Why can't I display any tables when I connect to SQL Server with the dbExpress-ODBC Gateway

This is because the dbExpress interface seems to insist on setting the schema name to the user name in the connection.ini file. For example, in the following entry (where the user name is a Windows user):

[sql_server]
BlobSize=-1
Database=sql1
DriverName=ODBC
Password=pwd
User_Name=Nick Gorham

the dbExpress interface seta the schema of the SQLTables call to Nick Gorham.

This may be what you want, but in most cases, it won't be. The solution is to use the alternative connection method by encoding the user name in the connect string and leaving the User_Name field empty. The tables call is then made with no specified schema:

[sql_server]
BlobSize=-1
Database=DSN=sql1;UID=Nick Gorham;PWD=pwd
DriverName=ODBC
Password=
User_Name=