Question:

Whenever I try to connect to a Web Project that I have built (mostly with the Visual InterDev wizards) and I try to run the page in a browser I get the following dialog:

“[Microsoft][ODBCR Driver Manager]Data source name not found and no default driver specified”

The script debugger stops at the line:

DataConnArchiveFiles.Open Session(“DataConnArchiveFiles_ConnectionString”), Session(“DataConnArchiveFiles_RuntimeUserName”), Session(“DataConnArchiveFiles_RuntimePassword”)

I used the data connection build to create the data connection, and I have tried to use a System data source as well as a file data source, but all obtain the same error message.

The environment is Windows NT Server, with full install of the NT Server Options pack, and Visual InterDev 1.0 patched to Visual Studio Patch 3.

Being new to ASP environment and programming (although I understand VBScript pretty well, as I have done lots of VB 5.0 developing), I’m confused at what to do. I have searched the Microsoft Knowledgebase, and found nothing that has worked.

Thanks,
Erik

Answer:

Check that your global.asa file is executing. A common problem is that the Web in question is not marked as an application in IIS4. Sometimes a global.asa is working, but not the one in your Web. Also, you might want to check that you don’t have duplicate data source names. This can happen if you are using a file DSN and system DSN.

One sure-fire workaround is to hardcode the connection string in one of your ASP files. That way, you won’t be depending on the global.asa or the session variables to provide your connection string.