Release 10.1A: OpenEdge Getting Started:
Installation and Configuration

Logical structure and syntax of property files

All property files use a hierarchical structure consisting of named groups and subgroups. Each group or subgroup can define a set of properties, for which the values can be either specified or null.

A subgroup inherits all properties from its parent group. By default, it also inherits the values of those properties. Within a subgroup, inherited defaults can be overridden and additional properties can be defined. The lowest level subgroup defines a specific instance of the component type.

Note: Properties are valid only if they are allowed by the appropriate schema file. An attempt to create an unsupported property results in an error.

The syntax in a property file is as follows:

Group names — Names are enclosed in square brackets. A subgroup name consists of the parent group’s name followed by a period and the identifier for the subgroup. Thus, the names [WebSpeed], [WebSpeed.Messengers], and [WebSpeed.Messengers.CGIIP] form a three-level hierarchy of property groups.
Properties and values — Property name-value pairs are listed immediately following the name of the group for which they are defined. The property name is followed by an “equals” sign and, optionally, a value. For example, controllingNameServer= defines a property with a null value; controllingNameServer=NS1 assigns a specific value to that property.

For example, consider the following groups defined in the as-installed version of ubroker.properties:

[UBroker]      controllingNameServer=      srvrLogEntryTypes= [UBroker.AS]      srvrLogEntryTypes=ASPlumbing,DB.Connects      description=AppServer Broker [UBroker.AS.asbroker1]      controllingNameServer=NS1      description=A sample AppServer setup for State-reset

The top-level [UBroker] group defines a set of properties that are inherited by the subgroup [UBroker.AS] and by all other subgroups.

The subgroup [UBroker.AS] defines properties for all AppServer instances. It assigns a default value to the inherited srvrLogEntryTypes property, and it defines an additional description property.

The subgroup [UBroker.AS.asbroker1] defines an AppServer instance. It assigns a value to the controllingNameServer property inherited from [UBroker], and it overrides the value of the description property inherited from [UBroker.AS].

Property value formats

This section provides a summary of the supported formats for expressing property values. These formats are presented in three categories:

Newly supported formats (introduced in OpenEdge 10) that are valid in all property files.
Formats that are valid only in delta files used as input to the mergeprop utility.
Formats that were supported prior to OpenEdge 10.

Table 10–4 lists the formats that were introduced in OpenEdge 10 for use in all property files.

Table 10–4: New value formats supported in all property files

Description	Syntax and example
Reference to another property value.	!{value-of:group.property} Example: jvmargs=!{value-of:Common.jvmargs}
Reference to a Java system property.	!{SystemProperty:java_property} Example: userName=!{SystemProperty:userName}
List of references to be evaluated sequentially. The first reference to be resolved is used. The last entry can be an explicit value. The delimiter between references is a question mark (?), and the list must also be terminated with a question mark.	?value1?value2?value3...value-n? Example: description=?!{SystemProperty: userName}?!{value-of:NameServer.NS1. hostName}?NS1 Host?
Hexadecimal value.	hex_value Example: srvrLoggingLevel=0x0BF

Table 10–5 lists the formats that were introduced in OpenEdge 10 for use exclusively in delta files used as input to the mergeprop utility.

Table 10–5: New value formats supported in mergeprop delta files only

Description	Syntax and example
Value formed by appending a specified string to the existing value.	!{current-value}append_string Example: descritpion=!{current-value} UPDATED
Reference to a Java system property.	!{newValue:UUID} Example: uuid=!{newValue:UUID}

Table 10–6 lists the remaining supported formats, which were introduced prior to the release of OpenEdge 10.

Table 10–6: Value formats supported prior to OpenEdge 10

Description	Syntax and example
An explicit integer or string constant.	value Example: portNumber=3095
Reference to a system environment variable.	${env_variable} Example: workDir=${WORKDIR}
Reference to a Windows registry value.	@{registry_value} Example: workDir=@{WorkPath}