DB connections

This page is used to manage (add, edit or delete) connections to databases where data which you want to show are stored. It provides a convenient way to define connections in one place and then use them in any number of data sources (one connection can be used by any number of data sources).

On this page administrator can

1. Create a new connection using "New" button.
2. Edit an existing connection by clicking it's name or by selecting checkbox at left of appropriate connection and clicking "Edit" button.
3. Remove connections by selecting checkbox at left of appropriate connections and clicking "Delete" button.
4. Choose a connection which will be used by default. For this click by icon in "Default" column from connections grid.

Create/edit connection

The following parameters can be defined for connection:

• ID is record number in the database. Can be used by a 3rd party extension to manipulate with the entity.
• Name is a name of the connection.
• Description is a description of the connection.
• Debug if the parameter is set to "Yes", some debugging information about connection will be shown on pages where it is used. It can be useful to investigate problems  with the connection (when not possible to connect to DB or data are not retrieved and etc.). If you don't have any problem with the connection set this parameter to "No".
• Connection type set the parameter to "- Joomla! database -" value if want to connect to Joomla! database (database where Joomla! tables are stored) otherwise set the parameter to "External database" value. If the parameter is set to "External database" then it requires to define connection parameters so the extension knows how to connect to the selected database. The following parameters are available for "External database" type:
• DB type is used to specify database type (or driver) (for example MySQL, Sybase and etc.)
• Host is used to specify address of server where database is located. For example: localhost, 192.168.0.10:3306 and etc. If you don't know address of your database, contact your DB administrator (or hosting support).
• User is a login which is used to connect to the database. For example: root, admin and etc.
• Password is a password which is used in pair with login (User parameter) to connect to the database.
• DB name is a name of the database to which you want to connect.
• Persistent connection is used to specify should be used persistent connection (if it is supported by selected DB driver) or not.
• Charset define this parameter only if connect to MySQL database and is stored in non-UTF8 encoding. In this case set the parameter to utf8 value.

F.A.Q. and troubleshooting

1. How to connect to a database via ODBC?

Check that ODBC PHP extension is installed on your web server and ODBC drivers is installed on your database server (you can ask your DB administrator and/or hosting support to check it). Check also that ODBC Data Source Name is registered on your web server (sample instructions are available here).

1. How to connect to MS SQL database?

If you use PHP 5.3+ then connect to MS SQL via ODBC. For this set "Connection type → External database → DB type" parameter to ODBC value and use the following connection string for Driver={SQL Server Native Client 10.0};Server=DBHOST;Database=DBNAME; for "Connection type → External database → Host" parameter. Where DBHOST is address of server where database is installed and DBNAME is database name. For example if database is located on 192.168.0.33 host and has name ReportsDB, use the following connection string:

Driver={SQL Server Native Client 10.0};Server=192.168.0.33;Database=ReportsDB;