OLE DB data source
variaDoc allows you to connect to any OLE DB compatible data source. Expert users can define custom data sources by selecting OLE DB as the data source type and entering the connection string manually or through the connection string dialog.
Connection string
OLE DB uses a connection string, which is a description of how to connect to a database such as Microsoft SQL Server or Oracle. A connection string typically contains the name of the database driver, a server name or address and a database name. This is however dependant on the database and OLE DB driver you are using.
To help you compose connection strings, variaDoc allows you to browse for a driver and then fill in it’s specific settings.
 | Connection strings may contain passwords and other sensitive data. variaDoc stores connection strings in project files in plain text. This may constitute a security risk. Therefore you should prevent the use of passwords in connection strings. One way to do this is to replace the connection strings with parameters and pass them at run time. |
Select a table
Databases in an SQL server can contain multiple tables. You can access these tables directly by selecting Select a table as the query method, and selecting the table from the drop down list.
Join multiple tables
Most data sources are organized as tables. You can select data from multiple tables at once using this by selecting the option Join multiple tables and selecting the appropriate tables from the drop down list, as seen below:
For each selected table you must specify the name of the table and the ID column.
The ID column is used to match rows in all tables.
Specify SQL statement
If you select Specify SQL statement as the query method you can specify custom queries. See SQL Quick Reference for a quick SQL reference and links to resources.