iAnywhere.com - Working with ODBC data sources

Working with ODBC data sources

Microsoft Corporation defines the Open Database Connectivity (ODBC) interface, which is a standard interface for connecting client applications to database-management systems in the Windows 95/98/Me and Windows NT/2000/XP environments. Many client applications, including application development systems, use the ODBC interface to access a wide range of database systems.

Where data sources are held

You connect to an ODBC database using an ODBC data source. You need an ODBC data source on the client computer for each database you want to connect to.

The ODBC data source contains a set of connection parameters. You can store sets of Adaptive Server Anywhere connection parameters as an ODBC data source, in either the Windows registry or as files.

If you have a data source, your connection string can simply name the data source to use:

Data source Use the DataSourceName (DSN) connection parameter to reference a data source in the Windows registry:
```
DSN=my data source
```
File data source Use the FileDataSourceName (FILEDSN) connection parameter to reference a data source held in a file:
```
FileDSN=mysource.dsn
```

For Adaptive Server Anywhere, the use of ODBC data sources goes beyond Windows applications using the ODBC interface:

Adaptive Server Anywhere client applications on UNIX can use ODBC data sources, as well as those on Windows operating systems.
ODBC data sources can be used by all Adaptive Server Anywhere client interfaces except jConnect and Open Client.
Interactive SQL, Sybase Central, and the Adaptive Server Anywhere Console utility (dbconsole) can use ODBC data sources, even when using jConnect.

Creating an ODBC data source
Using file data sources on Windows
Using ODBC data sources on UNIX
Using ODBC data sources on Windows CE