ODBC Data Sources

One of the most powerful features of the Visual Integrator module is its ability to directly import data from and export data to an ODBC data source. ODBC is an open database access method that provides a common interface to a large number of database systems. The Visual Integrator module is specifically designed to take advantage of this technology. Because ODBC is an open technology, the Visual Integrator module continues to be compatible with any new database products that adhere to the ODBC 2.0x or higher standard.

There are several advantages to using an ODBC data source.

You do not need to know the internal data structure of the import file. The ODBC dictionary automatically provides the necessary information to the Visual Integrator module.

You can select from a list of descriptive field names when mapping data fields to the ODBC data fields.

You can join multiple tables from an ODBC data source to combine information stored in different tables.

You can customize the SQL statement used by the Visual Integrator module to select data from the ODBC data source. This feature can be used to perform complex selections and table joins that may otherwise require custom programming.

Because of these advantages, you may want to use the ODBC access for file types (Excel, dBASE, ProvideX files, etc.) that are otherwise supported directly by the Visual Integrator module.

Importing from an ODBC data source is the easiest way to use Visual Integrator because all references to the data fields from the import file are by field name. You do not need to specify the column positions or length for ODBC fields because this information is already defined in the ODBC dictionary. You can, however, specify a substring of the data field to import only a portion of the data.

For more information, see:

Import Microsoft Access and Excel Data

Import File Types