Re: ODBC connection to mdb for MacIntosh

Sorry, I'm a hand coder at heart...just use DW for the line numbers, but you
might find this page helpful at setting up a dsn'less connection. The
version of Windows you installed on virtual PC should include the necessary
MDAC installation, so the drivers will be there on the PC side. I'm not
sure how to get DW to let you mix the hand-coded connection with their crap
machine written code, but maybe this will point you in the right direction
http://www.carlprothman.net/Default.aspx?tabid=81. You might want to also
ask in the macromedia.dreamweaver forum, but I've found that there's a low
signal to noise ratio there, so good luck!

HTH;

Amy Blankenship
Team Macromedia
Authorware

"Mark" <mark@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote in message
news:BF190161.1196%mark@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
>I have been following this thread and I have a question myself. My
>situation
> is a bit different. I have virtual pc installed with access2003 so
> manipulating the data or structure isn't an issue. However I am using
> macromedia studioMX 2004 and I need to be able to connect to the mdb by
> setting up the dsn and I can't seem to fing the appropriate odbc driver to
> accomplish this so studio can see/retrieve the table structure. I can hand
> code it all but that is a pain. Any ideas?
>
> mark
>
>
> On 8/4/05 4:36 PM, in article #nGLxZWmFHA.1044@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx, "Jim
> Gordon MVP" <goldkey74@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
>
>> Hi Amy,
>>
>> My apologies for writing when I was more than half asleep.
>>
>>
>> Amy Blankenship wrote:
>>
>>>> Microsoft Access does not exist for the Mac. In order to use ODBC
>>>> Microsoft Access has to be able to manipulate the data tables.
>>>> Therefore
>>>> the data tables (the .mdb file) has to reside on a Windows computer
>>>> that
>>>> has MS Access on it.
>>>
>>>
>>> This is not true. As long as the computer has ODBC drivers for an
>>> Access
>>> database, it does NOT have to have Access installed.
>>
>> Yes, indeed you are right. Thinking back to when I used ODBC a lot in
>> Office 98 and 2001 it was possible to control several different types of
>> databases directly on a single Mac without having the application on the
>> computer. I was using FoxPro database files at the time.
>>
>>>> Consequently it is impossible to have the mdb file hosted on a Mac and
>>>> expect to use ODBC or anything else to get it to work.
>>>
>>>
>>> Why? I'm not sure that I follow. Maybe the problem is not that it's
>>> impossible, but that the information is not readily available. Please
>>> don't
>>> take this the wrong way, but given the fact that you seem to be under
>>> the
>>> impression that you actually have to have Access installed on a machine
>>> for
>>> you to talk to an Access database, you may not be the most definitive
>>> source
>>> on this issue. If you had to have Access installed for ODBC to work,
>>> then
>>> you could not host Access databases on UNIX servers and access them via
>>> php,
>>> cgi, etc.
>>
>> Again, you are right. A properly written ODBC driver would not require
>> that Access be able to run. For some reason I was confusing ODBC process
>> with a different protocol (DDE) which does require a host application to
>> be able to run.
>>
>>> Is there maybe another forum, perhaps on the Apple site, where I might
>>> encounter people with more specific expertise relevant to my question?
>>>
>>>
>>>> It has to be hosted on a Windows computer. If you want a Mac only
>>>> solution
>>>> you might wish to consider a different brand of database that has a
>>>> Macintosh version (FileMaker pro may fill this requirement, but there
>>>> may
>>>> be some SQL limitations - not sure).
>>>
>>>
>>> Filemaker pro is crap. Trust me on this one.
>>
>> I haven't had to use it very much. It seemed OK to me, but I've not
>> given it a thorough work out. FoxPro is one I've used and like a lot.
>>
>>>> The SQL commands are sent to Access via ODBC. The commands are
>>>> generated
>>>> on a Mac running MS Query in Microsoft Office (or other ODBC compliant
>>>> software). You can use the MS Query interface to create any SQL command
>>>> and execute the command.
>>>>
>>>> No, you can not put the mdb file on a mac and connect to MS Access via
>>>> ODBC because MS Access only runs in windows, not on a Mac. MS Access
>>>> has
>>>> to be there and able to run.
>>>
>>>
>>> See above. People host mdb databases on UNIX boxes all the time. So it
>>> seems it should just be a matter of finding the right driver.
>>
>> Yes, you are right. Duh! Please be gentle when you do my punishment for
>> saying such dumb stuff.
>>
