/**
  * A private method to read the connection string parameter from the web.xml file
  *
  * @return the database connection string
  */
 private String getConnectionString() {
   if (InputUtils.isValid(rdf.getContextParam("databaseConnectionString")) == false) {
     throw new RuntimeException(
         "Unable to read the connection string parameter from the web.xml file");
   } else {
     return rdf.getContextParam("databaseConnectionString");
   }
 }