Microsoft® SharePoint® Designer 2010 Unleashed

The fpdatasources Folder

Custom data connections, including database and XML connections, are stored as XML files in the site’s fpdatasources folder (see Figure 19.72), which is located in the _catalogs folder and hidden from normal browser view. The format of an XML file stored in the fpdatasources folder is effectively a universal data connection (UDC) XML file, as shown in Figure 19.73, not to be confused with the actual XML data source connection. Care should be taken not to copy or expose the contents of XML files in the fpdatasources folder. The file might contain data connection user names and passwords in plain text, which is a potential security hole.

Figure 19.72 fpdatasources library in SharePoint Designer.

Figure 19.73 Data connection ...