How to expose database of SQL Server on ODBC - sql-server-2005

Question

I am new to ODBC and have started reading articles to get aware of ODBC.
I have got a requirement to expose database that is currently hosted on SQL Server to be exposed to the users for other applications on ODBC so that other developers can create reports and perform other operations using ODBC.
What I need to do for this, do I need to write an API or just need to expose connection on ODBC driver and it will handle rest of the things?
Primary requirement is to expose database for user so that they can create there own Crystal Reports.
Please suggest some good links for the same.
I am going through following links
http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/aa299159(v=SQL.80).aspx

Answer 1

All you need to do is to configure ODBC connection on client machines. Of course SQL Server must be listening and accepting connections from clients.
To configure ODBC connection you can use ODBC manager. There is System DSN tab with "Add" button. Then use "SQL Server" or "SQL Server Native Client 10.0" driver and fill fields needed by driver. In your application you can use such DSN, or use ConnectString. Such connect string looks like:
Driver={SQL Native Client};Server=myServerAddress;Database=myDataBase; Uid=myUsername;Pwd=myPassword;
More examples at: http://www.connectionstrings.com/sql-server#p3
I don't know what language you use, but with Python (I use ActiveState Python with odbc module) you can try if ODBC works as expected with code:
import odbc
# connect string
db = odbc.odbc('Driver={SQL Native Client};Server=myServerAddress;Database=myDataBase; Uid=myUsername;Pwd=myPassword;')
# DSN
db = odbc.odbc('my_dsn/user/passwd')
c = db.cursor()
rs = c.execute("SELECT count(*) FROM tmp_table WHERE txt='ala'")
for txt in c.fetchall():
print('%s' % (txt[0]))
(of course change table and column name)