Format of the .ini File

This topic provides a brief description of the .ini file's sections and meanings, along with a sample .ini file. For most providers, the .ini file will not have to be modified because it is generated by the TableDump utility.

[INFO:]

This section contains all provider initialization and other initialization information, including:

The provider's name
The table name to use in IOpenRowset and/or the default query

In the following sample from the Microsoft® OLE DB Provider for ODBC, the table is Customers and the initialization properties are DBPROP_INIT_DATASOURCE, DBPROP_AUTH_PASSWORD, and DBPROP_AUTH_USERID:

   [INFO] PROVIDER=; TABLENAME=; DEFAULTQUERY=;
   VERSION=1,50,3518,0;
   TABLE=Privlib;  PROVIDER=TestPWProv_VC; TABLENAME=Privlib; 
   OUTPUT=c:\bin\TestPWProv_VC.ini; BINDINGTYPE=DBTYPE_VARIANT;

[URL]

This section specifies URL information that the test will use when testing your provider. Options include:

DSO
Session
Rowset
Row
Stream

Modify this section by inserting the correct information between the quotes. For an example, see the .ini File Example.

[QUERY]

This section contains a list of all the command statements that the test will try to use in the process of testing the provider. TableDump will generate these statements based on the specified default query when the tool is used. This section seldom needs modification.

[COLUMN]

This section lists all columns found on the specified table or a result from the default query. It contains all the information commonly reported from IColumnsInfo, such as type information, precision, scale, and other informational flags to be used when creating and verifying data:

[COLUMN] ColName iOrdinal, TYPE, ulColumnSize, bPrecision,

bScale, dwFlags, ColIDKind, ColIDGuid, ColIDName

[DATA]

This section lists all data found on the specified table or a result from the default query. The format is a 1:1 correspondence to the COLUMN section. The first row of data is for the first row, and the first column refers to the first column in the COLUMN section. All data is represented in the file in {"String"} format, and NULL is represented as {(null)}. When the testing framework reads this file back in, all types will get converted back into the correct type indicated in the COLUMN section. When the column is of type VARIANT, the data value is also prefixed with the VT_TYPE indicator for the specified subtype. To represent a VARIANT with subtype VT_I4 and Value 3, TableDump will produce VT_I4("3") and DBTYPE_VARIANT will be indicated in the COLUMN section. This is for providers that support VARIANT types or those that support the possibility of every VARIANT in different rows being of a different subtype.