Microsoft KB Archive/184608

= How To Programmatically Create a DSN for SQL Server with VB =

Article ID: 184608

Article Last Modified on 7/15/2004

-

APPLIES TO


 * Microsoft Visual Basic 5.0 Professional Edition
 * Microsoft Visual Basic 6.0 Professional Edition
 * Microsoft Visual Basic 5.0 Enterprise Edition
 * Microsoft Visual Basic 6.0 Enterprise Edition

-



This article was previously published under Q184608



SUMMARY
This article demonstrates how to programmatically create a Data Source Name (DSN) for SQL Server using Visual Basic. The technique discussed in this article uses Windows Application Programming Interface (API) functions to create and manipulate entries in the Windows Registry.



MORE INFORMATION
DSNs are usually created through the ODBC Data Source Administrator window, which is accessible from the Windows Control Panel (or Administrator Tools in Windows 2000). Other techniques that provide access to ODBC-compliant databases include using RegisterDatabase (a Data Access Object (DAO) method), using the SQLConfigDataSource ODBC API function, or using a DSN-less connection string.

However, it is possible to establish a new DSN by manually creating and manipulating values in the Windows Registry. The following technique uses the RegCreateKey, RegSetValueEx, and RegCloseKey API functions to create a system DSN for a SQL Server database.

Step-by-Step Procedures
  Open a new Visual Basic project. Form1 is created by default. Put a CommandButton on Form1 (Command1), and put the following code in the General Declarations section of the code for Form1: Option Explicit

Private Const REG_SZ = 1   'Constant for a string variable type. Private Const HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE = &H80000002

Private Declare Function RegCreateKey Lib "advapi32.dll" Alias _ "RegCreateKeyA" (ByVal hKey As Long, ByVal lpSubKey As String, _      phkResult As Long) As Long

Private Declare Function RegSetValueEx Lib "advapi32.dll" Alias _ "RegSetValueExA" (ByVal hKey As Long, ByVal lpValueName As String, _      ByVal Reserved As Long, ByVal dwType As Long, lpData As Any, ByVal _       cbData As Long) As Long

Private Declare Function RegCloseKey Lib "advapi32.dll" _ (ByVal hKey As Long) As Long   Place the following code in the click event of the Command1 button on Form1:

Change the values of the DataSourceName, DatabaseName, Description, DriverPath, LastUser, and Server variables as appropriate for your environment. Any of the drivers listed on the ODBC Drivers tab of the ODBC Data Source Administrator window can be used as part of the DriverPath variable. All of these drivers can be found in C:\Windows\System for Windows 95 or Windows 98 machines and C:\Winnt\System32 for Windows NT. Private Sub Command1_Click

Dim DataSourceName As String Dim DatabaseName As String Dim Description As String Dim DriverPath As String Dim DriverName As String Dim LastUser As String Dim Regional As String Dim Server As String

Dim lResult As Long Dim hKeyHandle As Long

'Specify the DSN parameters.

DataSourceName = "" DatabaseName = "" Description = "" DriverPath = "" LastUser = "" Server = "" DriverName = "SQL Server"

'Create the new DSN key.

lResult = RegCreateKey(HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE, "SOFTWARE\ODBC\ODBC.INI\" & _       DataSourceName, hKeyHandle)

'Set the values of the new DSN key.

lResult = RegSetValueEx(hKeyHandle, "Database", 0&, REG_SZ, _     ByVal DatabaseName, Len(DatabaseName)) lResult = RegSetValueEx(hKeyHandle, "Description", 0&, REG_SZ, _     ByVal Description, Len(Description)) lResult = RegSetValueEx(hKeyHandle, "Driver", 0&, REG_SZ, _     ByVal DriverPath, Len(DriverPath)) lResult = RegSetValueEx(hKeyHandle, "LastUser", 0&, REG_SZ, _     ByVal LastUser, Len(LastUser)) lResult = RegSetValueEx(hKeyHandle, "Server", 0&, REG_SZ, _     ByVal Server, Len(Server))

'Close the new DSN key.

lResult = RegCloseKey(hKeyHandle)

'Open ODBC Data Sources key to list the new DSN in the ODBC Manager. 'Specify the new value. 'Close the key.

lResult = RegCreateKey(HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE, _     "SOFTWARE\ODBC\ODBC.INI\ODBC Data Sources", hKeyHandle) lResult = RegSetValueEx(hKeyHandle, DataSourceName, 0&, REG_SZ, _     ByVal DriverName, Len(DriverName)) lResult = RegCloseKey(hKeyHandle)

End Sub  Run the project and click on the Command1 command button. Then open up the ODBC Data Source Administrator from the Control Panel (or Administrator Tools in Windows 2000). Your new DSN will appear along with the other system DSNs that you have already created.</ol>

<div class="references_section">