How to Create ODBC Connection [Definitive Guide]

What is an ODBC connection?

The ODBC API is independent of any specific DBMS, operating system, or programming language, but requires separate drivers to connect to each data source. It adheres to the Call-Level Interface (CLI) specifications defined by the Open Group and ISO/IEC for database APIs. As previously described, the ODBC tool is a mediator that facilitates seamless interaction between applications, programming languages, and diverse data sources. Application developers use it for accessing data across relational, non-relational, and cloud-based data sources from different vendors.

The ODBC connection consists of four essential components that work together to connect to data sources and retrieve data from them. The process is straightforward: an ODBC-compliant application makes an ODBC call, which is handled by the ODBC Driver Manager and passed to the appropriate driver. The Manager either establishes a connection or communicates the command to the driver specified in the ODBC connection string or data source. For this article, Devart ODBC Driver for Salesforce will be used as a practical example to illustrate the process.

Setting up an ODBC connection

Windows
Linux
macOS

Establishing an ODBC connection to Salesforce requires the initial installation of the appropriate ODBC Driver, after which you should configure a Data Source Name (DSN). Follow these three steps to set up the connection on a Windows system.

Step 1

Open the ODBC Data Sources Administrator by searching for it in the Windows Start menu and select the version (32-bit or 64-bit) that matches the bitness of your third-party app.

Step 2

In the ODBC Data Source Administrator, choose either the User DSN or System DSN tab, depending on your application's requirements (most support both). Click Add, select Devart ODBC Driver for Salesforce in the Create New Data Source dialog, and click Finish to proceed.

Step 3

In the Devart ODBC Driver for Salesforce Configuration dialog, enter a name for your data source, provide the necessary connection details, and click OK to save the DSN settings.

Configure Devart ODBC Driver for Salesforce

Devart ODBC Driver for Salesforce is fully compatible with Linux-based systems, enabling seamless integration of Salesforce data with Linux applications. Whether you install the DEB package (e.g., for Ubuntu) or the RPM package (e.g., for CentOS), a sample DSN is automatically created during the installation. Follow these steps to configure an ODBC connection on Linux.

Step 1

In order to establish the connection, you need to configure a DSN with the installed ODBC Driver. A sample DSN named DEVART_SALESFORCE is created during the driver installation. To customize the DSN settings, open the odbc.ini file in a text editor, for example, nano.

Step 2

Find the DEVART_SALESFORCE section in the odbc.ini file. Next, make the necessary settings for your DSN, as shown in the example configuration. When done, save and close the odbc.ini file.

sudo nano /etc/odbc.ini

[DEVART_SALESFORCE]
Driver=Devart ODBC Driver for Salesforce
Data Source=https://login.salesforce.com
UserID=your_salesforce_user_id 
Password=your_salesforce_password
SecurityToken=your_security_token

Create a DSN by configuring the odbc.ini file

Devart ODBC Driver for Salesforce is fully compatible with macOS, enabling you to integrate Salesforce data with applications running on macOS systems. Thus, after successful installation on macOS, the remaining task is to set up the ODBC Driver connection. To complete this, you should perform the actions described here.

Step 1

Navigate to Applications > iODBC and launch the iODBC Administrator. Choose the 64-bit or 32-bit version based on the applications you plan to use with the ODBC connection. Next, go to the System DSN tab (recommended) to create a DSN accessible to all system users and click Add to create a new DSN. Now, select the relevant ODBC Driver and click OK.

Step 2

At this configuration step, you need to enter the corresponding connection details. For Salesforce, you can specify DEVART_SALESFORCE as its DSN. To proceed, add connection parameters by clicking the plus (+) icon to create a Keyword/Value pair. Double-click the Keyword or Value field to input the parameter name and its corresponding value. Once all parameters are set, click OK to save the DSN configuration.

ODBC Driver connection

Before making an ODBC connection, first, ensure you’ve chosen the appropriate driver for your source of data. Each data source has its own set of connection string options. For example, the ODBC Driver for Oracle does not need a security token, while the ODBC Driver for Salesforce does. Selecting an inappropriate driver can result in a connection failure. Our ODBC Drivers support a wide range of data sources, including Google BigQuery, Salesforce, Amazon Redshift, SQL Server, Oracle, and more. Compatible with Windows, macOS, and Linux, these Drivers require no additional configuration, applications, or environments.

