FaxPress Premier WebHelp: Admin Guide > Appendix > ODBC Connectivity

Appendix: 32-Bit ODBC Data Sources

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Open Database Connectivity (ODBC) is an open standard application programming interface (API) for accessing a database. By using ODBC statements in a program, you can access files in a number of different databases, including Access, dBase, DB2, Excel, and Text. In addition to the ODBC software, a separate module or driver is needed for each database to be accessed. The main proponent and supplier of ODBC programming support is Microsoft.

If you do not have a 32 Bit ODBC installed on your machine, you can install it from your FaxPress CD.

To install a 32 Bit ODBC:

1. If you are installing the 32 Bit ODBC on a Windows 95 operating system, you must first install the distributed component object model. Go to the \MICROSOFT directory on your FaxPress installation CD and click on DCOM95.EXE. For all other Windows operating systems, proceed to step 2.
2. To install the 32 Bit ODBC, click on MDAC_TYP.EXE. The 32 Bit ODBC will be installed on your desk top.

Microsoft's Data Access Objects (DAO) 3.6

DAO (Data Access Objects) is an application program interface (API) available with Microsoft's Visual Basic that lets a programmer request access to a Microsoft Access database DAO contains the library files for Microsoft's Jet database engine, which is used to access Microsoft Access databases.

DAO is already installed on Windows ME, Windows 2000 Professional and 2000 server, and may already be installed on your workstation or server. You may need to verify if it is already installed. Do this by running a Search on the entire PC where the Fax Archive is being installed, search for "DAO*. *"

DAO 3.6 is provided on the FaxPress installation CD, in the Microsoft folder in the ODBC installation folder. You will only need to install the ODBC if it doesn't already exist.

Follow these instructions for the installation of the ODBC, DAO drivers & Jet 4.0:

Windows 95 only

DCOM should be installed on Windows 95 systems that do not have DCOM installed. DCOM is distributed in a file called Dcom95.exe. This is provided on the FaxPress installation CD in the \Microsoft\odbc installation folder.

A reboot of the system is required after installing Dcom95.exe.

DCOM is pre-installed on Windows 98 and Windows NT systems.

Windows 95, 98 and NT 4.0

Run Mdac_typ25.exe, this is provided on the FaxPress installation CD in the \Microsoft\odbc installation directory

For NT 4.0 prior to SP3 run Mdac_typ21.exe.

Registering DAO 3.6

Create a directory with the name DAO under System Drive:\Program Files\Common Files\Microsoft Shared and copy Dao360.dll to this directory. This .dll is provided on the FaxPress installation CD in the \Microsoft\odbc installation directory.

In addition, Dao360.dll must be registered as a COM DLL. This can be accomplished by using the Regsvr32.EXE utility, e.g.

RegSvr32 "C:\Program Files\Common Files\Microsoft Shared\DAO\Dao360.dll"

Installing ODBC Drivers

Check Status

To check that the required ODBC driver is installed, double-check on the ODBC icon and inspecting the ODBC Data Source Administrator screen. Select the Drivers tab and make sure that the driver corresponding to the data source you will be using is available.

Add a New Data Source Name

If your data source is a dBase file, then the Microsoft dBase driver must be available as a User DSN or a System DSN. To check if the dBase driver is available as a data source, do the following.

1. Select the User DSN or System DSN tab. Two columns, a Name column and a Driver column, are displayed.
2. Check to see if the .dbf driver is there.

Look through the list and make sure that the Driver column contains the Microsoft dBase Driver(*.dbf). The corresponding Name does not matter.

If the driver is not present, look in the other tab (in the above case, check the System DSN tab).

Where the dBase driver is located does not matter as long as it is present in one of these locations. The only difference is that the User DSN can only be seen by the current user that is logged into the workstation, while the System DSN can be seen by all users who login to the same workstation.

3. Install the dBase driver if needed.

If you need the dBase driver, you can add it by doing the following.

a. Click on Add.
b. Select either the User DSN or System DSN tab and click on the Add button. The Create New Data Source dialog will be displayed.

