Telerik Reporting R1 2018 Makes Database Connectivity Even Easier

The latest release of Telerik Reporting includes a DataDirect ODBC Drivers bundle, making connecting your reports to databases even simpler.

Feeding data to your reports is a simple task, thanks to the many data sources available out-of-the-box in Telerik Reporting. The most used instance is the SqlDataSource, which can connect to virtually any database, if a valid ADO.NET provider is installed on the machine. In our R1 2018 release we have now gone a step further, adding a valuable feature in terms of data connectivity—now our product ships with a bundle of 30+ ODBC drivers, provided by Progress DataDirect for Telerik Reporting at no additional cost.

DataDirect drivers are well known for their great performance and efficiency, which makes them the perfect choice for data-driven applications that require integration with various databases like MySQL, Oracle, OpenEdge, MSSQL and many more.

Connecting Made Easy 

Usually the database developing companies provide connectors and data providers for their products, but the installation process is often preceded by registrations, approvals and downloads of huge bundles of software that might not be necessary. We decided to take only the important parts and squeeze it into a neat package, which is downloaded once and reused when needed. Should you connect to the production database or are just testing a quick proof-of-concept solution, the DataDirect ODBC Drivers Installer will help you connect your report to the needed data. 

Telerik Reporting Exclusive

The installed drivers are branded exclusively for Telerik Reporting and are not intended to be used by other software products. Users should simply use the ODBC drivers no differently than they would usually use ODBC drivers—to create a corresponding ODBC DSN and utilize it in the SqlDataSource Wizard. 

What’s in the Box?

The bundle can be downloaded as a separate ZIP-archive because of its substantial size. It contains a library file, which holds the drivers for x64 and x86 platforms, and two executables, which are the actual driver installers and come in two flavors—a command-line interface and a simple Windows Forms application. The executable files require administrator permissions, since the drivers might be installed in a directory that requires elevated privileges and registered in Windows Registry.

Windows Forms Installer

The single-paged application provides a user-friendly interface that eases the installation/uninstallation process. The current platform (32-bit or 64-bit) is automatically determined, but the user can still change it, choose the exact driver or drivers to be installed, set the target directory and choose if the output log to be written in a file. After clicking the Install button, the application copies and registers the selected drivers, generating a verbose installation log, that can be inspected in-place or copied to clipboard for further examination.

Command Line Installer

The CLI application provides all the necessary options for installing or uninstalling the drivers and is suitable when executing a script or batch file. For a full list of the available arguments, check the documentation here. A typical set of installation command arguments would look like this:

/mode install /targetpath "C:\Program Files\Progress\Telerik Reporting ODBC Drivers" /platform x86 /drivers "SQLS,ORA" /successToken "OK"

Additional Information

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We would love to hear what you think, so feel free to drop us a comment below and share your thoughts. You can also visit our Feedback portal for Reporting and let us know if you have any suggestions or if there are any particular features/controls you would like to see.

Get the Latest Telerik Reporting in our Bundles

Our DataDirect ODBC Drivers Installers are a fast and convenient way to provide database integration to your reports in a matter of minutes. The high performance and rich data source coverage make them a significant contribution to Telerik Reporting. If you would like to learn more, take a look at the new features or try it yourself for free!  

You can get Telerik Reporting as an individual product or as a part of Telerik DevCraft. We bring together a wide range of UI, reporting and productivity tools for both .NET and JavaScript technologies and support that’s got your back in every step of your project. Thanks to our intuitive APIs, alongside thousands of demos with source code availability, comprehensive documentation and a full assortment of VS templates you will get up and running with our tools in no time and fully embrace your inner Kendoka/Ninja warrior.

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