Connect to Access Data from PowerBuilder

The CData ADO.NET providers are easy-to-use, standards-based controls that can be used from any platform or development technology that supports Microsoft .NET, including PowerBuilder. This article shows how to use the CData ADO.NET Provider for Access in PowerBuilder.

This article shows how to create a basic PowerBuilder application that uses the CData ADO.NET Provider for Access to retrieve data.

1. In a new WPF Window Application solution, add all the Visual Controls needed for the connection properties. Below is a typical connection string:

   DataSource=C:\MyDB.accdb;

   To connect, set the DataSource property to the path to the Access database.

2. Add the DataGrid control from the .NET controls.
3. Configure the columns of the DataGrid control. Below are several columns from the Account table: <DataGrid AutoGenerateColumns="False" Margin="13,249,12,14" Name="datagrid1" TabIndex="70" ItemsSource="{Binding}"> <DataGrid.Columns> <DataGridTextColumn x:Name="idColumn" Binding="{Binding Path=Id}" Header="Id" Width="SizeToHeader" /> <DataGridTextColumn x:Name="nameColumn" Binding="{Binding Path=OrderName}" Header="OrderName" Width="SizeToHeader" /> ... </DataGrid.Columns> </DataGrid>
4. Add a reference to the CData ADO.NET Provider for Access assembly.

Connect the DataGrid

Once the visual elements have been configured, you can use standard ADO.NET objects like Connection, Command, and DataAdapter to populate a DataTable with the results of an SQL query:

The code above can be used to bind data from the specified query to the DataGrid.