Connecting to an existing data source
To connect to an existing data source you need to know
the file name and location if it’s a csv, Excel or Access source,
or
the server name, database name, and any required user id and password if it’s an SQL or other ODBC database source.
or
the DSN name if it’s a DSN source already defined on your computer.
You also need to know how the data should be selected, and this usually requires the Table or Query name that holds the data in a database, or the name of the sheet containing the data in Excel.
Some examples given below should clarify this.
Selecting Data Source from the Edit menu displays the Data source properties dialog box
The Source type drop-down list provides some of the Connection string data for the a number of common data sources, including:
MS Acces
Excel
CSV files
DSN sources
SQL Server
Oracle Server
