create odbc connection on the fly

[Marco Martin]

Hi,

I posted earlier about beeing able to find an SQL server database through
code and someone was kind enough to help me out(thank you Scott). I now
have another question;

My app was written using odbc because of the need to install the program and
use different databases depending on what the client has/owns. I now need
to create an ODBC connection string during installation.

This is the connection string generated by VS.NET 2003;

"Trusted_Connec tion=Yes;DSN=Tr ansactionSQL;UI D=Administrator ;DATABASE=Trans a
ctions;APP=Micr osoft® Visual Studio .NET;WSID=FLOAT ER99;Descriptio n=SQL
Server Transaction DataBase"

I'm trying to make sense of this string.
Trusted connection = no password needed for this connection
DSN = Needed because this is an ODBC connection
UID = User ID
Database = the actual name of the Database
APP= the app using this connection
WSID = Work station ID
Description = The description I wrote when creationg the DSN

My Question is about the DSN. Do I NEED it? What does this actualy contain?
is it text? Can I create it during install(setup program)Where is it normaly
located when created by VS.NET? Does MS have some kind of utility that can
help me setup this connection?

I thank you in advance for *any* input.

Regards,

Marco

[hp]

RE: create odbc connection on the fly

You can create dsn from ODBC manager - manually. In setup program you can create dsn using modifying registry or thru odbc apis. However, easiest way is to create dsnless connection.

[Marco Martin]

Re: create odbc connection on the fly

Thanks HP,

You were right, dsnless was the way to go. I found an example of it and it
works beautifully.

regards,

Marco
"hp" <anonymous@disc ussions.microso ft.com> wrote in message
news:1013E7EE-5667-4CEB-BBCF-C4EAC406C3CA@mi crosoft.com...[color=blue]
> You can create dsn from ODBC manager - manually. In setup program you can[/color]
create dsn using modifying registry or thru odbc apis. However, easiest way
is to create dsnless connection.