diff --git a/data-discovery/src/main/java/webapi/SearchServlet.java b/data-discovery/src/main/java/webapi/SearchServlet.java
index 2abcb9ba3c500e7c1d7a1a6b0613f4791612fe6f..e05e6c72b6f1637c06e19eb2bad4eecf01f29101 100644
--- a/data-discovery/src/main/java/webapi/SearchServlet.java
+++ b/data-discovery/src/main/java/webapi/SearchServlet.java
@@ -102,6 +102,7 @@ public class SearchServlet extends javax.servlet.http.HttpServlet
 
             FormatResponseWrapper responseWrapper = (FormatResponseWrapper) response;
             responseWrapper.setPubdidArr(pubdidArr);
+            responseWrapper.setDBConn(settings.dbConn);
          }
          else
          {
diff --git a/data-discovery/src/main/java/webapi/formatfilter/FormatResponseFilter.java b/data-discovery/src/main/java/webapi/formatfilter/FormatResponseFilter.java
index 223a4600943a4b05e3a8b7873748df95a7b5ed9d..eab75213605bc81f5829c8b2e22fbe7585a13a68 100644
--- a/data-discovery/src/main/java/webapi/formatfilter/FormatResponseFilter.java
+++ b/data-discovery/src/main/java/webapi/formatfilter/FormatResponseFilter.java
@@ -32,7 +32,6 @@ public class FormatResponseFilter implements Filter
    public void init(FilterConfig filterConfig) throws ServletException
    {
       LOGGER.config("Default charset: " + Charset.defaultCharset());
-      LOGGER.config("DB: " + settings.dbConn.toString());
    }
 
    public void doFilter(ServletRequest request, ServletResponse response, FilterChain chain)
@@ -41,11 +40,10 @@ public class FormatResponseFilter implements Filter
       LOGGER.fine("trace");
       LOGGER.fine("REQUEST START");
 
-      final String RESPONSE_ENCODING = "UTF-8";
-      final String DEFAULT_RESPONSEFORMAT = settings.defaults.responseFormat;
-      final String DEFAULT_SKY_SYSTEM     = settings.defaults.skySystem;
-      final String DEFAULT_SPEC_SYSTEM    = settings.defaults.specSystem;
-      final String DEFAULT_TIME_SYSTEM = "MJD_UTC"; // FIXME take from confif file
+      final String RESPONSE_ENCODING      = "UTF-8";
+      final String DEFAULT_RESPONSEFORMAT = "application/x-votable+xml";
+      final String DEFAULT_SKY_SYSTEM     = "ICRS"; // FIXME use enums
+      final String DEFAULT_SPEC_SYSTEM    = "WAVE_Barycentric";// FIXME use enum ALSO in SearchServlet
 
 
       FormatResponseWrapper responseWrapper = new FormatResponseWrapper((HttpServletResponse) response);
@@ -66,7 +64,7 @@ public class FormatResponseFilter implements Filter
             Pos  pos  = Pos.parsePos(params, DEFAULT_SKY_SYSTEM);
             Band band = Band.parseBand(params, DEFAULT_SPEC_SYSTEM);
 
-            DbPSearch.ObsCore[] obsCoreArr = queryObsCore(pubdidArr, pos, band);
+            DbPSearch.ObsCore[] obsCoreArr = queryObsCore(responseWrapper.getDBConn(), pubdidArr, pos, band);
 
             String respFormat;
             String respFormatReq[] = params.get("RESPONSEFORMAT");
@@ -77,8 +75,7 @@ public class FormatResponseFilter implements Filter
             }
             else
             {
-               respFormat = settings.serviceUrls.responseFormat();
-               LOGGER.finest("responseFormat(from settings): " + respFormat);
+               respFormat = DEFAULT_RESPONSEFORMAT;
             }
 
             response.setCharacterEncoding(RESPONSE_ENCODING);
@@ -148,14 +145,13 @@ public class FormatResponseFilter implements Filter
       LOGGER.fine("REQUEST END");
    }
 
