RE: How to get ODBC going?

Well, I had some of the same issues as you when I first began. Here's my
setup and what I did:

My Setup:

PostgreSQL 6.5.2 running on a RedHat Linux 6.1 system.
Microsoft Access running on Windows 95/98 systems.

What I did:

On the Linux system:
- Install PostgreSQL on my RedHat system from rpms.
- Run initdb to setup the data directories
- Edit /etc/rc.d/init.d/postgresql file to add the -i option to the
postmaster line. This allows connections via tcp/ip sockets (ODBC uses
this).
- Create the databases and tables

On my Windoze 95 boxes:
- Install the PsqlODBC which was developed my Insight Distributors and is
now available from ftp://ftp.postgresql.org/pub/odbc/latest/postdrv.exe
<ftp://ftp.postgresql.org/pub/odbc/latest/postdrv.exe> . Some
documentation on the configuration of this driver is available at
ftp://ftp.postgresql.org/pub/odbc/psqlodbc_home.html
<ftp://ftp.postgresql.org/pub/odbc/psqlodbc_home.html> .
- Configure the driver by going to Control Panel, 32Bit ODBC (or ODBC
data sources) . Click on the System DSN tab. Click add, select PostgreSQL
and click on Finish. At this point you don't really need to enter anything,
just click on OK. If you want, you can enter some values that will then
become the default values of the driver configuration for when you actually
access this ODBC resource. What I do is leave all these options as they are
at this point. Then when I select the table that I want to link to in MS
Access I configure the options at that point. The configured options will
then be saved with the MS Access application for that table.
- Link the tables with MS Access.

I design and create all my tables from the psql command line interface on
the Linux server. However, I understand that there is a Windows based
application called pgadmin that allows you to design and create database
tables on the server from the Windows PC that you're running (see
http://www.pgadmin.freeserve.co.uk/ ) for more info on that. Looks cool but
I haven't had the gumption to install it and the support MS applications
that seem to be needed.

I spent a lot of time with trial and error on this but I finally have it
working quite well. I have 4 applications running under MS Access that have
several tables each on the Linux server. I also have the database linked to
my web site so that customers can look at database info by connecting via
the web. Works well.

Pat

Patrick C. Wolf
Test Manager
Aerojet
Socorro Plant

-----Original Message-----
From: Warren Odom [mailto:warren-odom(at)stenocall(dot)com]
Sent: Tuesday, July 18, 2000 7:48 AM
To: pgsql-novice(at)hub(dot)org
Subject: [NOVICE] How to get ODBC going?

I've studied the docs and searched the archives, and also
the ODBC driver
info on the web site, and sorry but I still can't tell how
to get this done.
This is what I want to do: I have PostgreSQL database on
Linux and I want
to access it from Windows 95, using MS Access (but possibly
other tools in
the future).

First I thought I needed to install an ODBC driver on the
Linux side to do
this (and the docs seemed to agree). But I couldn't find
any. Then I found
the ODBC info on the Postgres web site, and it seems to say
I need to
install the PsqlODBC driver on the Windows side instead. So
I did, but now
I'm stuck.

The instructions don't match what I'm seeing on my system.
They say to go
to the ODBC Manager in Control Panel, and "First, select
your favorite
datasource to configure. Then in the "PostgreSQL Driver
Setup" dialog,
select under "Options (Advanced)" either the Driver button
or Datasource
button. This will bring up another dialog box which contains
options you can
configure." Well, first, my desired data source in this
case is Postgres,
but there's no Postgres listed. Even if I choose another
data source
there's no "PostgreSQL Driver Setup" button. So this is why
I'm stuck.

I even reinstalled the PsqlODBC driver on Windows to make
sure it's there.
So the question is now what am I supposed to do?

Thanks for any help -- Warren