If your Stonefield Query project uses ODBC to connect to the data source, and the data sources have data source names (DSNs) defined in the ODBC Administrator, you may wish to allow the user to select which DSNs they want to query on. This is most often used when creating a version of Stonefield Query for a commercial application that uses DSNs. Another reason to use this is when Stonefield Query reports on Btrieve, Pervasive (the new name for Btrieve), Adaptive Server Anywhere, or any other database engine that does not support connections made with a connection string ("DSN-less connections"); instead, a DSN must be specified. Stonefield Query uses DSN-less connections unless you set this configuration property to True or the Use DSNless Connection setting is False. Setting User Can Manage Data Sources to True automatically changes Use DSNless Connection to False.

Set the User Can Manage Data Sources property to True if you want this feature. This has two effects on Stonefield Query. First, the Setup dialog that appears the first time the user runs Stonefield Query has two pages of information, the second page of which is a list of DSNs on the user's system. The user can select which DSNs are used with Stonefield Query and enter the data source user name and password. The second effect is that a Manage Databases function appears in the Tools menu. Choosing this item displays a dialog similar to the second page of the Setup dialog, allowing the user to choose which DSNs Stonefield Query can work with. In both cases, a Test button allows the user to test the connection to the specified database. It does this by trying to connect to the database and then perform a small query against the table specified in the Table to Test setting.

This is automatically set to False and disabled if the main database has a GetDataSources script, since that takes precedence over this setting.

See also

Allow Multiple Data Sources | Configuration Settings | GetDataSources | Table to Test | Use DSNless Connection

© Stonefield Software Inc., 2023 • Updated: 06/07/16
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