"Driver={SQL Server};Server=Aron1;Database=pubs;Uid=sa;Pwd=asdasd;"

"Driver={SQL Server};Server=Aron1;Database=pubs;Trusted_Connection=yes;"

oConn.Properties("Prompt") = adPromptAlways
oConn.Open "Driver={SQL Server};Server=Aron1;DataBase=pubs;"

"Provider=sqloledb;Data Source=Aron1;Initial Catalog=pubs;User Id=sa;Password=asdasd;"

oConn.Provider = "sqloledb"
oConn.Properties("Prompt") = adPromptAlways
oConn.Open "Data Source=Aron1;Initial Catalog=pubs;"

"Data Source=Aron1;Initial Catalog=pubs;User Id=sa;Password=asdasd;"
   - or -
"Server=Aron1;Database=pubs;User ID=sa;Password=asdasd;Trusted_Connection=False"
   (both connection strings produces the same result)

VB.NET:
Imports System.Data.SqlClient
Dim oSQLConn As SqlConnection = New SqlConnection()
oSQLConn.ConnectionString="my connection string"
oSQLConn.Open()

Want to learn data shaping? Check out 4GuyfFromRolla's great article about Data Shaping >>

"Driver={SQL Native Client};Server=Aron1;Database=pubs;UID=sa;PWD=asdasd;"

"Driver={SQL Native Client};Server=Aron1;Database=pubs;Trusted_Connection=yes;"

Equivalents
Integrated Security=SSPI equals Trusted_Connection=yes

oConn.Properties("Prompt") = adPromptAlways
oConn.Open "Driver={SQL Native Client};Server=Aron1;DataBase=pubs;"

"Driver={SQL Native Client};Server=Aron1;Database=pubs;Trusted_Connection=yes;MARS_Connection=yes"

Equivalents
MultipleActiveResultSets=true equals MARS_Connection=yesUsing MARS with SQL Native Client, by Chris Lee >>

"Driver={SQL Native Client};Server=Aron1;Database=pubs;Trusted_Connection=yes;Encrypt=yes"

"Driver={SQL Native Client};Server=.\SQLExpress;AttachDbFilename=c:\asd\qwe\mydbfile.mdf;Database=dbname;Trusted_Connection=Yes;"
   - or -
"Driver={SQL Native Client};Server=.\SQLExpress;AttachDbFilename=|DataDirectory|mydbfile.mdf;Database=dbname;Trusted_Connection=Yes;"
   (use |DataDirectory| when your database file resides in the data directory)

Why is the "Database" parameter needed? Answer: If the database was previously attached, SQL Server does not reattach it (it uses the attached database as the default for the connection).

Download the SQL Native Client here >> (the package contains booth the ODBC driver and the OLE DB provider)

Using SQL Server 2005 Express? Don't miss the server name syntax: SERVERNAME\SQLEXPRESS (Substitute "SERVERNAME" with the name of the computer)

"Provider=SQLNCLI;Server=Aron1;Database=pubs;UID=sa;PWD=asdasd;"

"Provider=SQLNCLI;Server=Aron1;Database=pubs;Trusted_Connection=yes;"

Equivalents
Integrated Security=SSPI equals Trusted_Connection=yes

oConn.Properties("Prompt") = adPromptAlways
oConn.Open "Provider=SQLNCLI;Server=Aron1;DataBase=pubs;"

"Provider=SQLNCLI;Server=Aron1;Database=pubs;Trusted_Connection=yes;MarsConn=yes"

Equivalents
MarsConn=yes equals MultipleActiveResultSets=true equals MARS_Connection=yesUsing MARS with SQL Native Client, by Chris Lee >>

"Provider=SQLNCLI;Server=Aron1;Database=pubs;Trusted_Connection=yes;Encrypt=yes"

Download the SQL Native Client here >> (the package contains booth the ODBC driver and the OLE DB provider)

Using SQL Server 2005 Express? Don't miss the server name syntax: SERVERNAME\SQLEXPRESS (Substitute "SERVERNAME" with the name of the computer)

"Data Source=Aron1;Initial Catalog=pubs;User Id=sa;Password=asdasd;"
   - or -
"Server=Aron1;Database=pubs;User ID=sa;Password=asdasd;Trusted_Connection=False"
   (both connection strings produces the same result)