-   //@Override
    public void destroy()
    {
       LOGGER.fine("trace");
    }
 
 
-   private DbPSearch.ObsCore[] queryObsCore(String[] pubdidArr, Pos pos, Band band)
+   private DbPSearch.ObsCore[] queryObsCore(DBConn dbConn, String[] pubdidArr, Pos pos, Band band)
          throws Exception
       {
 
@@ -164,7 +160,7 @@ public class FormatResponseFilter implements Filter
          DbPSearch dbps;
          synchronized(DbPSearch.class)
          {
-            dbps = new DbPSearch(settings.dbConn);
+            dbps = new DbPSearch(dbConn);
          }
 
          return dbps.queryOutputData(pubdidArr, pos, band);
diff --git a/data-discovery/src/main/java/webapi/formatfilter/FormatResponseSettings.java b/data-discovery/src/main/java/webapi/formatfilter/FormatResponseSettings.java
index 803a6bf20a73c021f14aaf31432e3b267aee2404..418446af39424ef43760ea60cbcaac3cd2020758 100644
--- a/data-discovery/src/main/java/webapi/formatfilter/FormatResponseSettings.java
+++ b/data-discovery/src/main/java/webapi/formatfilter/FormatResponseSettings.java
@@ -1,75 +1,28 @@
 
-import java.util.logging.Logger;
-
 import java.io.IOException;
 import java.io.InputStream;
 import java.util.Properties;
-import java.io.PrintWriter;
 
 
 class FormatResponseSettings
 {
-   //private static final Logger LOGGER = Logger.getLogger("FormatResponseSettings");
-
-   public static class DefaultParamValues
-   {
-      String responseFormat;
-      String skySystem;
-      String specSystem;
-      boolean showDuration;
-   }
-
-/*
-   public static class DBConn
-   {
-      private String uri;
-      private String schema;
-      private String user_name;
-      private String password;
-
-      public String uri() {return uri;}
-      public String schema() {return schema;}
-      public String userName() {return user_name;}
-      public String password() {return password;}
-
-      public String toString()
-      {
-         return uri + "  schema[" + schema +  "] " + user_name + " / " + password;
-      }
-   }
-*/
-
    public static class ServiceUrls
    {
       private String cutoutUrl;
       private String mergeUrl;
-      private String surveysAbsPathname;
-      private String respFormat;
 
       public boolean cutoutUrlIsSet() { return (cutoutUrl != null) && cutoutUrl.trim().isEmpty(); }
       public boolean mergeUrlIsSet()  { return (mergeUrl != null) && mergeUrl.trim().isEmpty(); }
-      public boolean surveysAbsPathnameIsSet()
-       { return (surveysAbsPathname != null) && surveysAbsPathname.trim().isEmpty(); }
-      public boolean responseFormatIsSet() { return (respFormat != null) && respFormat.trim().isEmpty(); }
 
       public String cutoutUrl() {return cutoutUrl;}
       public String mergeUrl()  {return mergeUrl;}
-      public String surveysAbsPathname()  {return surveysAbsPathname;}
-      public String responseFormat()  {return respFormat;}
 
       public String toString()
       {
-         return cutoutUrl + "   "  + mergeUrl + "   " + surveysAbsPathname + "    " + respFormat;
+         return cutoutUrl + "   "  + mergeUrl;
       }
    }
 
-
-   public DBConn     dbConn;
-   public ServiceUrls serviceUrls;
-   public DefaultParamValues defaults;
-
-
-   // will not start without config-file; no reasonable code-defaults can be invented
    public static FormatResponseSettings getInstance(String settingsFileName)
    {
       try
@@ -81,17 +34,14 @@ class FormatResponseSettings
             Properties properties = new Properties();
             properties.load(ins);
 
-            DBConn      dbConn      = loadDBConn(properties);
             ServiceUrls serviceUrls = loadServiceUrls(properties);
-            DefaultParamValues defaults = loadDefaults(properties);
 
