Using the Data Source Catalog to connect to Databases in a Windows SharePoint Services-based Web Site

The Data Source Catalog in FrontPage can be used in Web sites created with Windows SharePoint Services to act as a single location for accessing and managing data sources in your site. Whether the data source exists on your server or on an external server as long as you have access rights to the data source, you can interact with it by using the Data Source Catalog.

In the example below, a database connection to a Microsoft SQL Server database is created and the connection will get data from the “Products” table in the “Northwind” sample database.

Using the page you wish to work with in FrontPage 2003, open the Data Source Catalog task pane from the Insert menu by selecting Database, then Data View, and create a new database connection as follows:

1. In the Data Source Catalog task pane, click on the + sign next to Database Connections and click the Add to catalog link. This brings up the Data Source Properties dialog box.

2. Click on the General tab and enter a name for the connection. This should be a name that easily identifies the data associated with this connection. (Example: Northwind_Products which is the Products table in Northwind database)

3. Click on the Source tab and click the Configure Database Connection button to bring up the Configure Database Connection dialog box.
   
   
    

4. Enter the name of the server and select the authentication type from the choices available:

   • Save this username… allows you to type in a specific user name and password that identifies you to the data source.

   • Use Windows Authentication uses integrated security – your windows credentials are used for authentication at the data source. If you choose this option, make sure that integrated security is supported by the data source (for example, Microsoft SQL Server), and that it is configured to accept Windows sign-on credentials.
     
     Tip: If you need to connect to an external database, you should use Save this username… or Use Single Sign-on… authentication types. This is because, when using Windows Authentication, only “one-hop” of the credentials are allowed. Thus external databases cannot be authenticated using the users Windows credentials.
      

   • Use Single Sign-On… can be used when this site is part of a portal created using Microsoft SharePoint Portal Server.

   • Use Custom… lets you specify an OLEDB connection string used to connect to the database. This option can be used for fine grained control of the connection.

5. Click Next to select the table, view or stored procedure that you want to use as the source of data for this connection. (Example: choose Northwind in the drop down list of databases and select Products from the Table, view or stored procedure list)
    

6. Click Finish to complete this wizard and OK to exit the Data Source Properties dialog box.
   
   

More information
For more information about Data Source Catalog, see Microsoft FrontPage 2003 Help.