Connecting to SQL Server

How to connect Nios4 to SQL database

The Windows version of Nios4 usually uses Access databases because it allows you to perform simple installations without additional software.

After all, Access is a database system created to manage a few data with reduced performance. In case you need to handle several records, especially on your local network, you can switch to SQL Server: the main Microsoft database system. In this article, you will learn how to do it.

Nios4 always first creates the Access database to connect. This means that your SQL Server database will be connected after a standard installation.

How to do it

First, from the Database Manager press the Add button.

Select the Advanced Connection item (Connessione Avanzata, in the screenshot above), so you can define the database connection string. Remember that the database must already be present in SQL Server as an instance. It is fundamental that you have already created it because, during the first connection, Nios4 automatically generates the fields and tables required for the proper operation of the database.

On this screen, you can select the starting point for creating, or more correctly, connecting to the SQL Server database.

The most interesting entry is the Current Database (Database attuale, in the picture above), which allows the direct connection of an Access database to an SQL Server one.

In the last window, enter the connection string and set the provider, the database name, the username, and the password. If necessary, you may have to input the remaining parameters to connect.

By clicking Next (Avanti, in the screen capture above), the program will try to connect. If successful, the software will add the database to its collection and make it available.

Remember that the username and the password of the database connection are not the ones used to open the program! It will be your system administrator who will provide you with the connection string.