The basic elements of a connection string tend to be the same from one database type to another. However, each database type supports slightly different connection string syntax. This topic addresses those differences.

1. Click on the Data Explorer tab in the IDE.
2. Select the database type of your choice.
3. Right-click to display the popup menu.
4. Choose Modify Connection to display the Connections Editor. The properties in the Connections Editor are organized into three categories: Connections, Options, and Provider Settings. The Connections options designate the database and authentication parameters. The Options area includes various database-specific database options, including transaction isolation types. The Provider Settings area specifies assemblies and the client libraries required to accomplish the connection to the given database.
   Note: All of the procedures in this topic assume that you already have installed a database client, server, or both, and that the database instance is running.

1. Either enter the database name or navigate to the database on your local disk or a network drive, by clicking the ellipsis button to browse. The standard supplied databases are typically installed into C:\Program Files\Common Files\CodeGear Shared\Data.
2. Enter the password and username. By default, these are masterkey and sysdba, respectively.
3. Set the following options, if necessary. The default values are shown in the following table.

4. You should be able to accept the defaults for the following Provider Settings:

5. Click Test to see if the connection works.
6. Click OK to save the connection string.
   Note: If you are writing ASP.NET applications, and are running the ASP.NET Web Forms locally for testing purposes, you might need to modify the path statement that points to your database, to include the localhost: designation. For example, you would modify the path shown earlier in this topic as such: localhost:C:\Program Files\Common Files\CodeGear Shared\Data\employee.gdb.

database=C:\Program Files\Common Files\CodeGear Shared\Data\EMPLOYEE.GDB;
assembly=Borland.Data.Interbase,Version=2.0.0.0,Culture=neutral,PublicKeyToken=91d62ebb5b0d1b1b;
vendorclient=gds32.dll;provider=Interbase;username=sysdba;password=masterkey

1. Enter the database name in the Database field of the Connections Editor. For example, use one of the sample MS SQL Server databases, such as Pubs or Northwind. There is no need to add the file extension to the name.
2. Enter the hostname. If you are using a local database server, enter (local) in this field.
3. If you are deferring to your OS authentication, set OSAuthentication to True.
4. If you are using database authentication, enter the password and username into the appropriate fields. By default, the SQL Server database username is sa.
5. Change the database options if necessary. The default values are shown in the following table.

6. You should be able to accept the defaults for the following Provider Settings:

7. Click Test to see if the connection works.
8. Click OK to save the connection string.
   Note: If you are writing ASP.NET applications, and are running the ASP.NET Web Forms locally for testing purposes, you might need to modify the path statement that points to your database, to include the localhost: designation, prepended to the path.

assembly=Borland.Data.Mssql,Version=2.0.0.0,Culture=neutral,PublicKeyToken=91d62ebb5b0d1b1b; 
vendorclient=sqloledb.dll;osauthentication=True;database=Pubs;username=;hostname=(local);password=;
provider=MSSQL

1. Enter the path to the database.
2. Enter the password and username into the appropriate fields.
3. Set the following database options, if necessary. The default values are shown in the following table.

4. You should be able to accept the defaults for the following Provider Settings:

5. Click Test to see if the connection works.
6. Click OK to save the connection string.

1. Enter the path to the database.
2. If you are deferring to your OS authentication, set OSAuthentication to True. This means that the system defers to your local system username and password to login to the database.
3. If you are using database authentication, enter the password and username into the appropriate fields. For example, the typical Oracle username and password for the sample database is SCOTT and TIGER, respectively.
4. Set the following database options, if necessary. The default values are shown in the following table.

5. You should be able to accept the defaults for the following Provider Settings:

6. Click Test to see if the connection works.
7. Click OK to save the connection string.

1. Either enter the database name or navigate to the database on your local disk or a network drive, by clicking the ellipsis button to browse. If you have the Office Component Toolkit installed, you might find Northwind in C:\Program Files\Office Component Toolpack\Data\Northwind.mdb.
2. Enter the username and password. By default, you can generally try admin for the username and leave the password field empty.
3. Set the following database options, if necessary. The default values are shown in the following table.

4. You should be able to accept the defaults for the following Provider Settings:

5. Click Test to see if the connection works.
6. Click OK to save the connection string.

database=C:\Program Files\Office Component Toolpack\Data\Northwind.mdb;
assembly=Borland.Data.Msacc,Version=2.0.0.0,Culture=neutral,PublicKeyToken=91d62ebb5b0d1b1b;
vendorclient=msjet40.dll;provider=MSAccess;username=admin;password=

1. Enter the path to the database.
2. Enter the password and username into the appropriate fields.
3. Set the following database options, if necessary. The default values are shown in the following table.

4. You should be able to accept the defaults for the following Provider Settings:

5. Click Test to see if the connection works.
6. Click OK to save the connection string.

assembly=Borland.Data.Sybase,Version=2.0.0.0,Culture=neutral,
PublicKeyToken=91d62ebb5b0d1b1b;vendorclient=libct.dll;database=Pubs;
username=admin;hostname=host1;password=;provider=Sybase