About connection strings, Create a connection using a local dsn – Adobe Dreamweaver CC 2014 v.13 User Manual
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In Dreamweaver, you create an OLE DB connection by including a Provider parameter in a connection string. For example, here are parameters
for common OLE DB providers for Access, SQL Server, and Oracle databases, respectively:
Provider=Microsoft.Jet.OLEDB.4.0;...
Provider=SQLOLEDB;...
Provider=OraOLEDB;...
For the parameter value of your OLE DB provider, see your provider vendor’s documentation, or consult your system administrator.
About connection strings
A connection string combines all the information your web application needs to connect to a database. Dreamweaver inserts this string in your
page’s server-side scripts for later processing by your application server.
A connection string for Microsoft Access and SQL Server databases consists of a combination of the following parameters separated by
semicolons:
Provider Specifies the OLE DB provider for your database. For example, here are parameters for common OLE DB providers for Access, SQL
Server, and Oracle databases, respectively:
Provider=Microsoft.Jet.OLEDB.4.0;...
Provider=SQLOLEDB;...
Provider=OraOLEDB;...
For the parameter value of your OLE DB provider, see your provider vendor’s documentation, or consult your system administrator.
If you don’t include a Provider parameter, then the default OLE DB provider for ODBC is used and you must specify an appropriate ODBC driver
for your database.
Driver Specifies the ODBC driver to use if you don’t specify an OLE DB provider for your database.
Server Specifies the server hosting the SQL Server database if your web application runs on a different server.
Database The name of a SQL Server database.
DBQ The path to a file-based database such as one created in Microsoft Access. The path is the one on the server hosting the database file.
UID Specifies the user name.
PWD Specifies the user password.
DSN The data source name, if you use one. Depending on how you define the DSN on your server, you can omit the connection string’s other
parameters. For example, DSN=Results can be a valid connection string if you define the other parameters when you create the DSN.
Connection strings for other kinds of databases may not use the parameters listed above, or will have different names or uses for the parameters.
For more information, see your database vendor’s documentation, or consult your system administrator.
Here’s an example of a connection string that will create an ODBC connection to an Access database called trees.mdb:
Driver={Microsoft Access Driver (*.mdb)};
DBQ=C:\Inetpub\wwwroot\Research\trees.mdb
Here’s an example of a connection string that will create an OLE DB connection to a SQL Server database called Mothra located on a server
called Gojira:
Provider=SQLOLEDB;Server=Gojira;Database=Mothra;UID=jsmith;
PWD=orlando8
Create a connection using a local DSN
Note: This section assumes you have set up an ASP application. It also assumes a database is set up on your local computer or on a system to
which you have network or FTP access.
You can use a data source name (DSN) to create an ODBC connection between your web application and your database. A DSN is a name
containing all the parameters needed to connect to a specific database using an ODBC driver.
Because you can only specify an ODBC driver in a DSN, you must use a connection string if you want to use an OLE DB provider.
You can use a locally defined DSN to create a database connection in Dreamweaver.
1. Define a DSN on the Windows computer running Dreamweaver.
For instructions, see the following articles on the Microsoft website:
If the computer runs Windows 2000, see Microsoft Knowledge Base Article 300596 at
If the computer runs Windows XP, see Microsoft Knowledge Base Article 305599 at
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