Connecting to Zoho Books

Applications that support ODBC interface with an ODBC Driver Manager, which is included with the operating system, and also the Easysoft ODBC driver distribution on some platforms. One of the jobs that the ODBC Driver Manager does is to manage ODBC data sources. A data source specifies which ODBC driver to load, which data store to connect to, and how to connect to it.

Before setting up a data source, you must have successfully installed the Easysoft ODBC-Zoho Books Driver.

Connecting from Linux or UNIX

Creating an ODBC data source

There are two ways to create a data source to your Zoho Books data:

  • Create a SYSTEM data source, which is available to anyone who logs on to the computer where the Easysoft ODBC-Zoho Books Driver is installed.

    – Or –

  • Create a USER data source, which is only available to the user who is currently logged on to the computer where the Easysoft ODBC-Zoho Books Driver is installed.

By default, the Easysoft ODBC-Zoho Books Driver installation creates a sample SYSTEM data source named . If you’re using the unixODBC included in the Easysoft ODBC-Zoho Books Driver distribution, the SYSTEM odbc.ini file is in /etc.

If you built unixODBC yourself, or installed it from some other source, SYSTEM data sources are stored in the path specified with the configure option --sysconfdir=directory. If sysconfdir was not specified when unixODBC was configured and built, it defaults to /usr/local/etc.

If you accepted the default choices when installing the Zoho Books, USER data sources must be created and edited in $HOME/.odbc.ini.

Notes

  • To display the directory where unixODBC stores SYSTEM and USER data sources, type odbcinst -j.

  • By default, you must be logged in as root to edit a SYSTEM data source defined in /etc/odbc.ini.

You can either edit the sample data source or create new data sources.

Each section of the odbc.ini file starts with a data source name in square brackets [ ] followed by a number of attribute=value pairs.

The Driver attribute identifies the ODBC driver in the odbcinst.ini file to use for a data source. When the Easysoft ODBC-Zoho Books Driver is installed into unixODBC, it places a Easysoft Zoho Books ODBC Driver entry into the odbcinst.ini file. You should always have Driver = Easysoft Zoho Books ODBC Driver in your Easysoft ODBC-Zoho Books Driver data sources therefore.

To configure a Easysoft ODBC-Zoho Books Driver data source, in your odbc.ini file, you need to specify:

The Easysoft ODBC-Zoho Books Driver must be able to find the following shared objects:

  • libodbcinst.so

    By default, this is located in /usr/local/easysoft/unixODBC/lib/.

  • libeslicshr.so

    By default, this is located in /usr/local/easysoft/lib/.

  • libessupp.so By default, this is located in /usr/local/easysoft/lib/.

You may need to set and export LD_LIBRARY_PATH, SHLIB_PATH, or LIBPATH (depending on your operating system and run-time linker) to include the directories where libodbcinst.so, libeslicshr.so, and libessupp.so are located.

The isql query tool lets you test your Easysoft ODBC-Zoho Books Driver data sources. To test the Easysoft ODBC-Zoho Books Driver connection:

  1. Change directory into /usr/local/easysoft/unixODBC/bin.

  2. Enter ./isql -v data_source, where data_source is the name of the target data source.

  3. At the prompt, enter an SQL query. For example:

    SQL> ;

    –Or–

  4. Enter help to return a list of tables:

    SQL> help

Connecting from Windows

Creating an ODBC data source

  1. In the Windows Taskbar Search box, enter “Run”.

  2. Do one of the following:

    • If your application is 64-bit, in the Run dialog box, enter:

      odbcad32.exe

      -Or-

    • If your application is 32-bit, in the Run dialog box, enter:

      %windir%\syswow64\odbcad32.exe
      If you’re not sure whether your application is 32-bit or 64-bit, start your application, then in Windows Task Manager check whether your application’s process name contains (32-bit). For example, the process name for the 32-bit version of Excel is Microsoft Excel (32-bit); the process name for the 64-bit version of Excel is Microsoft Excel. On older versions of Windows, 32-bit applications contain *32 in the process name rather than (32-bit).
      For applications such as Oracle or SQL Server that run as a service, check the *Background processes* list rather than the Apps list in Task Manager.
      If you’re running a programming language from within a Windows command-line shell (for example, Command or PowerShell), in your shell, run the .exe file for the programming language. For example, run perl, php, python, or node. In Task Manager, expand the process list for Windows Command Processor or Windows PowerShell, as appropriate, and check whether the process for your programming language contains (32-bit).

  3. Do one of the following:

    • To create a data source that only the user you’re currently logged in as can access, choose the User tab.
      If your application is a Windows service (for example, SQL Server or Oracle) creating a user data source won’t work, unless the service is running as the same user you’re logged in as.

    • To create a data source that all users on this computer can access, choose the System tab.

  4. Choose Add.

  5. In the list of ODBC drivers, select Easysoft ODBC-Zoho Books Driver, and then choose Finish.

  6. Complete the Easysoft ODBC-Zoho Books Driver configuration dialog box.
    To find out how to do this, refer to the Connection attributes section.

  7. To test the connection to Zoho Books, choose Test.
    Note that this doesn’t test that the Easysoft ODBC-Zoho Books Driver is licensed. If you haven’t yet licensed the Easysoft ODBC-Zoho Books Driver, this ODBC data source won’t work with your application, even if the Test button succeeds.