About Data Link Syntax

When you create a data link, a connection string is returned to your application. The syntax of the data link must specify the appropriate OLE DB provider and adhere to several formatting rules.

Basic Data Link Format

The basic format of a connection string is based on the ODBC connection string. The string contains a series of keyword/value pairs separated by semi-colons. The equals sign (=) separates each keyword and its value. For example:

keyword1=value; keyword2=value

Any leading or trailing spaces around a keyword or value is ignored. However, spaces within a keyword or value are allowed and recognized.

Note   For more information about data link syntax, see the Data Link API in the Microsoft OLE DB SDK.