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V5.50 -- October 1996

ODBC (Open DataBase Connectivity) is a database access library that provides a standard way for application software to read and write database files in many formats. A software application such as TNTmips no longer needs to support every database format individually: an ODBC driver provided by the vendor of the OS or DBMS (database management system) software automatically gives other application software direct access to its databases. Specific ODBC drivers for each type of source DBMS can be installed on your computer to give your other software, including TNTmips, access to data sources such as dBase, Excel, MS Access, and Paradox. Macintosh and UNIX drivers are also available to make cross-platform connectivity possible to DBMS's like Sybase, Informix, and Oracle.

TNT Products in Windows 95 and NT can import from and link to ODBC Data Sources

1. Install ODBC drivers for your computer
ODBC drivers are distributed with individual DBMS applications, such as Microsoft Access. Then other application software, such as the TNT products, can access the native datbase files without conversion. ODBC files are installed into the system directories on your computer and thus are available to any ODBC-aware application. Windows 95 and Windows NT give you ODBC configuration control through an ODBC Control Panel. If ODBC drivers have been installed on your computer, then your Control Panels folder will contain an ODBC entry.

2. Configure an ODBC Data Source
Open the ODBC Control Panel and configure the Data Source you want to access. A Data Source may be anything from a local subdirectory that contains a group of database files, to a remote networked device that has your organization's central DBMS.

3. Link or Import through ODBC to TNTmips
Use the regular TNT process (Prepare / Import/Export) to link or import configured ODBC Data Sources. The database import option has an ODBC "format" in the selection list. Select that option and then proceed normally with the standard File / Object Selection process to create a database object in a TNT Project File to contain a copy of or a dynamic link to the ODBC Data Source you choose.

NOTE: ODBC in TNTmips V5.5 does not yet support write operations to the Data Source. ODBC is supported only for Windows 95 and Window NT. Records in a Data Source can be linked to TNT elements only through key fields; direct record-element attachment is not supported.

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