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The Active Directory ODBC Driver is a powerful tool that allows you to connect with live Active Directory, directly from any applications that support ODBC connectivity.

Access Active Directory objects like you would a database - access Users, Groups, Roles, and Contacts, or define custom tables for any ObjectClass, and then perform SQL queries through a standard ODBC Driver interface.

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Connect to Active Directory Data from PowerBuilder


This article demonstrates how to use the CData ODBC Driver for Active Directory to connect to Active Directory data and execute queries in PowerBuilder.

The CData ODBC Driver for Active Directory can be used from any platform or development technology that supports ODBC, including PowerBuilder. This article shows how to connect to Active Directory data and execute queries from the Database Painter and controls such as the DataWindow.

Connect to Active Directory as an ODBC Data Source

If you have not already, first specify connection properties in an ODBC DSN (data source name). This is the last step of the driver installation. You can use the Microsoft ODBC Data Source Administrator to create and configure ODBC DSNs.

To establish a connection, set the following properties:

  • Valid User and Password credentials (e.g., Domain\BobF or cn=Bob F,ou=Employees,dc=Domain).
  • Server information, including the IP or host name of the Server, as well as the Port.

  • BaseDN: This will limit the scope of LDAP searches to the height of the distinguished name provided.

    Note: Specifying a narrow BaseDN may greatly increase performance; for example, cn=users,dc=domain will only return results contained within cn=users and its children.

Create a Profile for the ODBC Driver for Active Directory

Follow the steps below to use the Database Painter tool to create a database profile based on an ODBC DSN (data source name) for Active Directory. In the Database Painter, you can use wizards and the UI to work with Active Directory data.

  1. In PowerBuilder, click Tools -> Database Painter.
  2. In the Objects window in the Database Painter, right-click the ODBC node and click New Profile.
  3. On the Connection tab, enter a name for the profile and select the Active Directory DSN in the Data Source menu.
  4. To view and modify a table, right-click a table and then click Edit Data -> Grid.

Using Active Directory Data with PowerBuilder Controls

You can use standard PowerBuilder objects to connect to ODBC data sources and execute queries. The following example shows how to retrieve Active Directory data into a DataWindow. You can add the following code to the open method:

SQLCA.DBMS = "ODBC" SQLCA.DBParm = "ConnectString='DSN=CData ActiveDirectory Source'" CONNECT USING SQLCA; dw_user.SetTransObject(SQLCA); dw_user.Retrieve();