-            return new FormatResponseSettings(dbConn, serviceUrls, defaults);
+            return new FormatResponseSettings(serviceUrls);
          }
          else
          {
             throw new IllegalStateException(settingsFileName + " not found in classpath");
          }
-
       }
       catch(IOException ex)
       {
@@ -99,48 +49,22 @@ class FormatResponseSettings
       }
    }
 
-
-
-
-   private FormatResponseSettings(DBConn dbConn, ServiceUrls serviceUrls, DefaultParamValues defaults)
-   {
-      this.dbConn      = dbConn;
-      this.serviceUrls = serviceUrls;
-      this.defaults    = defaults;
-   }
-
-
-   private static DBConn loadDBConn(Properties properties)
-   {
-      DBConn dbConn = new DBConn();
-      dbConn.uri       = properties.getProperty("db_uri","jdbc:postgresql://localhost:5432/vialactea").strip();
-      dbConn.schema    = properties.getProperty("db_schema","datasets").strip();
-      dbConn.user_name = properties.getProperty("db_user_name","").strip();
-      dbConn.password  = properties.getProperty("db_password","").strip();
-
-      return dbConn;
-   }
-
-
    private static ServiceUrls loadServiceUrls(Properties properties)
    {
       ServiceUrls serviceUrls = new ServiceUrls();
       serviceUrls.cutoutUrl = properties.getProperty("cutout_url","").strip();
       serviceUrls.mergeUrl  = properties.getProperty("merge_url","").strip();
-      serviceUrls.surveysAbsPathname = properties.getProperty("surveys_metadata_abs_pathname","/srv/surveys/surveys_metadata.csv").strip();
-      serviceUrls.respFormat = properties.getProperty("response_format","application/x-votable+xml").strip();
       return serviceUrls;
    }
 
-   private static DefaultParamValues loadDefaults(Properties properties)
+
+   // instance
+
+   public ServiceUrls serviceUrls;
+
+   private FormatResponseSettings(ServiceUrls serviceUrls)
    {
-      DefaultParamValues defaults = new DefaultParamValues();
-      defaults.responseFormat = properties.getProperty("default_response_format", "application/fits").strip();
-      defaults.skySystem      = properties.getProperty("default_sky_system", "ICRS").strip();
-      defaults.specSystem     = properties.getProperty("default_spec_system", "WAVE_Barycentric").strip();
-      defaults.showDuration   = "yes".equals(properties.getProperty("show_duration", "no").strip());
-      return defaults;
+      this.serviceUrls = serviceUrls;
    }
-
 }
 
diff --git a/data-discovery/src/main/java/webapi/formatfilter/FormatResponseWrapper.java b/data-discovery/src/main/java/webapi/formatfilter/FormatResponseWrapper.java
index 36e8a64a4074f3f0a77b7af96a76302bd14699b6..1104ded1e34b5965216412baa42c6d316d77f22f 100644
--- a/data-discovery/src/main/java/webapi/formatfilter/FormatResponseWrapper.java
+++ b/data-discovery/src/main/java/webapi/formatfilter/FormatResponseWrapper.java
@@ -5,23 +5,18 @@ import javax.servlet.http.HttpServletResponseWrapper;
 
 class FormatResponseWrapper extends HttpServletResponseWrapper
 {
-//   AuthPolicy auth;
-   String[] pubdidArr;
+   private String[] pubdidArr;
+   private DBConn   dbConn;
 
    public FormatResponseWrapper(HttpServletResponse response)
    {
       super(response);
-  //    auth = null;
    }
 
-   public void setPubdidArr(String[] pubdidArr) { this.pubdidArr = pubdidArr; }
-
+   public void     setPubdidArr(String[] pubdidArr) { this.pubdidArr = pubdidArr; }
    public String[] getPubdidArr() { return this.pubdidArr; }
-/*
-   public void setAuth(AuthPolicy auth)
-   {
-     // assert (this.search.inputs.auth != null);
-      this.auth = auth;
-   }*/
+
+   public void   setDBConn(DBConn dbConn) { this.dbConn = dbConn; }
+   public DBConn getDBConn() { return this.dbConn; }
 }