TimeXtender supports ODBC for retrieving data from a wide range of systems. Both application-specific and a generic option is available.

You should also take a look at this guide to see an alternate method of connecting to ODBC data sources.

Adding an ODBC Data Source

To add a new ODBC data source, follow the steps below:

1. Open a business unit, right-click Data Sources, click Data Sources, and click Add Generic ODBC Data Source or Application-specific ODBC.

   

2. The Generic ODBC Data Source looks like so

   

3. In the Name field, type the name of the data source.
4. In the System DSN list, select the Data Source Name from the list of ODBC drivers.

   

   

5. In the Command Timeout field, specify the number of seconds to wait before terminating the attempt to connect to the database.
6. In the Connection Timeout field, specify the number of seconds to wait before terminating the attempt to connect to the server.
7. If you want to add additional connection strings, click the Additional Connection Properties button. In the Connection String Properties window, type the preferred connection strings, and then click OK.
8. The Configuration fields are used to control how the ODBC driver handles the content it receives. These fields are optional. You have the following options:
9. In the Escape Character list, select the escape character specific to your ODBC driver.

   

10. The Override date time type can change the ​​type from datetime to datetime2. It is only available for some of the application-specific providers such as Progress and Divalto.

    

11. In the Override text type variable length option, you can specify if it is a varchar or a char field.
12. In the Override character encoding option, you can specify if it is nchar or nvarchar fields.
13. In the Override text type length option, you can specify the specific length of a char field.
14. In the Override numeric type precision option, you can specify a fixed number of decimals. 

15. Note: The Convert out-of-range dates to MS SQL min/max option is only available for the MySQL 5.1, Progress, and Divalto adapters.

16. Select Use low compatibility mode if you have trouble retrieving data from the database.