Connect with a DSN

Connect with a DSN

DSN stands for 'Data Source Name'. It is an easy way to assign useful and easily rememberable names to data sources which may not be limited to databases alone. If you do not know how to set up a system DSN read our tutorial How to set up a system DSN.
In the example below we will show you how to connect with a DSN to a MSSQL Server database called 'examples.mdb'  and retrieve all the records from the table 'cars'.

<?php

//connect to a DSN "myDSN"
$conn = odbc_connect('myDSN','','');

if ($conn)
{
  //the SQL statement that will query the database
  $query = "select * from cars";
  //perform the query
  $result=odbc_exec($conn, $query);

  echo "<table border=\"1\"><tr>";

  //print field name
  $colName = odbc_num_fields($result);
  for ($j=1; $j<= $colName; $j++)
  { 
    echo "<th>";
    echo odbc_field_name ($result, $j );
    echo "</th>";
  }

  //fetch tha data from the database
  while(odbc_fetch_row($result))
  {
    echo "<tr>";
    for($i=1;$i<=odbc_num_fields($result);$i++)
    {
      echo "<td>";
      echo odbc_result($result,$i);
      echo "</td>";
    }
    echo "</tr>";
  }

  echo "</td> </tr>";
  echo "</table >";

  //close the connection
  odbc_close ($conn);
}
else echo "odbc not connected";
?>