present in OdbcParams, CaseTalk will not modify the connection and your explicit settings take precedence.

32 bit OS

The ODBC Drivers are tight to the 32/64 bit of the OS. Default the 64 bit drivers are deployed with CaseTalk. If you are running it in a 32 bit OS, you may need the 32 bit drivers. The portable app distribution contains the 32 bit driver in a subfolder called odbc32. Please copy these into the root folder of CaseTalk to be used instead.

InstallManager

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