Defining a database
About this task
When an MDQ file appears in the Navigator, you can add new database definitions to it or you can modify the name of an existing database. This is done using the Database Definition window. Each Database Definition window contains some settings that are common across all platforms and others that are platform-specific. To view more information about each platform-specific setting, refer to either the context-sensitive help available from the dialog itself or to each platform-specific reference guide.
For the purposes of outlining a basic procedure to define a database, the ODBC adapter for the Windows platform will be used. An example follows.
see the following table for a listing of the settings in this window and their descriptions.
- Setting
- Description
- Database Name
- This is the name of the database being defined. This name appears in the Navigator.
- Adapter
- Adapter properties:
- Type
- This is a list of adapters that can host the database
you are defining. Select one from the list. The default value is ODBC.
This selection will affect the list of supported platforms displayed in the Platform list.
- Platform
- This is a list of platforms upon which the adapter (that you selected in the Type list) is supported.
- Access user tables/procedures only
- This setting determines level of user access and, to some
extent, the presentation of the information being presented. The default value is
Yes.
If No is selected, all of the names (of tables, views, and so on) in the database are accessible and are presented, including the respective prefix of each associated user ID.
If Yes is selected, only the names (of tables, views, and so on) in the databases associated with the current user ID are accessed and presented. Because these are all associated with the same user, no prefix is added.
- Surround table/column names with
- This setting indicates the character you want to use to enclose table and column names. For example, many databases require that names be enclosed by single or double quotation marks if they have spaces in their names, or when the names are SQL reserved words. When you specify table names in output cards or column names in update keys, these names will be enclosed by the character defined in this setting to provide database compatibility. There is no default value.
- Data Source
- Data source properties:
- Database Interface Designer
- Both this and the Runtime settings are
platform-specific settings. On other platforms, you may have different
settings. Again, see the platform-specific adapter reference guide or the
context-sensitive help for more setting-specific information.
This is the name of the data source used to access database information for design-time (pre-production or testing) purposes.
- Runtime
- This is the name of the data source used to access database information for run-time (map execution) purposes.
- Security
- Security properties:
- User ID
- This is the user ID used to access the database. If you do not know this information, contact your database administrator. There is no default value.
- Password
- This is the password used to access the database. If you do not know this information, contact your database administrator. There is no default value.
To define a database: