ADO.NET Cookbook

10.16. Listing Installed ODBC Drivers

Problem

You need a list of the ODBC drivers installed on the computer running your code.

Solution

Consult the registry.

The sample code uses the Microsoft.Win32.Registry class to display a list of all installed ODBC drivers.

The C# code is shown in Example 10-17.

Example 10-17. File: OdbcDriversForm.cs

// Namespaces, variables, and constants
using System;
using System.Text;
using Microsoft.Win32;

//  . . . 

StringBuilder result = new StringBuilder( );

// Get the HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\ODBC\ODBCINST.INI\ODBC Drivers key.
RegistryKey keyLocalMachine =
    Registry.LocalMachine.OpenSubKey(@"SOFTWARE\ODBC\ODBCINST.INI\ODBC Drivers", false);
string[] valueNames = keyLocalMachine.GetValueNames( );
for(int i = 0; i < valueNames.Length; i++)
    result.Append(valueNames[i] + Environment.NewLine);

resultTextBox.Text = result.ToString( );

Discussion

The .NET Framework classes that manipulate the registry are found in the Microsoft.Win32 namespace. The registry key HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\ODBC\ODBCINST.INI\ODBC Drivers contains a value name for each installed ODBC driver.