Figure 13.5 The Data Sources Administrator.The Data Source Administrator consists of 7 panels. The first panel, User DSN, sets up DSNs specific
to a user for the current machine. You would set up a User DSN for a specific person. The next tab,
System DSN, creates a data source for everyone who can use the current machine. The next tab, File
DSN, creates a DSN that is visible to everyone and can be used by anyone who has the correct drivers
installed. The next tab, Drivers, lists all the drivers that are currently installed on your machine. The fifth
tab, Tracing, turns on logging for your ODBC driver; it will log all connections. Microsoft Visual Studio
uses this feature to help debug programs. The next tab is the Connection Pooling tab. On this tab, you
will find options that allow your ODBC driver to reuse open connection handles, which will save time and
resources in your applications. The final tab is the About tab. On this tab, you will find the core ODBC
Dynamically Linked Libraries (DLLs).
Because you are going to be creating an application that can be used by more than one person logging
in to the current machine, you are going to create a System DSN for the Meet_A_Geek database.
- Click the System tab. If you already have some System DSNs, you will see them here
(see Figure 13.6). Click the Add button to create a new DSN.
Figure 13.6 The System DSN pane.- A dialog box, similar to the one in Figure 13.7, should appear. It displays a list of
available drivers. Select the MySQL driver. After you have selected the driver, click
Finish.