Driver

A driver is a DLL that implements ODBC function calls and interacts with a data source.

The driver manager loads a driver when the application calls the SQLBrowseConnect, SQLConnect, or SQLDriverConnect function.

A driver performs the following tasks in response to ODBC function calls from an application:
  • Establishes a connection to a data source.
  • Submits requests to the data source.
  • Translates data to or from other formats, if requested by the application.
  • Returns results to the application.
  • Formats errors into standard error codes and returns them to the application.
  • Declares and manipulates cursors if necessary. This operation is invisible to the application unless there is a request for access to a cursor name.
  • Initiates transactions of the data source. This operation is invisible to the application.