Setting up ODBC to Paradox in Win NT

[spabin]

Great web site!

Can you help me with a problem. I am running Win NT 4.0 and trying to set up ODBC through the Control Panel. I have a Paradox 8.0 database that I want to access using Oracle tools, in particular Oracle Discoverer 3.1. My Oracle database is 8i, specifically 8.1.6.1 also known as Release 2.

The on-line help for Win NT is very limited regarding the ODBC features. I have consulted other books and web sites and I am more confused then before I started.

Here is where I get stuck:

I enter the Control Panel in Win NT and select the ODBC Data Sources icon. The multi-tabbed pop up appears. I select the User DSN tab and add a new data source with the driver being Microsoft Paradox Driver. I then hit the Configure button and notice that the drop box for database version says Paradox 5.X and I need version 8 of Paradox so I deselect the checkbox labeled 'Use Current Directory' and press the Select Directory button. Now I am lost. What do I want to point to, the executable database, the particular .dbf file I want or what?

Please point me to a web site that explains this step. I have spent many hours searching the web with no real success.

Thank you.

Steve Pabin
Programmer 3
Arizona Dept of Environmental Quality
Phoenix, Arizon

 

[ETID]

I'm using an old version of paradox, 4.0 for dos :-( with Access 2000 under Win 2k and the DSN,s do not work, but, in Access if I right click on the tables object, ...then link tables,...then select "paradox" from the files of type drop down, I can get a successful link to the paradox tables,.....But, when Access is using any of the files in the live DB structure,
all other users are locked out. So my stop gap solution was to copy the entire DB to my hard drive. and all be it dirty, it works.


Another thought on the DSN though,...maybe you need to install a paradox 8.0 ODBC (or MDAC) driver, either from the web or the installation CD.

 

[spabin]

Thanks for the quick reply. I will look at the options you mentioned. I am new to to this ODBC business and its confusing. No wonder my DBA here refuses to get involved with ODBC.

 

[ETID]

ODBC is a wonderful thing,...all beit criptic to setup, once you succeed it's easy and painless (for the most part) from there. I too am a newbie,...working with AS/400 and Paradox. db tables and returning the data to Access and Excel, but it does make my life less painfull.

 

[ETID]

still there?

 

[michaelkrauklis]

I too have problems with ODBC to paradox. The main problem being that the only drivers for ODBC that I can find are 3.x, 4.x, and 5.x. I'm running Paradox 8 but I'm not sure what version the files are in. 4.x I believe. But in any respect the drivers fail no matter which of the three versions I try. Subsequently I had to create a process in ObjectPAL to export the .db files to text(Importing them to access took 72 hours, exporting to text takes 10 minutes). Now I'm working on a process to port them from the text to a MsSQL2K Server. My boss wants this to be a simple process, meaning all he wants to have to have to do is click a button and it does everything for him. I'm developing in VC++ but I'm having some trouble deciding on ODBC or OLE DB. My boss wants OLE DB because it is faster and mroe robust. Also because it is newer and less antiquated. But... and there is a but. But I'm not sure I can do what I want with OLE DB. I need to be able to create tables and drop tables, and as far as I can tell so far to use OLE DB you have to have a table(data source) to connect to. Am I wrong in this respect? But in any respect, this is all caused by the fact that the Microsoft and Intersolv Paradox ODBC drivers are crap. So you're not alone in this one. MYenigmaSELF
myenigmaself@yahoo.com

http://myenigmaself.gaiden.com

 

[spabin]

Thanks for the response. I don't have any experience with C++ or OLE DB so I can't help you on that. I am amazed at the total lack of documentation or tutorials on ODBC. It's like ODBC is that weird 'Uncle Fred' that no one wants to talk about. (Hope your name is not Fred!) Anyway I'm just about ready to give up this plan to use ODBC and move on to the next crisis.. I mean 'project'. Thanks for the help.

 

[michaelkrauklis]

Yep, it's hard to believe. Even microsoft's documentation is weak at best. Good luck. MYenigmaSELF
myenigmaself@yahoo.com

http://myenigmaself.gaiden.com

 

[ETID]

Maybe these sites can help?

http://www.able-consulting.com/ADO_Conn.htm#ODBCDriverForParadox

http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;EN-US;q230126

 

[ETID]

If you copy the 2nd link and paste to your browser, it works just fine

 

[ibearian]

did you get a resolution to this ?

 

[Shores]

I've heard that the best way to access paradox tables via ODBC is by using InterSolv's ODBC Paradox Drivers, which you can get installed if you install the BDE Borland database engine which you can download for free at the borland web site.

 

[Suprdave]

It wants you to point to the directory where the .db files are.

 

[ibearian]

SUPRDAVE, SHORES. Odbc is not quite as easy as you think. The intersolv driver has a number of quirks which other odbc drivers don't. if you want i can write a detailed answer. But it may be a page or so......

 

[winx]

Hi guys.

To be honest if u gonna use ADO then avoid the dsn files. You can do the same by ado.connectionstring. And <ETID>'s link to able-consulting is a good one (I am using them succesfully since quite a while). But there are some issues to Paradox. One of them that if dont want to go through the BDE than ODBC will not support Paradox 7 and above. I worked will all sorts of database ends. Now I had the need to use Paradox 4.0 ( I wrote proj. that I centered it arround the &quot;class pattern&quot; design pattern, and has classes for diffrent database-ends, and one of them is Paradox). Now, one issue I discovered (and ne nice thing is no documentation tells u this - at least none I read : OLE DB provider used as db provider in the ado connection (I use ADO in all these DB Connector classes for this particular project for unity and flexibility) will not allow you to alter the recordset ( ado recordset interface) with effect on the database. I had to change the ado connection to go via ODBC (DSN - Less ado connection). This way I can modify/delete individual records from the recordset, with effect on the database. This will hopefully save some precious time of yours... so u dont go through what I've been. Good luck guys ... hopefully one day Paradox will no longer exist.

 

[Guest_imported]

Using ADO without DSN has twice the performance when you use ADO with DSN...
But is there any codes or code sample to connect to a DB using ODBC without using DSN...
I think this will be the fastest of all...