| Very often in web design and development | | | | Informix-ODBC driver and so on. |
| processes, databases are connected with different | | | | DBMS/RDBMS Server - The server is the database |
| front-end applications. ODBC or Open Database | | | | (such as MS-Access or MS-SQL Server) with which |
| Connectivity is the utility that helps in establishing those | | | | the front-end interacts with the help of the ODBC |
| database connections. It is primarily an open standard | | | | Driver. |
| Application Programming Interface or API for | | | | For Java-based web designing and development |
| accessing a database. | | | | environment, ODBC is used by bridging with JDBC |
| ODBC is a step towards platform independent | | | | (Java Database Connectivity) interface. These are: |
| data-access environment. ODBC helps in diminishing | | | | JDBC-ODBC Bridge - A JDBC-ODBC Bridge consists |
| the need for programmers engaged in the | | | | of a JDBC driver which uses an ODBC driver to |
| development of website or applications to learn multiple | | | | connect to the designated database. |
| application programming interfaces. With ODBC, | | | | ODBC-JDBC Bridge - An ODBC-JDBC Bridge consists |
| application programmers can allow an application to | | | | of an ODBC driver which takes the services of a |
| concurrently modify, access and view from multiple, | | | | JDBC driver to connect to the designated database. |
| diverse databases. As per ODBC specification, a | | | | The various ODBC APIs (from different vendors or |
| developer can either develop an ODBC-enabled | | | | groups) are as follows: |
| "front-end" or "client" desktop application or an ODBC | | | | - Microsoft ODBC |
| driver for the backend server or the database. | | | | - iODBC (Open-source) |
| To use ODBC, the following components are required: | | | | - IBM i5/OS (for DB2) |
| ODBC Client - An ODBC-enabled front-end or client | | | | - UnixODBC |
| developed using any front-end development tool such | | | | - UDBC (cross-platform) |
| as Visual Basic or Lotus. | | | | In simpler words, a DataBase secures relational |
| ODBC DRIVER – The ODBC Driver Catalog | | | | integrity of data in an application and ODBC does the |
| contains a large list of available drivers. For example, to | | | | vital job of connecting the database to the application |
| connect with Informix database one needs the | | | | system. |