Popular third-party tools, cutting-edge IDEs, and diverse systems are also supported. You can effortlessly connect the ODBC Driver to the data source and keep working with unmatched efficiency in your preferred environment—whether it’s the robust Microsoft Access, the dynamic Visual Studio, the versatile DBeaver, the powerful PowerBI, the reliable SSMS, or any other top-tier solution. Devart ODBC Drivers are easy to deploy, requiring no additional software, like database clients or vendor-specific libraries. Fully Unicode-compliant, they ensure smooth data retrieval and modification across multilingual databases, supporting any character set with precision and ease.

ODBC Data Connectors

All sources
Database
Cloud

Azure SQL Data Warehouse

Azure Synapse Analytics

Dynamics 365 Business Central

Jira Service Management

Microsoft Excel Online

Fast and unified access to databases

We offer you optimal data access by means of ODBC and native database client libraries. However, you can avoid using client libraries, since our ODBC drivers are able to connect via the native protocol directly without using client software at all.

Didn't find the necessary driver? Contact us!

AlloyDB

Amazon Redshift

ASE

Azure SQL Data Warehouse

Azure Synapse Analytics

Fast and unified access to clouds

You can connect to the most popular cloud resources directly via HTTP. In case you have no direct access to a cloud data source via HTTP, you have the option of establishing a connection through a proxy server.

Didn't find the necessary driver? Contact us!

Dynamics 365 Business Central

Jira Service Management

Microsoft Excel Online

Verifying the ODBC connection

Windows
Linux
macOS

Once you've made the required settings for the ODBC Driver for Salesforce, you can verify the connection immediately or use the ODBC Data Source Administrator tool. The steps below illustrate how to check the connection status on Windows.

Step 1

Open the ODBC Data Source Administrator tool, which corresponds to your application bitness (32-bit or 64-bit), select the relevant data source from the list of available ones, and click the Configure button.

Step 2

In the Devart ODBC Driver for Salesforce Configuration dialog, verify that all entered details are correct, then click Test Connection.

Step 3

If the connection is successful, a confirmation message will appear. Finally, click OK to save the DSN settings.

Devart ODBC Driver for Salesforce Configuration

After adding the DSN configuration to your odbc.ini file, you can test the connection using isql, the ODBC command-line tool. Once connected, you can run SQL queries to retrieve data from Salesforce. Therefore, to check the connection on Linux, you need to undertake the following actions.

Step 1

Launch the ODBC command-line tool and test the connection by utilizing isql. To perform this operation, run the following command:

Step 2

In case of a successful connection, you'll see the confirmation message.

isql -v DEVART_SALESFORCE

As soon as you have finished configuring the Devart ODBC Driver for Salesforce, the next step to take is to test the connection to the driver. Below, you will find step-by-step instructions on how to do it in practice.

Step 1

When the driver configuration is complete, you can check whether the connection is successful. To do this, select DEVART_SALESFORCE and click Test.

Step 2

In case of a successful connection, you'll be notified by a corresponding message.

Test connection in the iODBC Data Source Administrator

The connection DSN was tested successfully

Configuring an ODBC connection string using a programming language

Any programming language that is compatible with ODBC, such as Python, C#, Java, or PHP, can be used to access Salesforce data through the Driver. By setting up a standard ODBC connection, your applications can run SQL queries and retrieve results directly from the data source.

Creating an ODBC Connection Using DSN and a Connection String

What is an ODBC connection?

Setting up an ODBC connection

Step 1

Step 2

Step 3

Step 1

Step 2

Step 1

Step 2

ODBC Driver connection

ODBC Data Connectors

Fast and unified access to databases

Fast and unified access to clouds

Verified compatibility with data integration tools

Database Management Software

Business Intelligence & Analytics Software

Document Management Software

Application Development Tools

Verifying the ODBC connection

Step 1

Step 2

Step 3

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Step 2

Configuring an ODBC connection string using a programming language

C#

C/C++

Go

Node.js

PHP

Python

R

Visual Basic

ODBC Drivers

Reliable and simple to use data connectors for ODBC data sources. Compatible with multiple third-party tools.

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