Use Supported Databases

Supported Databases

The following is a list of database programs and servers (and their corresponding OLE DB providers) with which the HotDocs has been tested and is certified to work. These databases include:

  • Microsoft Access (Microsoft.Jet.OLEDB)
  • Microsoft SQL Server (SQLOLEDB)
  • Oracle (It is strongly recommended that you use the Oracle Provider for OLE DB (OraOLEDB) instead of the Microsoft OLE DB Provider for Oracle (MSDAORA).)
  • Any ODBC level 1-compliant database (using the Microsoft OLE DB provider for ODBC (MSDASQL))

HotDocs may also function with other OLE DB providers, as long as the following conditions are met: 1) The OLE DB provider must accept plain-text command strings, 2) the OLE DB provider must return rowsets (ADO Recordsets) as the result of commands—not records and/or streams, and 3) the database must reside in a location accessible by HotDocs. OLE DB providers that expose data in individual Rows and/or Fields (but not Rowsets) will not work. Please keep in mind that these are recommended guidelines and meeting these guidelines does not necessarily mean your provider will work with HotDocs.

Providers.ini

If you are able to establish a connection to a database using an OLE DB provider, but are having trouble accessing certain data types (most noticeably dates), you can use a file called Providers.ini, which supplies HotDocs with information specific to each OLE DB provider it accesses. This file augments information not provided by the database and supersedes HotDocs' own defaults or information which may have been provided by the database.

The Providers.ini file was installed and saved to the HotDocs program folder at the time HotDocs was installed. You can edit its contents using any text editor. It contains a header explaining the file's syntax and the possible options which can be specified there. HotDocs queries each OLE DB provider it uses for as much of this information as possible, but it is possible the information is not supplied. If this is the case, you must create an entry for the OLE DB provider in Providers.ini. (Examples for doing this are included in the file itself.)

HotDocs needs to know certain details about how to build database commands for a given OLE DB provider. Among these are:

  • How the database expects dates to be formatted.
  • How dates are delimited.
  • How database literals (table and column names) that contain spaces are delimited.
  • How schema and/or catalog names are separated from table names.

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