Operation Manual

514

USING DREAMWEAVER

Preparing to build dynamic sites

Last updated 3/28/2012

Create a connection using a remote DSN

Note: This section assumes you have set up an ASP application. It also assumes a database is set up on your local

computer or on a system to which you have network or FTP access.

Note: Dreamweaver can retrieve only server DSNs created with the Windows ODBC Data Source Administrator.

You can use a DSN defined on a remote computer to create a database connection in Dreamweaver. If you want to use

a remote DSN, the DSN must be defined on the Windows computer running your application server (probably IIS).

Note: Because you can only specify an ODBC driver in a DSN, you must use a connection string if you want to use an

OLE DB provider.

1 Define a DSN on the remote system running your application server.

For instructions, see the following articles on the Microsoft website:

• If the remote computer runs Windows 2000, see Microsoft Knowledge Base Article 300596 at

http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;300596

• If the remote computer runs Windows XP, see Microsoft Knowledge Base Article 305599 at

http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;305599

2 Open an ASP page in Dreamweaver, then open the Databases panel (Window > Databases).

3 Click the Plus (+) button on the panel and select Data Source Name (DSN) from the menu.

4 Enter a name for the new connection, without spaces or special characters.

5 Select Using DSN On Testing Server.

Note: Macintosh users can ignore this step because all database connections use DSNs on the application server.

6 Enter the DSN or click the DSN button to connect to the server and select the DSN for the database you want, then

complete the options.

7 Complete the User Name and Password boxes.

8 You can restrict the number of database items Dreamweaver retrieves at design time by clicking Advanced and

entering a schema or catalog name.

Note: You cannot create a schema or catalog in Microsoft Access.

9 Click Test to connect to the database, and then click OK. If the connection fails, double-check the connection string

or check the settings for the testing folder Dreamweaver uses to process dynamic pages.