Listing Installed ODBC Drivers

Problem

You need a list of the ODBC drivers installed on the computer running your code.

Solution

Consult the registry.

The sample code uses the Microsoft.Win32.Registry class to display a list of all installed ODBC drivers.

The C# code is shown in Example 10-17.

Example 10-17. File: OdbcDriversForm.cs

// Namespaces, variables, and constants using System; using System.Text; using Microsoft.Win32; // . . . StringBuilder result = new StringBuilder( ); // Get the HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINESOFTWAREODBCODBCINST.INIODBC Drivers key. RegistryKey keyLocalMachine = Registry.LocalMachine.OpenSubKey(@"SOFTWAREODBCODBCINST.INIODBC Drivers", false); string[] valueNames = keyLocalMachine.GetValueNames( ); for(int i = 0; i < valueNames.Length; i++) result.Append(valueNames[i] + Environment.NewLine); resultTextBox.Text = result.ToString( );

Discussion

The .NET Framework classes that manipulate the registry are found in the Microsoft.Win32 namespace. The registry key HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINESOFTWAREODBCODBCINST.INIODBC Drivers contains a value name for each installed ODBC driver.