Optional Fields

The following fields are optional in Internet Database Connector (IDC) files that are used to create Web pages that are populated with information from a database. For more information about IDC, see IIS Internet Database Connector.

Note

IDC has been deprecated because it does not provide enough security for data connections. IIS 6.0 will be the last version to include IDC.

Field

Description

DefaultParameters = param=value[, param=value] [...]

The parameter values, if any, that will be used in the Internet Database Connector file if a parameter is not specified by the client.

Expires

The number of seconds to wait before refreshing a cached output page. If a subsequent request is identical, the cached page will be returned without ever accessing the database. The Expires field is useful when you want to force a requery of the database after a certain period of time. The IDC does not cache output pages by default. It caches them only when the Expires field is used.

MaxFieldSize

The maximum buffer space allocated by the IDC per field. Any characters beyond this will be truncated. The parameter applies only to fields returned from the database that exceed 8192 bytes. The default value is 8192 bytes.

MaxRecords

The maximum number of records that the IDC will return from any one query. The MaxRecords value is not set by default, meaning that a query can return up to 4 billion records. Set this value to limit the records returned.

ODBCConnection

Insert this field with the value of

Pool

to add the connection to the connection pool, which keeps the connection to the database open for future requests. The IDC then sends data through a pooled connection for subsequent execution of an .idc file that contains the same values for Datasource, Username, and Password. Set this option to improve performance using the Internet Database Connector. Also, there is a nonpool option, which specifies that the connection for the .idc file in which this option is set should not be taken from the connection pool. Set the value of this field to

NoPool

to manage the cache of connections more precisely. Also, if there is a limit on the number of current connections, you do not want the connection pool to monopolize all the connections; otherwise, no one else could connect to the SQL Server.

Password

The password that corresponds to the user name. If the password is null this field can be left out.

RequiredParameters

The parameter names, if any, that Httpodbc.dll will ensure are passed from the client; otherwise, it will return an error. Parameter names are separated with a comma.

Translationfile

The path to the file that maps non-English characters (such as à, ô, or é) so that browsers can display them properly in HTML format. If the translation file is not in the same directory as the .idc file, you must type the full path to the translation file. Syntax: Translationfile: C:\directoryname\filename. Use the Translationfile field if you are publishing a database in a language other than English. A translation file is a text file with each special character mapped in the following format: value=string<CR> where value is an international character and string is the HTML translation code.

Username

A valid user name for the data source name supplied in the Datasource field.

Note

If you use Microsoft SQL Server with the integrated security option, the username and password fields in the .idc file are ignored. The logon to SQL Server is performed using the credentials of the Web user. If the request is made as the anonymous user, the username and password are determined by the settings for the anonymous user (IUSR_computername by default) in the Internet Service Manager. If the client request contained logon credentials, the username and password supplied by the end user are used to log on to SQL Server.

Content-Type

Any valid MIME type describing what will be returned to the client. Almost always this will be "text/html" if the .htx file contains HTML.

Requirements

Client: Requires Windows XP Professional, Windows 2000 Professional, or Windows NT Workstation 4.0.

Server: Requires Windows Server 2003, Windows 2000 Server, or Windows NT Server 4.0.

Product: IIS