Patrick Mcelduff wrote:
>I am trying to use the odbc command to read data from an Access
>database - without any luck at all. I am stuck at the first hurdle.
>The database is called pat and the table is called cared. I thought
>the following command should work - but it doesn't. The problem is
>with dsn.
>
>odbc load, dsn("pat") table("cared")
>
>Initially I had a directory path in the command but removed it and
>moved the file to the current directory.
>
>When I type,
>
>odbc query pat
>
>I get a message indicating that the data source name is not found.
>
>What am I doing wrong
It looks like you haven't set up your data source name (DSN) yet. What goes in
the -dsn- option of Stata's -odbc- suite of commands is the DSN and not the
name of the database or its directory path. The DSN provides the link to the
database.
Setting up the DSN is done via the operating system. In Windows, you would set
up the DSN via the "Data Sources (ODBC)" application found in the Control
Panel. From the "Data Sources" application, you can go to the tab labeled
"User DSN" and click "Add." Choose "Microsoft Access Driver (.mdb)" from the
scroll-down menu, and click "Finish." It will open a new subpanel titled
"Microsoft Access Setup." Type the name you choose for your DSN in the first
box of this subpanel, labeled "Data Source Name." What you type in this box is
what you will type in the -dsn()- option in the Stata command. (Any arbitrary
name will do--choose something short, descriptive and unique. I usually use
the name of the database without the .mdb suffix.) The second box
("Description") may be left empty. The "Database" section of the subpanel has
four buttons; select "Select..." and wend your way to the directory where your
database (pat.mdb) resides and select it. Click "Ok" for this "Select..."
subsubpanel and then "Ok" again for the subpanel and then "Ok" yet again for
the main panel ("ODBC Data Source Administrator"). You're done, and now can
use the newly created DSN in Stata's -odbc- commands. Note that it gets
slightly more complicated if you placed user-access restrictions (priveleges,
users, user groups, etc.) on your database; in that case you will have to
identify the system database that contains those settings from the "Microsoft
Access Setup" subpanel.
Joseph Coveney
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