Connect to Exa Data from PowerBuilder via ODBC

The CData ODBC Driver for Exa can be used from any platform or development technology that supports ODBC, including PowerBuilder. This article shows how to connect to Exa data and execute queries from the Database Painter and controls such as the DataWindow.

Connect to Exa as an ODBC Data Source

If you have not already, first specify connection properties in an ODBC DSN (data source name). This is the last step of the driver installation. You can use the Microsoft ODBC Data Source Administrator to create and configure ODBC DSNs.

Start by setting the Profile connection property to the location of the Exa Profile on disk (e.g. C:\profiles\Exa.apip). Next, set the ProfileSettings connection property to the connection string for Exa (see below).

Exa API Profile Settings

Visit dashboard.exa.ai, sign in or create an account, and generate an API key from your API settings.

Create a Profile for the ODBC Driver for Exa

Follow the steps below to use the Database Painter tool to create a database profile based on an ODBC DSN (data source name) for Exa. In the Database Painter, you can use wizards and the UI to work with Exa data.

1. In PowerBuilder, click Tools -> Database Painter.
2. In the Objects window in the Database Painter, right-click the ODBC node and click New Profile.
3. On the Connection tab, enter a name for the profile and select the Exa DSN in the Data Source menu.
4. To view and modify a table, right-click a table and then click Edit Data -> Grid.

Using Exa Data with PowerBuilder Controls

You can use standard PowerBuilder objects to connect to ODBC data sources and execute queries. The following example shows how to retrieve Exa data into a DataWindow. You can add the following code to the open method:

SQLCA.DBMS = "ODBC"
SQLCA.DBParm = "ConnectString='DSN=CData API Source'"
CONNECT USING SQLCA;
dw_answer.SetTransObject(SQLCA);
dw_answer.Retrieve();