



ODBC data sources

Microsoft Open Database Connectivity (ODBC) is a standard application programming interface for connecting client applications to Windows-based database management systems.

Many client applications, including application development systems, use the ODBC interface to access SQL Anywhere. When connecting to the database, ODBC applications typically use ODBC data sources. An ODBC data source is a set of connection parameters, stored in the registry or in a file.


Storing user IDs, encrypted or unencrypted passwords, and database keys in a data source is not recommended. See Do not include passwords in ODBC data sources.

The SQL Anywhere ODBC driver is named dbodbc12.dll, and it is located in %SQLANY12%\bin32.

You can use ODBC data sources to connect to SQL Anywhere databases from the following applications:

  • Sybase Central, Interactive SQL, and the SQL Anywhere Console utility.

  • All SQL Anywhere utilities.

  • Sybase PowerDesigner Physical Data Model and InfoMaker.

  • Any application development environment that supports ODBC, such as Microsoft Visual Basic, Sybase PowerBuilder, and Borland Delphi.

  • SQL Anywhere client applications on Unix. On Unix, the data source is stored as a file.

You cannot use ODBC data sources with Sybase Open Client or jConnect.

 See also

SQL Anywhere connection parameters in an ODBC data source
Creating an ODBC data source (Sybase Central and Interactive SQL)
Creating an ODBC data source (ODBC Data Source Administrator)
Editing ODBC data sources (ODBC Data Source Administrator)
Creating an ODBC data source (dbdsn utility)
Creating an ODBC data source (Mac OS X)
File data sources on Windows
Creating an ODBC file data source (ODBC Data Source Administrator)
ODBC data sources on Windows Mobile
ODBC data sources on Unix