Understanding ODBC Drivers

The ODBC API consists of a driver manager and one or more ODBC drivers, as illustrated by the shaded boxes in Figure 25.2. Windows uses drivers to adapt its standard API to specific combinations of hardware such as displays, keyboards, and printers. Likewise, the ODBC API uses drivers to translate instructions passed from the application through the driver manager to instructions that are compatible with various RDBMSs. When the ODBC driver manager receives instructions from Access that are intended for a data source, such as a SQL Server database, the driver manager opens the appropriate ODBC driver for the database. The relationship of the ODBC driver manager and ODBC drivers parallels the relationship of Access 97's ...

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