Publish date: 2017-06-21
Updated: 2022-02-19

Connection to the Firebird database in Visual Studio 2017 via the DDEX provider

Introduction
Initial conditions
Installation of DDEX provider
Connection setup
Uninstallation of DDEX provider

[UPD 2019-04-11] This instruction compatible with Visual Studio 2019.

[UPD 2020-03-25] Since version 1.17.0.4032 [R1], the installer can automatically install and uninstall VSIX packages.

Introduction

This document describes the setup of the DDEX provider for Visual Studio 2017 and Data provider for FW4.6.2.

You can setup the DDEX support for Data providers compiled for FW4.5.0 and FW4.7.2 in the same way. The DDEX providers may be installed together.

It is also possible to install the DDEX providers tied to the debug assemblies of Data providers.

You may see this instruction as video on YouTube:

Initial conditions

On the computer must be installed:

  1. Visual Studio 2017
  2. IBProvider v3 [32bit]

Also require the available Firebird SQL Server.

Before starting, it is recommended to check the system tables of database. If they have the errors, you may get be problems with the query generator. Look this instruction.

Installation of DDEX provider

Download and run the EXE-installer of the ADO.NET provider.

Select the following components:

ADO.NET Installer

If you need a Data provider for another version of the .NET Framework (for example, 4.5 or 4.7.2), select it. If you want to use a debug Data provider, select «Debug» checkbox.

Click «Next».

ADO.NET Installer
Check again that you selected the specified components. Otherwise, the DDEX provider will not work or will work incorrectly!

Install the ADO.NET provider.

Installation of ADO.NET provider does not require reboot of computer, but in some cases it is necessary to restart the system to complete the installation.

After installation, the VSIX files for installing DDEX providers will locate in the «c:\Program Files (x86)\LCPI\OleDb.NET\1.8.0\VS2017» directory(*):

VSIX file Data provider platform DDEX provider platform
Release assemblies
lcpi.vs.data.providers.oledb.v2.integrator.vs2017-net4_5_0.net4_6_2.vsix .NET FW v4.5 .NET FW v4.6.2
lcpi.vs.data.providers.oledb.v2.integrator.vs2017-net4_6_2.net4_6_2.vsix .NET FW v4.6.2 .NET FW v4.6.2
lcpi.vs.data.providers.oledb.v2.integrator.vs2017-net4_7_2.net4_7_2.vsix .NET FW v4.7.2 .NET FW v4.7.2
Debug assemblies
lcpi.vs.data.providers.oledb.v2.integrator.vs2017-net4_5_0.net4_6_2.debug.vsix .NET FW v4.5 .NET FW v4.6.2
lcpi.vs.data.providers.oledb.v2.integrator.vs2017-net4_6_2.net4_6_2.debug.vsix .NET FW v4.6.2 .NET FW v4.6.2
lcpi.vs.data.providers.oledb.v2.integrator.vs2017-net4_7_2.net4_7_2.debug.vsix .NET FW v4.7.2 .NET FW v4.7.2
(*) In your installation the name of subfolder «1.8.0» and name of vsix-file may be other. List of vsix-files depends on selected components.

Run cmd.exe with administrator privileges.

DDEX provider will install for all users of the system. Therefore, installation of it requires administrator rights.

Run from this cmd.exe console the file «c:\Program Files (x86)\LCPI\OleDb.NET\1.8.0\VS2017\lcpi.vs.data.providers.oledb.v2.integrator.vs2017-net4_6_2.net4_6_2.vsix».

The VSIX installation window will appear:

VSIX Installer. Begin of installation

Perform installation of the extension:

VSIX Installer. Installation completed
Installation of DDEX provider does not require reboot of computer, but in some cases it is necessary to restart the system to complete the installation.

Connection setup

Run Visual Studio 2017.

«Extensions and Updates» list of Visual Studio will display installed extension with the DDEX provider:

Dialog with list of Visual Studio extensions

The installed extension with the DDEX provider will be displayed in list of installed products in «About Microsoft Visual Studio» dialogue, too:

About Microsoft Visual Studio

Open «Server Explorer» window and click the «Connect to Database» button. The data source selection window will open:

Dialog box for data source selection

Select «Firebird Data Source» and «LCPI .NET Framework Data Provider for OLE DB [FW4.6.2]» and click «OK».

You must specify the main connection parameters in the opened window:

Dialog box for connection adding
If you see an empty list with OLE DB providers, this means incorrect installation of the ADO.NET provider.

Most likely, you did not specify the registration of «DB Factories» in the installer.

Also, perhaps, the reason is that the system list of ADO.NET data providers contains outdated entries. Check the contents of the file «c:\WINDOWS\Microsoft.NET\Framework\v4.0.30319\Config\machine.config» in the «system.data» section.

In some incomprehensible cases, the problem with the empty list of OLE DB providers is solved by re-entering the system (in the extreme case, restarting the computer).

Now click the «Data Links …» button and configure additional parameters:

Data Links. Main page for connection settings
Data Links. Additional page for connection settings

Close «Data Link Properties» dialog box by pressing «OK» and click «Test Connection»:

Result of connection test

Close «Add Connection» dialog box by clicking «OK».

The «[Firebird].[EMPLOYEE]» node, linked to the Firebird database, appears in the «Server Explorer» window:

Server Explorer

Uninstallation of DDEX provider

1. Run Visual Studio 2017 with administrator rights.

2. Select in the menu «Tools->Extensions and Updates…».

3. Find «LCPI Data OLE DB Integration [FB4.6.2]» in the list.

4. Click «Uninstall».

5. Click «Yes» in the dialog that appears.

6. Click on the «Close» button in the dialog.

7. Close Visual Studio.

8. You should see the modification dialogue Visual Studio «VSIX Installer».

9. Click «Modify».

10. Wait for the process to complete.

Publish date: 2017-06-21. Copyright: IBProvider. This material may be reproduced on other web sites, without written permission but link https://www.ibprovider.com/eng required.
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