How To Install and Configure the Lite Edition JDBC-to-ODBC Bridge Drivers (Windows)

Pre-Installation Guide

  1. You must have a working ODBC Environment (comprising an ODBC Administrator and Driver Manager) that is compatible with the Single-Tier (Lite Edition) JDBC to ODBC Bridge Driver for ODBC Data Sources.
  2. You must be able to establish an ODBC connection to one or more target databases using third-party or native ODBC drivers that have already been installed.
  3. You must have a Java Runtime Environment (JRE) that is compatible with the Single-Tier (Lite Edition) ODBC Driver for JDBC Data Sources.
    • Generally, the latest JVM from http://java.com/ is the best choice.
    • If using a 64-bit ODBC Driver, you must have a 64-bit JVM.
  4. You must possess third-party or native JDBC drivers that connect to your target database.

Installation Guide

  1. Download the Lite Edition (Single-Tier) JDBC Driver for ODBC Data Sources (.msi) file.
  2. Double-click on the downloaded .msi file to start the installation process.
  3. Make sure you have a license file for the driver. Know the location of this file before proceeding with the installation.
  4. During the installation process, you may be prompted to click the "Try & Buy" button to obtain a commercial or free evaluation license.
  5. You can choose to skip the license file selection process by checking the "I don't want to install a license file right now" checkbox. However, note that you won't be able to use the software until a commercial or evaluation license key is registered.
  6. Click "Next" and continue through the dialog until the installation is complete.
  7. Click the "Finish" button to finish the installation process.

Configuration Guide

  1. The fourth dialog enables you to set optional ODBC connection parameters.
    • Read-only connection — Specifies whether the connection is "Read-only." Must be unchecked to INSERT, UPDATE, or DELETE records, and to run some Stored Procedures including some built-in functions.
    • Defer fetching of long data — Defers fetching of LONG (BINARY, BLOB, etc.) fields in wildcard queries. This provides significant performance increases when fields in query do not include LONG data fields.
    • Disable interactive login — Suppresses the ODBC "Username" and "Password" login dialog boxes when interacting with your ODBC DSN from within an ODBC compliant application.
    • Row Buffer Size — This attribute specifies the number of records to be delivered from the driver to the client application in a single batch. Values can range from 1 to 999.
    • Max Rows Override — Allows you to set a limit for the maximum number of rows to be returned from a query. The default value of 0 means no limit.
    • Initial SQL — Lets you specify a file containing SQL statements that will be run automatically against the database upon connection.
    • Dynamic Cursor Sensitivity — Enables or disables the row version cache used with dynamic cursors. When dynamic cursor sensitivity is set high, the Cursor Library calculates checksums for each row in the current rowset and compares these with the checksums (if any) already stored in the row version cache for the same rows when fetched previously. If the checksums differ for a row, the row has been updated since it was last fetched and the row status flag is set to SQL_ROW_UPDATED. The row version cache is then updated with the latest checksums for the rowset. From the user's point of view, the only visible difference between the two sensitivity settings is that a row status flag can never be set to SQL_ROW_UPDATED when the cursor sensitivity is low. (The row status is instead displayed as SQL_ROW_SUCCESS.) In all other respects, performance aside, the two settings are the same. Deleted rows don't appear in the rowset. Updates to the row since the row was last fetched are reflected in the row data, and inserted rows appear in the rowset, if their keys fall within the span of the rowset. If your application does not need to detect the row status SQL_ROW_UPDATED, you should leave the High Cursor Sensitivity checkbox unchecked, as performance is improved. The calculation and comparison of checksums for each row fetched carries an overhead. If this option is enabled, the table oplrvc must have been created beforehand using the appropriate script for the target database.
    • Enable logging to the log file — Check the checkbox and use the associated textbox to provide the full path to a file in which to log diagnostic information.
  2. Click Next to continue. Start a JDBC-compliant application e.g., the JDBC Demo Application bundled with the OpenLink JDBC-ODBC Bridge Driver Installer Using the following JDBC URL template: 
          jdbc:openlink://ODBC[/DSN=dsn][/UID=uid][/PWD=pwd][/READONLY=x]
    Construct a JDBC URL comprising the following connection attribute name and values pairings:
    • /DSN = Data Source Name (DSN) used to successfully connect to your target database in the prior step
    • /UID = database username
    • /PWD = password
    • /READONLY = Y or N, subject to your preferred Read or Write session mode