Configure ODBC Data Sources

VoiceGuide's DB Query module can be used to query data from any data source for which you have an ODBC driver. Before accessing data using the ODBC interface, an ODBC data source must be configured for the database.

To open the ODBC Administrator from the Control Panel:

1. Click Start, point to Settings, and then click Control Panel.
2. On computers running Microsoft Win2000/WinXP, double-click Administrative Tools, and then double-click Data Sources (ODBC). On computers running previous versions of Microsoft Windows, double-click 32-bit ODBC or ODBC.

The ODBC Data Source Administrator dialog box appears:

Select if you want to create a 'User DSN' or a 'System DSN' by clicking on the appropriate tab, then to add a new Data Source click on Add to display the list of ODBC drivers installed on the system:

Select the driver which corresponds to the database you want to add, and press Finish. Your Database's ODBC driver should now take you through the rest of the Data Source setup process - the options presented in this stage will be different for each different database source. Please consult your database user's manual for information.

If your database's driver is not listed you should install your databases ODBC drivers. Please consult your database user's manual for information.

In the example above we selected an Access database Products.mdb and have called our Data Source 'Products'. Further parameters (eg database's password) can be set using the 'Advanced' options button.

Each different database type will have a different setup screen - for example the MS SQL Server ODBC setup screen looks like this:

After setting up our ODBC Data source the new source will appear in the User's list of Data Sources.

This ODBC Data Source is now ready to be used. The "DB Query" module can be used to access ODBC Data Sources from a VoiceGuide script.

Some examples of what connection strings are required by the various ODBC drivers are here: http://www.connectionstrings.com/