"Data Source=Aron1;Initial Catalog=pubs;Integrated Security=SSPI;"
   - or -
"Server=Aron1;Database=pubs;Trusted_Connection=True;"
   (both connection strings produces the same result)

(use serverName\instanceName as Data Source to use an specifik SQLServer instance)

(DBMSSOCN=TCP/IP instead of Named Pipes, at the end of the Data Source is the port to use (1433 is the default))

"Server=Aron1;Database=pubs;Trusted_Connection=True;MultipleActiveResultSets=true"

Note! Use ADO.NET 2.0 for MARS functionality. MARS is not supported in ADO.NET 1.0 nor ADO.NET 1.1Streamline your Data Connections by Moving to MARS, by Laurence Moroney, DevX.com >>

using(SqlConnection connection = new SqlConnection("context connection=true"))
{
    connection.Open();
    // Use the connection
}

Using connection as new SqlConnection("context connection=true")
    connection.Open()
    ' Use the connection
End Using

The context connection lets you execute Transact-SQL statements in the same context (connection) that your code was invoked in the first place.

"Driver={Microsoft Access Driver (*.mdb)};Dbq=C:\mydatabase.mdb;Uid=Admin;Pwd=;"

"Driver={Microsoft Access Driver (*.mdb)};Dbq=C:\mydatabase.mdb;SystemDB=C:\mydatabase.mdw;"

"Driver={Microsoft Access Driver (*.mdb)};Dbq=C:\mydatabase.mdb;Exclusive=1;Uid=admin;Pwd="

"Provider=Microsoft.Jet.OLEDB.4.0;Data Source=\somepath\mydb.mdb;User Id=admin;Password=;"

"Provider=Microsoft.Jet.OLEDB.4.0;Data Source=\somepath\mydb.mdb;Jet OLEDB:System Database=system.mdw;"

"Provider=Microsoft.Jet.OLEDB.4.0;Data Source=\somepath\mydb.mdb;Jet OLEDB:Database Password=MyDbPassword;"

"Driver={Microsoft ODBC for Oracle};Server=OracleServer.world;Uid=Username;Pwd=asdasd;"

"Driver={Microsoft ODBC Driver for Oracle};ConnectString=OracleServer.world;Uid=myUsername;Pwd=myPassword;"

"Provider=OraOLEDB.Oracle;Data Source=MyOracleDB;User Id=Username;Password=asdasd;"

"Provider=OraOLEDB.Oracle;Data Source=MyOracleDB;OSAuthent=1;"

VB.NET:
Imports System.Data.OracleClient
Dim oOracleConn As OracleConnection = New OracleConnection()
oOracleConn.ConnectionString = "my connection string"
oOracleConn.Open()

Missing the System.Data.OracleClient namespace? Download .NET Managed Provider for Oracle >>

Great article! "Features of Oracle Data Provider for .NET" by Rama Mohan G. at C# Corner

Read more at Core Lab and the product page.

Want to learn data shaping? Check out 4GuyfFromRolla's great article about Data Shaping >>

"Driver={mySQL};Server=localhost;Option=16834;Database=mydatabase;"

"Driver={mySQL};Server=data.domain.com;Port=3306;Option=131072;Stmt=;Database=my-database;Uid=username;Pwd=password;"

"DRIVER={MySQL ODBC 3.51 Driver};SERVER=localhost;DATABASE=myDatabase;USER=myUsername;PASSWORD=myPassword;OPTION=3;"

"DRIVER={MySQL ODBC 3.51 Driver};SERVER=data.domain.com;PORT=3306;DATABASE=myDatabase; USER=myUsername;PASSWORD=myPassword;OPTION=3;"

"Provider=MySQLProv;Data Source=mydb;User Id=UserName;Password=asdasd;"

VB.NET:
Imports MySql.Data.MySqlClient
Dim oMySqlConn As MySqlConnection = New MySqlConnection()
oMySqlConn.ConnectionString = "Server=Server;Database=Test;Uid=UserName;Pwd=asdasd;"
oMySqlConn.Open()