>>>> Setting network and file permissions is the same for a Mac client as it
>>>> is
>>>> for Windows clients. Since this topic is about how to use and configure
>>>> Microsoft Windows, it it is beyond the scope of Excel for the Macintosh
>>>> so
>>>> I'm not going to try to answer it except to say that ODBC needs to be
>>>> able
>>>> establish a connection to Access and have permssion to read and write
>>>> to
>>>> the mdb file in order for it to work.
>>>
>>>
>>> File permissions have nothing to do with it. Is this an Excel forum? I
>>> thought it was an "other products" forum.
>>
>> Nope, this is not an Excel forum. You're right again. I'm wrong. Sheesh!
>> You'd think I would learn to not type when sleepy.
>>
>>>> Any VBA SQL command that required the Microsoft ODBC add-in will work
>>>> in
>>>> Office 98 and 2001 but the add-in has not been brought forward to work
>>>> in
>>>> Excel v.X or 2004. But I am pretty sure a direct SQL command to update
>>>> a
>>>> row in a table works in all Mac versions.
>>>
>>>
>>> But unfortunately no one has any drivers to make the connection!
>>
>> Your expectation is not unreasonable. What you want is the same *type*
>> of driver that was available for Office 98. Unfortunately there was no
>> Access driver for Office 98 or 2001 or any version of Mac office. You
>> want a driver so that you can have an mdb file on your mac or on a
>> shared volume (anything that your mac can mount) and control it via ODBC.
>>
>> If you search Google on this topic about 2 years ago there was a
>> complete thread in the Excel for Mac newsgroup about ODBC drivers. But
>> as you've discovered we are still waiting for someone to bring out a
>> single-tier (or whatever terminology you want to call it) ODBC driver
>> that will let you control an mdb file that is not on a network drive.
>>
>>> Oh, well, I'll keep looking. If you can suggest any further forums, I'd
>>> appreciate it.
>>
>> One trouble with ODBC drivers is money. Microsoft gives ODBC drivers
>> free as part of Windows. Apple does not include ODBC drivers with MacOS
>> (a mistake in my opinion). Microsoft used to license ODBC drivers for
>> Mac Office and distributed them for free with Office 98, but decided the
>> cost was not being covered by additional sales of Mac Office, so they
>> dropped them. 3rd party developers have not jumped in the fill the void.
>>
>> It's been a while since I thoroughly investigated the availability of
>> the type of ODBC driver you are seeking. If you do come across one
>> please be sure to post the information here. It would be great if there
>> an open source driver lurking in the shadows someplace that I don't know
>> about.
>>
>> Also, I want to elaborate a little bit about the ODBC add-in. It would
>> be great if Microsoft were to updated that gem to work with Office 2004.
>> It allowed for the use of certain SQL commands to be used by VBA. I
>> think the SQLEXEC commands and some others were supported by that add-in.
>>
>> The key to the whole problem remains the lack of a single-tier ODBC
>> driver for MS Access.
>>
>> I got all excited when I heard the next version of Office will change to
>> XML as the file format, but then I found out that MS Access will not
>> make the change and will continue to use the MDB format for the next
>> several years at least.
>>
>> I'm not sure, but it might turn out that you can use XML to treat Excel
>> worksheets as a relational database. Since Excel already supports XML I
>> wonder if anyone has tried this. This is an area that might be worth
>> checking into, since if you can convert MDB databases into XML then the
>> whole problem of ODBC drivers might go away.
>>
>> The whole XML/SQL issue is intriguing to me. Here's a paper to get you
>> started on this:
>> http://www.research.ibm.com/journal/sj/414/reinwald.pdf
>>
>> In the article, there's a section concerning SQL extensions for XML.
>> Another place to investigate XML/SQL is this site:
>> http://www.sqlx.org/
>>
>> I found this article just now that I want to read:
>> http://www.datadirect.com/developer/xquery/topics/sqlxmlwp-new/index.ssp
>>
>> IBM has lots to say about SQL and XML
>> http://www.google.com/search?as_q=xml+sql+java&num=10&hl=en&btnG=Google+Search
>> &as_epq=&as_oq=&as_eq=&lr=&as_ft=i&as_filetype=&as_qdr=all&as_occt=any&as_dt=i
>> &as_sitesearch=ibm.com&safe=images
>>
>> I guess what I am getting at is that ODBC is great, but using XML may be
>> a good work-around. It's entirely possible that XML solutions that we
>> have not yet discovered might make the need for ODBC solutions not
>> necessary. There is a huge amount of information to wade through.
>>
>> Oops! Now I'm rambling again. Time for sleep.
>>
>>
>>> Thanks;
>>>
>>> Amy
>>>
>>>
>


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