The basic steps

To access Synergy data in a traditional environment from an ODBC-enabled application, do the following.

Note

To access Synergy data from non-Synergy programs in a .NET environment, see Accessing Synergy data in a .NET environment.
1. Open the ODBC-enabled application.
2. In the ODBC-enabled application, choose the DSN for the Synergy database.

The ODBC-enabled application calls the ODBC Driver Manager, which in turn uses DSN information to call the xfODBC driver. The xfODBC driver uses DSN information to locate the connect file. (See How third-party applications use xfODBC.)

3. If the xfODBC Info window opens, enter log-in information. You can use the following syntax to enter an entire connect string in the User ID field of this window. 
user_name/password/connect_file

These are the basic steps, but note that every ODBC-enabled application has its own procedure. See your application’s documentation for details and ODBC access examples for step-by-step examples that use third-party applications to access Synergy data.

See Appendix B: SQL Support for information on SQL commands that xfODBC supports and xfODBC limitations when updating a database.

Important

To update data in a Synergy database, we strongly recommend using a Synergy application that is designed to efficiently maintain database integrity. If you use an ODBC-enabled application to write to a Synergy database, you may run into record-locking issues. See the Statements that modify data for more information.