The list of available drivers depends on the drivers that are currently installed on the system.

c. Select the dBase driver.
d. Select the Microsoft dBase Driver (*.dbf).
4. Click on Finish.

Click on the Finish button. The ODBC dBase Setup dialog will appear.

5. Enter a Name and, optionally, a Description.

Data Source Name— Enter a name for Data Source Name field. This is required.

Description— Enter a description for the Description field. This is optional.

Version— Make sure that the Version corresponds to the version of the dBase file or higher.

6. When done, click OK.

Connecting FaxPress Archive to a DSN

When you configure FaxPress Archive with an MS-SQL database, you will be asked to provide a DSN. If you click on the Browse button, you will be walked through the following screens.

1. The Data Source Administrator screen is displayed.

Do not select a DSN that points to a file based database (e.g. Access, Dbase, Paradox, Excel, CSV, FoxPro, etc.…).

2. Select the Machine Data Source tab. This screen lists all the user and system DSNs installed on your workstation.
3. Select a data source that connects to the database server and that is defined as a System DSN type. The type of each DSN is denoted in the middle column by User or System.
A User DSN is a DSN that can only be seen by the login user that created it.
A System DSN is a DSN that is visible to all users on that workstation no matter who created it.

The login account to the database server must have permission to create tables in the database. The same DSN will be used by the archive program to connect to the database to enter data. If the appropriate DSN is not present, follow the instruction in Connecting FaxPress Archive to a DSN (SQL Databases).

To create a new DSN to a MS SQL server, perform the following steps:

1. Click on the New button in the Machine Data Source tab shown in step 2. A new wizard will be launched to walk you through the process of creating a DSN. The first page will ask what type of DSN to create.

Select System Data Source.

2. The next screen will display the list of available ODBC drivers that have been installed on your system.

Select SQL Server.

3. The next screen will display the new data source. Click Finish to complete this portion and proceed to configuring the connection.
4. The next wizard prompts you to configure the connect string.

For the new DSN, enter:

Name: The name of your new DSN.
Description: This is an optional field.
Server: The is the name of the SQL server.

Click Next>.

5. Select either Windows NT or SQL server authentication method from the next screen.

The method you select will depend on how the database is configure. Check with your Database Administrator if you are not sure.

With Windows NT authorization using the network login. If the authentication is by NT, then the current user logged into the workstation is used for authentication and the UserID and password fields near the bottom of this screen are grayed out.
With SQL Server authorization using a loginID and password entered by the user. If the authentication is by SQL server, then a user name and password are required in the text boxes near the bottom of this screen.

In either case, the user must have permission to create tables on the database.

Click the Client Configuration button and select the appropriate protocol.
6. The next screen allows you to specify the default database and when to cleanup temporary stored procedures.
a. Select Change the Default Database To and select the your database from the scroll down list.

For the rest of the setting in this dialog box, we recommend that you select the following:

b. Select Create temporary stored procedures for prepared SQL statements and drop the stored procedures.
c. Select When you disconnect and as appropriate while you are connected.
d. Select Use ANSI quoted identifiers.
e. Select Use ANSI nulls, paddings, and warnings.
7. The next screen allows you to specify options for logging in and regional settings. Specify these as appropriate for your environment. They do not affect the operations of FaxPress Archive.
8. Select Finish.
9. Select the Test Data Source button to test the connection to the data source.

We recommend that you test your new data source to ensure a successful connection.

Connect to Phone books

1. From the ODBC Select Data Source dialog box, type in the data source path and name:
2. This is a standard Microsoft ODBC dialog box that allows you to specify the data base you would like to connect to. If the data source is already defined, select it. Otherwise, click ‘New’ to create a new data source connection:
3. Select System Data Source’ because this data source must be visible to all FaxPress users. You are then prompted to select the ODBC driver
4. The ODBC connection wizard will then present a summary of what you have selected and proceed to create the connection.
5. If for example you have selected a SQL server, the following dialog would come up to allow you to specify a name and description for this data base, and the name of the SQL server to connect to.

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FaxPress Premier WebHelp
Last Updated: 11/1/2007
 

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