• Microsoft SQL ODBC Driver
• Microsoft ODBC Driver for Oracle
• Microsoft Jet ODBC Driver

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Download the ODBC .NET Provider

1. Download the ODBC .NET Managed Provider from the following Microsoft Web site:
   http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?familyid=6ccd8427-1017-4f33-a062-d165078e32b1 (http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?familyid=6ccd8427-1017-4f33-a062-d165078e32b1)
2. The ODBC .NET Data Provider also requires that you install Microsoft Data Access Components (MDAC) version 2.7 or later. You can download the latest version of MDAC from the following Microsoft Web site:
   http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/data/aa937729.aspx (http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/data/aa937729.aspx)
3. After you install the ODBC .NET Data Provider, proceed to the next section to create the project.

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Create the project

1. Start Microsoft Visual Studio NET.
2. Create a new Visual Basic Windows Application project. Form1 is added to the project by default.
3. On the Project menu, click Add Reference.
4. On the .NET tab, click Microsoft.Data.ODBC.dll. After the Microsoft.Data.ODBC.dll assembly appears in the list of selected components, click OK.
5. Switch to Code view, and add the following code immediately before the Public Class Form1 code:

       Imports System.Data
       Imports Microsoft.Data.ODBC
   					

6. Add four Button controls to Form1, and label these controls SQL Server, Jet, Oracle and DSN respectively.

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Connection string samples

1. Add the following code to the SQL Server button:

        Dim cn As OdbcConnection
        cn = New OdbcConnection("DRIVER={SQL Server};SERVER=MySQLServer;UID=sa;" & _
                                "PWD=mypassword;DATABASE=northwind;")
   
        Dim mystring As String = "select * from Customers"
        Dim cmd As OdbcCommand = New OdbcCommand(mystring)
        cn.Open()
        MsgBox("Connected")
        cn.Close()
   					

2. Add the following code to the Jet button:

        Dim cn as OdbcConnection
        cn = New OdbcConnection ("Driver={Microsoft Access Driver (*.mdb)};" & _
             "DBQ=D:\Program Files\Microsoft Office\Office10\Samples\Northwind.mdb;UID=;PWD=")
        Dim mystring As String = "Select * from Titles"
        Dim cmd as OdbcCommand = New OdbcCommand(mystring)
        cn.Open()
        MsgBox("Connected")
        cn.Close()
   					

3. Add the following code to the Oracle button:

        Dim cn as OdbcConnection
        cn= New OdbcConnection ("Driver = {Microsoft ODBC for Oracle};" & _
                                "Server=myOracleserver;uid=myuid;pwd=mypwd")
        Dim myString as String = "Select * from Customers"
        dim cmd as OdbcCommand = New OdbcCommand(myString)
        cn.open()
        MsgBox "Connected"
        cn.Close
   					

4. Add the following code to the DSN button:

        Dim cn as OdbcConnection
        cn = New OdbcConnection ("dsn=MyDSN;uid=sa;pwd=myPassword;")
        Dim mystring As String = "Select * from customers"
        Dim cmd As OdbcCommand = New OdbcCommand(mystring)
        cn.Open()
        MsgBox("Connected")
        cn.Close()
   					

5. Modify the OdbcConnection strings as appropriate for your environment.

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Test the client application

1. Press the F5 key to compile and to run the application.
2. Click each button. A message box appears, which states that you have successfully connected to your data.

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Troubleshooting

    Try
    cn.Open()
    Catch ex as OdbcException
    MsgBox(ex.Message)
    Finally
    cn.Close()
    End Try
				

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