Future enhancements

The following is thoughts and perspectives on future enhancements for the MFSQL Connector.

Purpose

Capture planned and proposed changes for Release 5 and beyond. Items here are not yet implemented or shipped in any published Release 5 build. Implemented items are tracked in Version Control — Release 5.

Themes and scope

  • Operations and processing improvements (bulk, reliability, performance)

  • M-Files Configurations as the primary configuration surface

  • Reporting, observability, and usability

  • Installation and setup streamlining

  • Payload format and performance changes

Operations and processing

Context

MFSQL Connector up to version 4 used multiple overlapping routines for metadata operations and auditing.

Gaps to address

  • Add rollback support for multi-object operations.

  • Reduce check-out/check-in churn; support true bulk operations where safe.

  • Detect sync errors earlier; add retry when an object is checked out/locked.

  • Process only changed objects where possible.

  • Strengthen error handling and telemetry.

  • Move from XML payloads to JSON for larger/cleaner data structures.

Main operations model

  • Core SQL areas: Class Tables, Change History, Audit History.

  • Direction: 1 = MF→SQL, 0 = SQL→MF.

  • Scope: single class, multiple classes, or all classes.

  • Actions: create, edit, delete, undelete.

  • Deletion handling: optionally retain deleted object details in class tables.

  • Selection: all objects, a supplied list, or filtered by date (and user as a subset filter).

  • Guardrails: ensure audit history, objver, and objid state is current before write operations.

  • Delta detection: update only changed rows/columns where applicable (see e.g. https://www.mssqltips.com/sqlservertip/6497/how-to-identify-which-sql-server-columns-changed-in-a-update/).

Procedure consolidation candidates

Reduce overlap by consolidating or refactoring procedures around the operations model. Candidate list:

  • spMFUpdateTable

  • spMFUpdateMFilesToMFSQL

  • spMFUpdateTableinBatches

  • spMFTableAudit

  • spMFUpdateObjectChangeHistory

  • spMFDeleteObject

  • spMFUnDeleteObject

  • spMFDeleteObjectList

  • spMFDeleteAdhocProperty

  • spMFDeleteObjectVersionList

  • spMFGetObjectvers

  • spMFObjectTypeUpdateClassIndex

  • spMFRemoveAdditionalProperties

  • spMFUpdateAllncludedInAppTables

  • spMFUpdateItemByItem

  • spMFUpdateTableWithLastModifiedDate

Reference: MFSQL Connector Operations

M-Files Configurations roadmap

Goal: move configuration from SQL settings tables into M-Files Configurations, with VAF brokering secure connections to SQL. Initially optional; becomes the default once broadly adopted.

Configuration sources

  • Current in Configurations (baseline): Web API connection, ODBC connection.

  • Move from SQL to Configurations:

    • MFSQL user selection (update MFVaultSettings)

    • MFSettings defaults and updates

    • Vault content package install/setup

  • Other objects/settings to manage via Configurations:

    • Class selection and class settings (update MFClass)

    • Property list sync and custom column options (update MFClass/MFClassProperty)

    • Context menu setup (update MFContextMenu)

Operational status and automation

  • Dashboarding: errors, ProcessBatch statistics, usage overview.

  • Automate SQL procedures and views:

    • Curated class update procedures

    • Reporting/analysis views

    • Use VAF to trigger automatic metadata structure updates in SQL

Reporting and observability

Make reporting easier to use and surface in M‑Files where appropriate.

  • Error log, process log, VAF log aggregation and drill-down

  • Process performance metrics and trends

    • Class, column, table, database, and overall stats

  • User and group usage stats

Payload and performance changes

  • JSON payloads instead of XML to remove limits and improve throughput

  • Reduce end-to-end processing time and metadata sync impact on transactions

  • Continuous metadata sync without full-object scans; auto-update object change history

Installation and setup streamlining

  • Install and configure the Vault App (VAF)

  • Install Web Service on web server (if used)

  • Ensure M‑Files connectivity from SQL host where required

  • Validate SQL Server connectivity and prerequisites

  • Execute SQL installation

  • Validate SQL→MF connection and basic operations

Notes

  • Commercial/pricing changes (usage-focused) are tracked separately and are out of scope for technical documentation here.