Understanding Data Sources; Open Database Connectivity (Odbc) - MACROMEDIA COLDFUSION 4.5-DEVELOPING WEB Develop Manual

18

Understanding Data Sources

A database is a file or server that contains a collection of data. A data source is a pointer
from ColdFusion to a specific database. You add data sources to your ColdFusion
Server so that you can point to the databases that you want to connect to from your
ColdFusion applications.

Open Database Connectivity (ODBC)

ODBC is a standard interface for connecting to a database from an application.
Applications that use ODBC must have an ODBC driver installed and configured for
each data source.
On Windows, you can check your system's installed drivers by opening the ODBC Data
Source Manager in the Windows Control Panel.
On Windows, the installed set of ColdFusion ODBC drivers includes:
Microsoft SQL Server
Microsoft Access and FoxPro databases
Borland dBase-compliant databases
Microsoft Excel worksheet data ranges
Delimited text files
On UNIX, look in the ODBC page of the ColdFusion Administrator for a list of avalable
ODBC drivers.
A good source of information on ODBC is the ODBC Programmer's Reference at
www.microsoft.com/data/odbc.
Developing Web Applications with ColdFusion
http://