HP Intelligent Management Center Standard Software Platform - Manual (Page 731)

accessed by a single application. An application need only communicate
with one set of files (ODBC) to be able to work with any source of data that
can be accessed by ODBC.
There are hundreds of Database Management Systems (DBMS) available
for personal computers, and thousands of applications that access DBMS
data. Normally, a company that designs an application that accesses data,
such as Crystal Reports, must develop a means for the application to
communicate with each type of data that a customer might want to use.
Crystal Reports does this with the databases that it can access directly.
On the other hand, if a DBMS simply provides a means by which ODBC can
access its data, the DBMS data becomes an ODBC data source. Any
application that can communicate with ODBC (such as Crystal Reports), will
instantly have access to any ODBC data source. With ODBC drivers available
for most common DBMS products, the range of data types that Crystal
Reports can use is almost unlimited.
Advantages
Perhaps the biggest advantage to accessing data through ODBC is the ability
to access a wide range of data with just one interface. Since most popular
Database Management Systems now offer ODBC drivers, with more
appearing every day, Crystal Reports can use any type of data you have.
Because of the extreme flexibility built into ODBC, you can use the same
report file with different ODBC data sources. For example, you might design
a report using an Oracle data source, and later, if your company switches
to Microsoft SQL Server, you can simply change the ODBC data source
used by your report. The only requirement is that the new data source must
have the same structure (tables and fields) that the original data source had
(although table names can be different). For more information, search for
the topic called "Changing the data source accessed by a report" in the
Crystal Reports Online Help.
Experienced SQL (Structured Query Language) programmers also benefit
from the ODBC standard. Since Crystal Reports uses SQL to communicate
with ODBC, SQL programmers and Database Administrators can view and
edit the SQL statements sent to ODBC, controlling exactly how data is
retrieved from the data source.
Crystal Reports 2008 SP3 User's Guide 731
26 Accessing Data Sources
ODBC data sources