Simplest Way to Test ODBC on WIndows

Question

With unixODBC you can use a simple command line utility called "isql" to test your connection and permissions of some queries. Without having to write extra code or install libs or bloated programs, is there a simple way to open up X data source send some sql commands and be done with it?

Doing this on the command line would be preferable.

Answer 1

One way to create a quick test query in Windows via an ODBC connection is using the DQY format.

To achieve this, create a DQY file (e.g. test.dqy) containing the magic first two lines (XLODBC and 1) as below, followed by your ODBC connection string on the third line and your query on the fourth line (all on one line), e.g.:

XLODBC
1
Driver={Microsoft ODBC for Oracle};server=DB;uid=scott;pwd=tiger;
SELECT COUNT(1) n FROM emp

Then, if you open the file by double-clicking it, it will open in Excel and populate the worksheet with the results of the query.

Answer 2

Make a file SOMEFILENAME.udl then double click on it and set it up as an ODBC connection object, username, pwd, target server

Answer 3

You can use the "Test Connection" feature after creating the ODBC connection through Control Panel > Administrative Tools > Data Sources.

To test a SQL command itself you could try:

http://www.sqledit.com/odbc/runner.html

http://www.sqledit.com/sqlrun.zip

Or (perhaps easier and more useful in the long run) you can make a test ASP.NET or PHP page in a couple minutes to run SQL statement yourself through IIS.

Answer 4

For ad hoc queries, the ODBC Test utility is pretty handy. Its design and interface is more oriented toward testing various parts of the ODBC API. But it works quite nicely for running queries and showing the output. It is part of the Microsoft Data Access Components.

To run a query, you can click the connect button (or use ctrl-F), choose a data source, type a query, then ctrl-E to execute it and ctrl-R to display the results (e.g., if it is a SELECT or something that returns a cursor).

Answer 5

a simple way is:

create a fake "*.UDL" file on desktop

(UDL files are described here: https://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/e38h511e(v=vs.71).aspx.

in case you can also customized it as explained there. )