As I understand it, M$ Access is just a graphical frontend for the M$ 
Jet engine, which actually comes with Windows itself. Does that mean I 
can configure an ODBC connection to an Access database, even though I 
don't have access?

More generally, does anybody here know how to work ODBC?

-- 
http://blog.orphi.me.uk/
http://www.zazzle.com/MathematicalOrchid*

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That is correct.

-- 

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Orchid XP v8 wrote:
> As I understand it, M$ Access is just a graphical frontend for the M$ 
> Jet engine, which actually comes with Windows itself. Does that mean I 
> can configure an ODBC connection to an Access database, even though I 
> don't have access?

You might need this:

http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyID=2deddec4-350e-4cd0-a12a-d7f70a153156&DisplayLang=en


> 
> More generally, does anybody here know how to work ODBC?
> 

ODBC is relatively simple, but, Gail could probably help... maybe..

-- 
~Mike

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>> Does that mean I 
>> can configure an ODBC connection to an Access database, even though I 
>> don't have access?
> 
> You might need this:
> 
>
http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyID=2deddec4-350e-4cd0-a12a-d7f70a153156&DisplayLang=en


Mmm, OK.

(Failing that, I just use one of the machines at work... muhuhuhu!)

>> More generally, does anybody here know how to work ODBC?
>>
> 
> ODBC is relatively simple, but, Gail could probably help... maybe..

This is my feeling also. ;-)

I have actually had cause to meddle with ODBC a very little in the past. 
But considering I want to attempt to develop a program that talks to a 
database, if it doesn't work I won't know if my program is wrong, the 
ODBC library is broken, or I just haven't configured ODBC correctly! :-S

-- 
http://blog.orphi.me.uk/
http://www.zazzle.com/MathematicalOrchid*

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You can actually manipulate the database programatically.  I haven't used 
Access in years so I don't remember the specifics of creating a connection, 
using the cursors, etc. If you don't actually have Access, I can't really 
see why you might want to do that though.

-- 

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Halbert wrote:
> You can actually manipulate the database programatically.  I haven't used 
> Access in years so I don't remember the specifics of creating a connection, 
> using the cursors, etc. If you don't actually have Access, I can't really 
> see why you might want to do that though.

Purely for test purposes. I want to write a trivial DB application to 
check that the library for writin DB applications works correctly.

-- 
http://blog.orphi.me.uk/
http://www.zazzle.com/MathematicalOrchid*

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I can tell you that to access Access, the usual API is DAO 
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Data_Access_Objects). Using ODBC and Access I 
think you would need to have the database already created to create a DSN; 
you need a file to which it will point. If you don't have Access you might 
be able to start with a populated mdb then drop the tables you don't need 
then create the ones you do though.

-- 

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Orchid XP v8 wrote:
> As I understand it, M$ Access is just a graphical frontend for the M$ 
> Jet engine, which actually comes with Windows itself. Does that mean I 
> can configure an ODBC connection to an Access database, even though I 
> don't have access?
> 
> More generally, does anybody here know how to work ODBC?
> 

There are a bunch of options to open a .mdb without MS Access.

MS Access just gives you a pretty front end - it can be useful in 
creating a new database and tables, but isn't required.  In fact, I have 
not used MS Access in several years, tho just about all of our data is 
in .mdb files.


I personally stay from ODBC because it requires a setup on each computer.

I usually access the file directly through code.


small example in .NET - forgive the line wraps
******************************
Private Function GetSCIDandUTMTable(ByVal databasePath As String) As 
System.Data.DataTable

	Dim myDatabaseConnection As System.Data.OleDb.OleDbConnection

	myDatabaseConnection = New 
System.Data.OleDb.OleDbConnection("provider=Microsoft.Jet.OLEDB.4.0;Data 
Source= " & databasePath)

	myDatabaseConnection.Open()

	Dim queryString As String

	queryString = "select"
	queryString &= " SCID"
	queryString &= ",WorldX"
	queryString &= ",WorldY"
	queryString &= " from"
	queryString &= " myInfoStore"

	Dim myDataAdapter As System.Data.OleDb.OleDbDataAdapter = Nothing
	Dim myDataSet As New System.Data.DataSet
	Dim myDataView As System.Data.DataView
	Dim myDataTable As System.Data.DataTable


	myDataAdapter = New System.Data.OleDb.OleDbDataAdapter(queryString, 
myDatabaseConnection)
	myDataAdapter.Fill(myDataSet, "MyData")

	myDatabaseConnection.Close()

	myDataView = New System.Data.DataView(myDataSet.Tables("MyData"))
	myDataTable = myDataView.Table

	Return myDataTable

End Function
************************************************



In my case we don't keep one large dataset, we have a separate .mdb for 
each job that we work on - so literally hundreds of .mdb files.

Our tools are designed to allow the sure to easily select the .mdb file 
they are working with.





Tom

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Tom Austin wrote:

> There are a bunch of options to open a .mdb without MS Access.
> 
> MS Access just gives you a pretty front end - it can be useful in 
> creating a new database and tables, but isn't required.  In fact, I have 
> not used MS Access in several years, tho just about all of our data is 
> in .mdb files.
> 
> 
> I personally stay from ODBC because it requires a setup on each computer.

My goal isn't to access an MDB file; my goal is to use an MDB file to 
test whether my ODBC program works correctly. ;-)

 From the other responses, it looks like it should be feasible to do 
this. Time to start playing, I think...

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Invisible wrote:
> Tom Austin wrote:
> 
>> There are a bunch of options to open a .mdb without MS Access.
>>
>> MS Access just gives you a pretty front end - it can be useful in 
>> creating a new database and tables, but isn't required.  In fact, I 
>> have not used MS Access in several years, tho just about all of our 
>> data is in .mdb files.
>>
>>
>> I personally stay from ODBC because it requires a setup on each computer.
> 
> My goal isn't to access an MDB file; my goal is to use an MDB file to 
> test whether my ODBC program works correctly. ;-)
> 
>  From the other responses, it looks like it should be feasible to do 
> this. Time to start playing, I think...

That's one of the nice things about ODBC - you can repoint it without 
having to modify code that uses it.

It's been almost 10 years since I last used ODBC - sorry, not  much help 
there.


Tom

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