Talend change db connection to use (existing) context group

Question

I started using Talend before I understood the contexts. Now that I do I want my db connection to read from my context. I have an already existing context group holding variables, and I would prefer not to have a second context group just for the db settings.

Everything I can find explains how to create a new context group for the vars. But is it possible to create the db vars like server, login etc myself in the existing context group and have the db connection reference those?

Answer 1

You can. As You probably have done already, you can use your implicit (manually-created) context variables inside your db components (each instance, manually). This is absolutely admitted. As a matter of facts, automatic context groups for databases have been added in Talend 4.1. so they are a relatively new feature.

The question is: is it really what you need/want? You'll lose the ability to use the metadata repository connections, test and check your parameters, revert and update the variables automatically and apply to every component with one click. Just to not have a separated context group.

If you consider that context groups scoped just inside the design view, as when the job is exported every context var will fit in a single .properties file, regardingless the original group, I would think again about your constrain...