Create ODBC Connections
Toad Data Studio allows you to create a connection to a database that supports an ODBC 3.0 or later driver. ODBC connectivity provides basic querying capability, but may not be as full-featured as a native connection in Toad. For a list of databases tested with the ODBC provider, see the Release Notes.
This form of connectivity allows connections to databases such as Netezza, IBM iSeries, Ingres, and Vertica.
Note: Distinct values are not available in Code Completion for ODBC connections.
DSN Architecture (Bitness) Must Match Toad
To create a successful ODBC connection, the architecture (bitness) of the driver in the specified DSN must match the architecture (bitness) of Toad.
To create an ODBC connection
- Click
on the toolbar (ALT+F+N+O).
- Select ODBC Generic from the Group list box.
- Use data source name—Select to display data source names. Clear this check box if you want to display the driver names.
- To create a data source to use in this connection, click
in the Data Source Name field. Then click Add.
-
Select an ODBC driver from the list, and click Finish.
Note: If creating an Oracle ODBC connection, select the ODBC driver provided by Oracle. The Microsoft ODBC for Oracle driver has less functionality than the driver provided by Oracle.
-
Specify the configuration properties required for the database in the Windows configuration dialog.
Notes:
- If you have an Oracle database with Unicode data, make sure to select Force SQL_WCHAR Support on the Workarounds tab of the windows Oracle ODBC Configuration dialog. If you do not, you will not be able to see the data.
- If creating a MySQL ODBC connection to use in a cross-connection query, you must specify a database in the Windows MySQL ODBC Configuration dialog.
-
Specify the connection properties in the Create New Connection dialog. Review the following for additional information:
General Data source name
Select the driver or data source name you added in the previous steps.
User
Enter the user name to use when connecting.
Password
Enter the password to use when connecting.
Tip: After connecting, you can set a master password to further secure your connection in Tools | Options| Environment | Security.
Database
Select a database or schema. Click
to create a temporary connection and display available databases/schemas in the drop-down list.
Information
Data Source Name
Displays the selected driver or data source name.
Driver
Displays the ODBC driver associated with the data source.
Advanced Default Table Column Specify default options to use when creating a new table.
Column type—Select the default data type to use when creating a table.
Column length—For the selected column type, enter a default column length to use.
Advanced Options Block Cursor Size—Specify the number of rows to return in a single fetch of data from the result set.
Disable multi-threading—Multi-threading is disabled by default. Enable multi-threading only if supported by the driver. Multi-threading can improve performance, but can also result in unpredictable behavior if not supported by the driver.
Default: Selected
Category (Optional) Select an existing category or create a new one. -
Click Connect to connect immediately while saving the connection information. Optionally, click Save to save the connection without connecting.
Tip: Connections are stored in the connections.xml file and can be found by clicking the Application Data Directory link in Help | About.
Tips for Working with ODBC Connections
| Tip | Description |
|---|---|
| Filter DSN by bitness |
To filter Data Source Names displayed in the New Connection dialog by the bitness of Toad, go to Tools | Options | Database | ODBC. |
| Cache object metadata |
To cache object metadata for ODBC connections and retain it between sessions, go to Tools | Options | Database | ODBC and select to enable disk caching. Cached object metadata is retained until manually refreshed. |
| Refresh object metadata |
To refresh object metadata for all ODBC connections, in the Object Explorer right-click an object and select Refresh All. Right-click an object and select Refresh Schema to refresh only objects in that schema. |
ODBC Features
| Feature | Description |
|---|---|
| Bypass schema/instance selection in SQL Editor |
For ODBC connections, in the SQL Editor you can bypass selecting a schema/instance and specify this information through the script instead. This is useful if your script executes SQL against multiple schemas. To use this method, select I will set schema/instance in the script from the schema/instance drop-down list in the SQL Editor window. Then specify the schema/instance through your script. Note: When this option is selected, some code completion features, object actions, and object information tool tips are unavailable for this SQL Editor window. |
