OYSTER has the ability to make use of existing ODBC connections to read reference sources from tables stored in databases systems that can be connected to via ODBC; Microsoft Access is one such database system.

2.1.1 Creating ODBC Connections

ODBC connections are simple to create with Windows XP or a newer Windows OS. The following instructions will guide you through creating an ODBC connection to an Access Database that can be used as an OYSTER source.

1. Open your control panel: Click on Start, then click on Control Panel.

2. Next, double click on the Administrative Tools icon.

3. Then, double click on the Data Sources (ODBC) icon.

4. In the ODBC Data Source Administrator Window, click on the ADD button on the right side of the screen.

5. In the Create New Data Source window, scroll the list and click on Microsoft Access Driver (.mdb, .accdb)

6. Click Finish

7. In the ODBC Microsoft Access Setup window, enter OYSTER in the Data Source Name field.

8. In the Database section click Select.

9. Browse to the folder in which your OYSTER source database is located and select the Access Database file from the list.

10. Click OK for each Window until all windows are closed. The ODBC connection is now set up.

ODBC can be used to create connection too many different types of data sources. For more information about

ODBC connections please refer to this Microsoft knowledge base article: http://support.microsoft.com/kb/110093.

2.1.2 Example from ODBC

The SourceDescriptor illustrated in Figure 5 can be used by OYSTER if the input source is stored in a database, such as Microsoft Access, in which an ODBC connection has been established.