Use the ODBC .NET data provider to access data exposed through an ODBC driver.
The sample code contains a single event handler:
- Connect
Button.Click
Creates an
OdbcDataAdapter
and uses it to fill aDataTable
with the Category table from the Northwind sample database. The default view of the table is bound to a data grid on the form.
The C# code is shown in Example 1-1.
Example 1-1. File: OdbcConnectForm.cs
// Namespaces, variables, and constants using System; using System.Configuration; using System.Data; using System.Data.Odbc; // . . . private void connectButton_Click(object sender, System.EventArgs e) { // Create the DataAdapter. String sqlSelect = "SELECT CategoryID, CategoryName, Description " + "FROM Categories"; OdbcDataAdapter da = new OdbcDataAdapter(sqlSelect, ConfigurationSettings.AppSettings["Odbc_ConnectString"]); // Create the table, fill it, and bind the default view to the grid. DataTable dt = new DataTable( ); da.Fill(dt); dataGrid.DataSource = dt.DefaultView; }
The ODBC .NET data provider communicates with native ODBC drivers through COM interop (.NET’s interoperability layer for COM). The following ODBC providers are guaranteed to be compatible with the ODBC.NET data provider:
Microsoft SQL Server ODBC Driver
Microsoft ODBC Driver for Oracle
Microsoft Access (Jet) ODBC Driver
The .NET data provider for ODBC connects to ODBC data sources through
the OdbcConnection
object. The ODBC driver
connection string is specified using the
ConnectionString
property. It includes settings
needed to establish the connection to the data source. The connection
string format closely matches the ODBC connection string format.
Additionally, you can specify an ODBC data source name (DSN) or file
DSN by setting the ConnectionString
attribute to
"DSN=myDSN"
or
"FileDSN=myFileDSN"
. For more information
about specifying ODBC connection strings, see the topic
“SQLDriverConnect” in the
ODBC Programmer’s Reference
within MSDN Library.
Visual Studio also supports creating ODBC data source connections visually:
Create a data connection in Server Explorer and drag it onto a form or design surface. Configure the
OdbcConnection
object that appears in the component tray.Drag an
OdbcConnection
from the Data tab of the Toolbox onto a form or design surface. Configure theConnectionString
property in the Properties window of theOdbcConnection
object that appears.
The .NET ODBC data provider requires a reference to the
System.Data.Odbc
namespace in .NET Framework
Version 1.1. In Version 1.0, the namespace is
Microsoft.Data.Odbc
. Add a .NET Reference to
Microsoft.Data.Odbc.dll
for a .NET
Framework Version 1.0 project.
The .NET ODBC .NET data provider ships with .NET Framework Version 1.1. The data provider can be downloaded from http://msdn.microsoft.com/downloads for .NET Framework Version 1.0.
Get ADO.NET Cookbook now with the O’Reilly learning platform.
O’Reilly members experience books, live events, courses curated by job role, and more from O’Reilly and nearly 200 top publishers.