Your response is correct for everything but the ODBC SE drivers.
First they don't let you skip any of the LOGIN or DATABASE settings
and, second, they ignore or misinterpret the settings being sent from
my application.  Your second technique is the one we use for Interbase
and MS SQL.

Thanks
Mel

On Wed, 02 Sep 1998 11:19:43 -0700, Adam Dorritie
<[log in to unmask]> wrote:

>Sorry, but I can't speak to the types of cursors supported by ODBC SE
>since I've never used the product.  I can however offer some help with
>creating connections to ODBC on-the-fly.
>
>Most languages provide you with the ability to accomplish this task in
>two ways.  One way is to add (and remove, if desired) a data source from
>your application rather than manually from the ODBC configuration in the
>Control Panel or in Office.  The second is to provide all of the
>connection information in your application without using a permanent DSN
>definition  (a DSN-less connection).  The benefit of the second method
>is that you can change the database name, driver, username, etc. within
>the application.  One catch to all of this is that you have to know the
>ODBC driver name on the PC which is running your application.
>
>The syntax you use will depend on the language and the method you're
>using to hook into ODBC.  Documentation is included with the language
>itself and/or the ODBC interface (e.g. Microsoft's Data Access
>Components).
>
>Good luck,
>
>Adam
>
>Melvin R Rees wrote:
>>
>> I hope someone on the list knows this information.  First, the ODBC SE
>> drivers seem to only support "FORWARD ONLY" cursors.  Is this correct?
>> Can it be changed with configuration settings? And, is there a
>> definitive list of what the ODBC SE drivers support.
>>
>> Pet Peeve #2, since the ODBC Drivers store Logon and Filenames when
>> they are configured, there is no simple way for a program prompt for
>> USER/PASSWORD or Database without creating a new Datasource.  If
>> anyone has any insight here it would be appreciated.
>>
>> In general, I need much better programmer documentation for the ODBC
>> drivers (I know, -there's always minisoft-) if there is anything
>> available I would like to know where to get it.  Not everyone wants to
>> limit access to Microsoft Office.
>>
>> Rgds
>> Mel Rees
>> [log in to unmask]