FileMaker Extra: Installing and Troubleshooting the ODBC Client Driver

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The DataDirect ODBC driver that's used to connect to FileMaker Pro, FileMaker Developer, or FileMaker Server 7 Advanced is not installed during the regular FileMaker installation process. It requires a separate installation.

Remember that FileMaker Pro and FileMaker Developer can act as xDBC hosts only for client applications running on the same computer. If you want to use Microsoft Excel, for example, to connect to a database hosted by FileMaker Pro, then the ODBC client driver needs to be installed on the same computer as that on which FileMaker Pro is installed.

If the database is being hosted by FileMaker Server 7 Advanced, and a client application elsewhere on the network needs to use ODBC to access that database, then the ODBC client driver needs to be installed on the same computer as that on which the client application is installed.

You need to use a FileMaker Pro, FileMaker Developer, or FileMaker Server 7 Advanced installation CD to perform the installation of the ODBC driver on the client computer.

On the FileMaker Pro install CD, for example, you need to click the eyeglasses button, as shown in Figure 20.46.

Figure 20.46. Click the eyeglasses button to access the installation CD content.

graphics/20fig46.jpg


Clicking the eyeglasses button enables you to explore the CD content. The xDBC directory, which is shown in Figure 20.47, contains the installation programs for the ODBC and JDBC drivers. It also contains extensive documentation on how to install and use both the ODBC and JDBC drivers.

Figure 20.47. Double-click the xDBC directory to get to the ODBC and JDBC client driver installers .
graphics/20fig47.gif

After you've found the ODBC client driver installer, run it as you would any other software installer. At the end of the process, you should have three new ODBC drivers installed. To verify this, select Start, S ettings, C ontrol Panel to bring up the Control Panel window. Double-click Administrative Tools to bring up the Administrative Tools window. Double-click Data Sources (ODBC) to bring up the ODBC Data Source Administrator dialog. Click on the Drivers tab to see the list of installed ODBC drivers. The DataDirect 32-BIT SequeLink 5.4 driver should be among them, as shown in Figure 20.48.

Figure 20.48. After you've run the DataDirect ODBC client installer, the DataDirect 32-BIT SequeLink 5.4 driver should be visible in your list of ODBC drivers.

graphics/20fig48.gif


Two other drivers get installed at the same time. One is the FileMaker Oracle8 Driver, and the other is the FileMaker Text Driver. If you ran the installer properly and these drivers are not visible in your ODBC Data Source Administrator dialog, then you probably have a problem with some of your registry values. This problem is more likely to happen on Windows XP.

To fix this problem, launch the Command prompt and type regedit and then Return to bring up the Registry Editor. Find the Registry entry called

 

 HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\ODBC\ODBCINST.INI 

as shown in Figure 20.49.

Figure 20.49. ODBC registry entries are in the SOFTWARE section of HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE .

graphics/20fig49.gif


Click each entry by clicking on it once. The first item for each entry should be Default, and it should have some value displayed, even if that value is value not set . If your DataDirect driver isn't showing up in the driver list, though, odds are it has a null or blank value, as shown in Figure 20.49, instead of (value not set) .

If the Default has a null value, press the Delete key to clear it. You get a Confirm Value Delete dialog asking you to confirm the deletion, as shown in Figure 20.50.

Figure 20.50. You need to confirm deletion of a null value.

graphics/20fig50.gif


Click Yes, and the null value changes to (value not set) , as shown in Figure 20.51.

Figure 20.51. After the null value has been cleared, the Default entry should say (value not set) .
graphics/20fig51.gif

Go through all the entries in the HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\ODBC\ODBCINST.INI key to make sure that none of the Default entries has a null value. When you've finished, close RegEdit and restart the machine. The DataDirect 32-BIT SequeLink 5.4 driver, Oracle8 driver, and FileMaker Text driver will now appear in the Drivers tab of the ODBC control panel.

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QUE CORPORATION - Using Filemaker pro X
QUE CORPORATION - Using Filemaker pro X
ISBN: N/A
EAN: N/A
Year: 2003
Pages: 494

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