Data Providers Page

This section lists all installed ADO.NET data providers. You can use ADO.NET providers to access various data sources, including OLE DB and ODBC, so that you can connect to, run commands on, and query databases.

This section lists all installed Object Linking and Embedding Database (OLE DB) providers. An OLE DB provider is a program that can retrieve information from a database and pass it to a requesting application, such as BarTender. Each type of database (such as Oracle or Access) requires its own provider program. OLE DB technology is similar in its purposes to ODBC but is newer and is compatible with a wider range of proprietary databases and data types.

Several OLE DB providers are installed together with Windows, and you can obtain others from database manufacturers. BarTender can connect to any database type that has an internal OLE DB driver.

This section lists all installed Open Database Connectivity (ODBC) drivers. ODBC is based on the device driver model, where the driver contains the logic that is needed to convert a standard set of commands and functions into the specific calls that are required by the underlying system.

ODBC drivers exist for all major database management systems, for many other data sources such as address book systems and Microsoft Excel, and even for text or *.csv files. To add, modify, or remove ODBC data sources, use the ODBC Data Source Administrator dialog.