Developers community number 1 connection string reference

.NET Framework Data Provider for ODBC

This is a .NET Framework Wrapper Class Library provided by Microsoft.
The wrapper class library is contained in the file System.Data.dll.

Coding

Add a reference to the assembly System.Data and include the System.Data.Odbc namespace. Instantiate a new OdbcConnection connection object. Set the connection string and open the connection.

VB.NET code sample

Imports System.Data.Odbc

Dim myConnection As OdbcConnection = New OdbcConnection()

myConnection.ConnectionString = myConnectionString

myConnection.Open()

//execute queries, etc

myConnection.Close()

C# code sample

using System.Data.Odbc;

OdbcConnection myConnection = new OdbcConnection();

myConnection.ConnectionString = myConnectionString;

myConnection.Open();

//execute queries, etc

myConnection.Close();

Description

The .NET Framework Data Provider for ODBC uses native ODBC Driver Manager through COM interop to enable data access. The OdbcConnection wraps/bridges to the underlying driver sprecified in the connection string using the keyword "Driver" or "DSN" (if the connection should obtain its settings from an ODBC DSN). This means that virtually every ODBC driver can be used through this class library. The .NET Framework Data Provider for ODBC supports both local and distributed transactions. For distributed transactions, the .NET Framework Data Provider for ODBC, by default, automatically enlists in a transaction. Depending on the functionality supported by the native ODBC driver, some methods or properties of an OdbcConnection object may not be available.

More info about this wrapper class library can be found at the Microsoft product page.

Connection Strings

The .NET Framework Data Provider for ODBC wrapper class library can be used to connect to the following data sources.

To see the available connection options, navigate to the connection strings reference by clicking the data source link.