Wednesday, 1 June 2011

What is an ODBC connection?

What is an ODBC connection?

Open Data Base Connectivity (ODBC). A connection that is defined and created to link between a computer and a database stored on another system. The ODBC connection contains information needed to allow a computer user to access the information stored in a database that is not local to that computer. e.g. If you are using a 3rd party reporting application (e.g. Crystal Reports/Business Objects), you can use this solution to interrogate a database by creating an ODBC connection between the two.

When you use an ODBC connection you need to:
  • Define the type of database that you want to connect to - e.g. Microsoft SQL Server, Oracle, FoxPro, MYSQL etc.
  • Select the appropriate driver for a connection (Windows contains many of these) and then supply the name of the database file and the credentials needed to access the database.
  • Once the ODBC connection is created, you then tell system applications etc to use that ODBC connection to access information in the database.
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