Other External Data options

Choosing your Provider

A new connection will show an empty Connection String. Click on the button to show the list of available providers. This form gives you many ways to connect to a data source.

First, select the Data Provider.

DAS supports ADO.NET, ODBC and OLE DB providers that have good SQL-like query support. DAS provides good support for Oracle, MS SQL Server, DB2, Microsoft-specific drivers (e.g. Excel), and several CData drivers. The list you see here will depend on which database drivers you have installed. The data provider you pick can also have performance advantages. In general, the native drivers will outperform the generic ODBC or OLE DB drivers.

Once you have selected the appropriate driver, you can select your data source.

32-bit and 64-bit connections

Any data source that you connect to (client-side or server-side) will be either 32-bit or 64-bit. This bit-ness of the connection must match the bit-ness of your data source driver.

Important

If the property form does not show when clicking the button, try changing to a different bit-ness.

Note

Microsoft Excel and Access connections support both 32-bit and 64-bit regardless of the bit-ness used when creating the connection. These connections will work on any Office install (32-bit or 64-bit).

Searchable connections

DAS users can search for table names of External Connections on the home page of DAS. For a connection to be searched, the Searchable feature must be enabled.

To enable this feature, check the Searchable checkbox. Once enabled, the search cache will be automatically generated when the connection is saved.