MACROMEDIA DREAMWEAVER MX 2004-USING DREAMWEAVER Use Manual page 470

You can use a data source name (DSN) or a connection string to connect to the database.
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. For detailed
instructions, see
A connection string is a hand-coded expression that identifies the database and lists the
information needed to connect to it. The following is an example:
Driver={SQL Server};Server=Socrates;Database=AcmeMktg;
UID=wiley;PWD=roadrunner
You must use a connection string if you're connecting through one of the following:
•
An OLE DB provider
•
An ODBC driver not installed on a Windows system
For detailed instructions, see the following sections:
•
"Creating a DSN-less connection" on page 474
•
"Connecting to a database on an ISP" on page 475
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.
OLE DB connections
You can use an OLE DB provider to communicate with your database. 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.
OLE DB is available only on Windows NT, 2000, or XP.
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 or PWS (if
applicable). You can download the MDAC packages for free from the Microsoft website at
www.microsoft.com/data/download.htm.
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
otn.oracle.com/software/tech/windows/ole_db/content.html
In Dreamweaver, you create an OLE DB connection by including a
connection string (see
parameters for common OLE DB providers for Access, SQL Server, and Oracle databases,
respectively:
Provider=Microsoft.Jet.OLEDB.4.0;...
Provider=SQLOLEDB;...
Provider=OraOLEDB;...
470 Chapter 26: Database Connections for ASP Developers
"Creating a DSN connection" on page
"Creating a DSN-less connection" on page
471.
(registration is required).
Provider
474). For example, here are
http://
parameter in a