VB.NET:
Imports eInfoDesigns.dbProvider.MySqlClient
Dim oMySqlConn As MySqlConnection = New MySqlConnection()
oMySqlConn.ConnectionString = "my connection string"
oMySqlConn.Open()

"Driver={Easysoft IB6 ODBC};Server=localhost;Database=localhost:C:\mydatabase.gdb;Uid=username;Pwd=password"

"Driver={INTERSOLV InterBase ODBC Driver (*.gdb)};Server=localhost;Database=localhost:C:\mydatabase.gdb;Uid=username;Pwd=password"

"provider=sibprovider;location=localhost:;data source=c:\databases\gdbs\mygdb.gdb;user id=SYSDBA;password=masterkey"

"provider=sibprovider;location=localhost:;data source=c:\databases\gdbs\mygdb.gdb;user id=SYSDBA;password=masterkey;character set=ISO8859_1"

"Provider=DB2OLEDB;Network Transport Library=TCPIP;Network Address=XXX.XXX.XXX.XXX;Initial Catalog=MyCtlg;Package Collection=MyPkgCol;Default Schema=Schema;User ID=MyUser;Password=MyPW"

"Provider=DB2OLEDB;APPC Local LU Alias=MyAlias;APPC Remote LU Alias=MyRemote;Initial Catalog=MyCtlg;Package Collection=MyPkgCol;Default Schema=Schema;User ID=MyUser;Password=MyPW"

Provider=IBMDADB2;Database=sample;HOSTNAME=db2host;PROTOCOL=TCPIP;PORT=50000;uid=myUserName;pwd=myPwd;

"driver={IBM DB2 ODBC DRIVER};Database=myDbName;hostname=myServerName;port=myPortNum;protocol=TCPIP; uid=myUserName; pwd=myPwd"

"Driver={SYBASE ASE ODBC Driver};Srvr=Aron1;Uid=username;Pwd=password"

"Driver={SYBASE ASE ODBC Driver};NA=HOSTNAME,PORT_NUMBER;UID=username;PWD=password"

"Driver={SYBASE SYSTEM 11};Srvr=Aron1;Uid=username;Pwd=password;Database=mydb"

For more information check out the Adaptive Server Enterprise Document Sets

"Driver={INTERSOLV 3.10 32-BIT Sybase};Srvr=Aron1;Uid=username;Pwd=password;"

"ODBC; Driver=Sybase SQL Anywhere 5.0; DefaultDir=c:\dbfolder\;Dbf=c:\mydatabase.db;Uid=username;Pwd=password;Dsn="""""

Note! The two double quota ("") following the DSN parameter at the end are escaped quotas (VB syntax), you may have to change this to your language specific escape syntax (\") or maybe single quota ('). The empty DSN parameter is indeed critical as not including it will result in error 7778. Read more in the Sybase SQL Anywhere User Guide (see part 3, chapter 13) >>

"Data Source='myASEserver';Port=5000;Database='myDBname';UID='username';PWD='password';"

VB.NET:
Imports System.Data.AseClient
Dim oCon As AseConnection = New AseConnection()
oCon.ConnectionString="my connection string"
oCon.Open()

Read more! Adaptive Server Enterprise ADO.NET Data Provider Documentation >>

"Dsn='';Driver={INFORMIX 3.30 32 BIT};Host=hostname;Server=myserver;Service=service-name;Protocol=olsoctcp;Database=mydb;UID=username;PWD=myPwd

"Driver={Informix-CLI 2.5 (32 Bit)};Server=myserver;Database=mydb;Uid=username;Pwd=myPwd"

"Provider=Ifxoledbc.2;password=myPw;User ID=myUser;Data Source=dbName@serverName;Persist Security Info=true"

"Driver={MIMER};Database=mydb;Uid=myuser;Pwd=mypw;"

"Driver={MIMER};Database=mydb;"

"user=USERLOGIN;password=PASSWORD;UDB=USERBASE;server=SERVERNAME"

"DRIVER={PostgreSQL};SERVER=ipaddress;port=5432;DATABASE=dbname;UID=username;PWD=password;"

"Server=127.0.0.1;Port=5432;Userid=myuserid;password=mypw;Protocol=3;SSL=true;Pooling=true;MinPoolSize=3;MaxPoolSize=20;Encoding=UNICODE;Timeout=20;SslMode=Require"

