How to define a DSN without using a tnsnames.ora on the PC client machine

Question

Hi,
Client : Windows XP with Oracle9i ODBC driver
Server : Oracle 10 on Solaris
I need to define a DSN which does not rely on tnsnames.ora on the client machine.
I tried to use a file dsn, but without success, because I don't know the parameters to use.
I used these params in the file.dsn :
[ODBC]
DRIVER=Oracle9i ODBC Driver
UID=testuser
PWD=testpw
SERVER=(DESCRIPTION=(ADDRESS=(PROTOCOL=TCP)(HOST=myhost)(PORT=9999))(CONNECT_DATA=(SERVICE_NAME=testSID)))
It does not work ....

Answer 1

Hrm, interesting. It always used to be DBQ but it seems it might have changed to SERVER at some point.
Anyway, I tried this and it worked fine for me (using 10204)
TESTFILE.DSN
================
[ODBC]
DRIVER=Oracle in OraDb10g_home1
server=(DESCRIPTION=(ADDRESS_LIST=(ADDRESS=(PROTOCOL=TCP)(HOST=gdarling-pc2)(PORT=1521)))(CONNECT_DATA=(SERVER=DEDICATED)(SERVICE_NAME=orcl)))
TEST.VBS
==========
set con = createobject("adodb.connection")
con.open "filedsn=testfile;uid=scott;pwd=tiger;"
set rs = createobject("adodb.recordset")
rs.open "select user from dual",con
msgbox rs.fields(0).value
Note also that unless you really want to create a file dsn, you could also just use a dsnless connection string and pass that directly too:
set con = createobject("adodb.connection")
con.open "driver={Oracle in OraDb10g_home1};uid=scott;pwd=tiger;server=(DESCRIPTION=(ADDRESS_LIST=(ADDRESS=(PROTOCOL=TCP)(HOST=gdarling-pc2)(PORT=1521)))(CONNECT_DATA=(SERVER=DEDICATED)(SERVICE_NAME=orcl)))"
set rs = createobject("adodb.recordset")
rs.open "select user from dual",con
msgbox rs.fields(0).value
Hope it helps,
Greg