DOCUMENT:Q274536  11-JAN-2001  [vbwin]
TITLE   :HOWTO: Bind a Data Environment Connection to a UDL File
PRODUCT :Microsoft Visual Basic for Windows
PROD/VER::2.0,2.1,2.1 SP1,2.1 SP2,2.5,2.5 SP1,2.6,6.0
OPER/SYS:
KEYWORDS:kbMDAC kbVBp600 kbGrpDSVBDB

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The information in this article applies to:

 - Microsoft Visual Basic Professional Edition for Windows, version 6.0 
 - Microsoft Visual Basic Enterprise Edition for Windows, version 6.0 
 - Microsoft Data Access Components versions 2.0, 2.1, 2.1 SP1, 2.1 SP2, 2.5, 2.5 SP1, 2.6 
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SUMMARY
=======

Microsoft Data Links provide a simple interface to test an ActiveX Data Object
(ADO) connection to a data source by using an OLEDB provider or an Open Database
Connectivity (ODBC) driver. The connection information specified when setting up
and testing an ADO connection using a data link is stored in a specified
Universal Data Link (.udl) file. A .udl file can be specified as the source of
connection attributes for an ADO Connection object by assigning the .udl file's
path to the "File Name" parameter in its ConnectionString property.

The Data Environment in Visual Basic 6.0 provides a graphical user interface
(GUI) to set up ADO Connection and Command objects for use in a Visual Basic
application. A Data Environment Connection object's properties are typically set
by navigating through a tabbed Properties dialog box and specifying the desired
connection attributes like the OLE DB provider to use, the Database to connect
to, the database user id and password, and so forth. A .udl file can also be
used to specify the connection attributes for a Data Environment connection
object. However, the Data Environment Connection object's Properties dialog box
does not provide an option to select a .udl file as the source of the connection
attributes.

MORE INFORMATION
================

To specify a .udl file as the source of connection attributes for a Data
Environment connection object, you need to manually set the ConnectionSource
property in its properties list box (accessed by selecting the Data environment
connection object and pressing the F4 key).

The ConnectionSource property needs to be set to an ADO connection string of the
format File name=<path to the .udl file>. For instance, assuming that you
have a .udl file in the C:\ folder with the name of PUBS.UDL that connects to
the SQL Server PUBS sample database, you would assign the following string to
the ConnectionSource property of the Data Environment connection object to
specify PUBS.UDL as the source of connection attributes:

   File Name=C:\PUBS.UDL

REFERENCES
==========

For additional information, click the article numbers below to view the articles
in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:

   Q189680 HOWTO: Use Data Link Files with ADO 2.0

   Q244659 MDAC 2.5 Sample How to Create a Data Link File with Windows 2000

Additional query words:

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Keywords          : kbMDAC kbVBp600 kbGrpDSVBDB 
Technology        : kbVBSearch kbAudDeveloper kbZNotKeyword6 kbZNotKeyword2 kbVB600Search kbVBA600 kbVB600 kbMDACSearch kbMDAC200 kbMDAC210 kbMDAC210SP1 kbMDAC210SP2 kbMDAC250SP1 kbMDAC250 kbMDAC260
Version           : :2.0,2.1,2.1 SP1,2.1 SP2,2.5,2.5 SP1,2.6,6.0
Issue type        : kbhowto

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