 Without SSL:

Driver={Microsoft Paradox Driver (*.db )};DriverID=538;Fil=Paradox 5.X;DefaultDir=c:\pathToDb\;Dbq=c:\pathToDb\;CollatingSequence=ASCII"

"Provider=MSDASQL.1;Persist Security Info=False;Mode=Read;Extended Properties='DSN=Paradox;DBQ=C:\myDb;DefaultDir=C:\myDb;DriverId=538;FIL=Paradox 7.X;MaxBufferSize=2048;PageTimeout=600;';Initial Catalog=C:\myDb"

"DSN=myDsn;Uid=username;Pwd=;"

"FILEDSN=c:\myData.dsn;Uid=username;Pwd=;"

"Driver={Microsoft Excel Driver (*.xls)};DriverId=790;Dbq=C:\MyExcel.xls;DefaultDir=c:\mypath;"

TIP! SQL syntax: "SELECT * FROM [sheet1$]" - i.e. worksheet name followed by a "$" and wrapped in "[" "]" brackets.

"Provider=Microsoft.Jet.OLEDB.4.0;Data Source=C:\MyExcel.xls;Extended Properties=""Excel 8.0;HDR=Yes;IMEX=1"""

"HDR=Yes;" indicates that the first row contains columnnames, not data

"IMEX=1;" tells the driver to always read "intermixed" data columns as text. Note that this option might affect excel sheet write access negative.

TIP! SQL syntax: "SELECT * FROM [sheet1$]" - i.e. worksheet name followed by a "$" and wrapped in "[" "]" brackets.

TIP! Check out the [HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Jet\4.0\Engines\Excel] located registry REG_DWORD "TypeGuessRows". That's the key to not letting Excel use only the first 8 rows to guess the columns data type. Set this value to 0 to scan all rows. This might hurt performance.

Important note! The two double quota ("") in the string are escaped quotas (VB syntax), you may have to change this to your language specific escape syntax (ex. \") or maybe single quota (').

"Driver={Microsoft Text Driver (*.txt; *.csv)};Dbq=c:\txtFilesFolder\;Extensions=asc,csv,tab,txt;"

"Provider=Microsoft.Jet.OLEDB.4.0;Data Source=c:\txtFilesFolder\;Extended Properties=""text;HDR=Yes;FMT=Delimited"""

"HDR=Yes;" indicates that the first row contains columnnames, not data

Important note! The two double quota ("") in the string are escaped quotas (VB syntax), you may have to change this to your language specific escape syntax (ex. \") or maybe single quota (').

"Driver={Microsoft dBASE Driver (*.dbf)};DriverID=277;Dbq=c:\mydbpath;"

"Provider=Microsoft.Jet.OLEDB.4.0;Data Source=c:\folder;Extended Properties=dBASE IV;User ID=Admin;Password="

"PROVIDER=IBMDA400; DATA SOURCE=MY_SYSTEM_NAME;USER ID=myUserName;PASSWORD=myPwd"

"PROVIDER=IBMDA400; DATA SOURCE=MY_SYSTEM_NAME;USER ID=myUserName;PASSWORD=myPwd;DEFAULT COLLECTION=MY_LIBRARY;"

"Driver={Client Access ODBC Driver (32-bit)};System=my_system_name;Uid=myUserName;Pwd=myPwd"

"ExOLEDB.DataSource"

Specify store in the connection open command like this: conn.open "http://servername/mypublicstore"

Check out

this article at msdn >> and this one at Addison-Wesley >>

"Provider=vfpoledb.1;Data Source=C:\MyDbFolder\MyDbContainer.dbc;Collating Sequence=machine"

"Provider=vfpoledb.1;Data Source=C:\MyDataDirectory\;Collating Sequence=general"

"Provider=vfpoledb.1;DSN=MyDSN"

Read more (Microsoft msdn) >>

"Driver={Microsoft Visual FoxPro Driver};SourceType=DBC;SourceDB=c:\myvfpdb.dbc;Exclusive=No;NULL=NO;Collate=Machine;BACKGROUNDFETCH=NO;DELETED=NO"

"File Name=c:\myDataLink.udl;"