Using an OLE DB Connect String with the Single-Tier "Lite" Edition OLE DB Provider for ODBC Data Sources

The connect string specifies connection attributes as a list of semi-colon (";") delimited key=value pairs. Application-specific setup panels collect details which are then used to automatically construct the connect string. Applications may allow users to specify hand-made connection strings to avoid ODBC DSN configuration and/or connection prompts during execution. The parameters that can be used include --

• PROVIDER=OpenLinkODBC
  
• DSN=<myDSNname>
  
• DRIVER={<ODBC Driver Name>} or DRIVER=C:\path\to\driver\library.dll

The simplest connect string will specify only the PROVIDER and DSN. If you leave out the DSN, you can specify the DRIVER and provide a full ODBC connect string. Other connection attributes will depend on the ODBC Driver.

The connection string should also contain a key-value pair for the Extended Properties keyword, which is used to control the cursor library selection and rowset bookmarking --

…;Extended Properties="Cursors={Driver|ODBC|IfNeeded};BookmarkDefault={On|Off}";…

Example connection strings --

• PROVIDER=OpenLinkODBC;DSN=MyProgressDSN;Extended Properties="Cursors=IfNeeded"
  
• PROVIDER=OpenLinkODBC;DRIVER={OpenLink Generic 32 Bit driver v6.0};HOST=broker-host.example.com;PORT=5000;SVT=SQLServer;DATABASE=Northwind;UID=sa;PWD=sa;PROTOCOL=TCP/IP;FBS=99;DLF=y;OPTIONS=-H mssql-host.example.com -P 1433 -V 9.0;READONLY=n…;Extended Properties="Cursors=Driver"