Adobe Dreamweaver CC 2014 v.13 - Manual (Page 601)

Database connections for ASP developers (CS6)
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About ASP database connections
About OLE DB connections
About connection strings
Create a connection using a local DSN
Create a connection using a remote DSN
Create a connection using a connection string
Edit or delete a database connection
Note: The user interface has been simplified in Dreamweaver CC and later. As a result, you may not find some of the options described in this
article in Dreamweaver CC and later. For more information, see
this article .
About ASP database connections
An ASP application must connect to a database through an open database connectivity (ODBC) driver or an object linking and embedding
database (OLE DB) provider. The driver or provider acts as an interpreter that lets the web application communicate with the database. The
following table shows some drivers you can use with Microsoft Access, Microsoft SQL Server, and Oracle databases:
Database Database driver
Microsoft Access Microsoft Access Driver (ODBC)
Microsoft Jet Provider for Access (OLE DB)
Microsoft SQL Server Microsoft SQL Server Driver (ODBC)
Microsoft SQL Server Provider (OLE DB)
Oracle Microsoft Oracle Driver (ODBC)
Oracle Provider for OLE DB
You can use a data source name (DSN) or a connection string to connect to the database. You must use a connection string if you’re connecting
through an OLE DB provider or an ODBC driver not installed on a Windows system.
A DSN is a one-word identifier, such as myConnection, that points to the database and contains all the information needed to connect to it. You
define a DSN in Windows. You can use a DSN if you’re connecting through an ODBC driver installed on a Windows system.
A connection string is a hand-coded expression that identifies the database and lists the information needed to connect to it, as shown in the
following example:
Driver={SQL Server};Server=Socrates;Database=AcmeMktg;
UID=wiley;PWD=roadrunner
Note: You can also use a connection string if you’re connecting through an ODBC driver installed on a Windows system, but using a DSN is
easier.
About OLE DB connections
You can use an OLE DB provider to communicate with your database (OLE DB is available only on Windows NT, 2000, or XP). Creating a direct
database-specific OLE DB connection can improve the speed of your connection by eliminating the ODBC layer between your web application and
the database.
If you don’t specify an OLE DB provider for your database, ASP uses the default OLE DB provider for ODBC drivers to communicate with an
ODBC driver, which in turn communicates with the database.
Different OLE DB providers exist for different databases. You can obtain OLE DB providers for Microsoft Access and SQL Server by downloading
and installing the Microsoft Data Access Components (MDAC) 2.5 and 2.7 packages on the Windows computer running IIS. You can download the
MDAC packages for free from the Microsoft website at
http://msdn.microsoft.com/data/mdac/downloads/ .
Note: Make sure you install MDAC 2.5 before installing MDAC 2.7.
You can download OLE DB providers for Oracle databases from the Oracle website at
www.oracle.com/technology/software/tech/windows/ole_db/index.html (registration is required).
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