A:   Guidlines for working with Access under Delphi/BDE/ODBC:

 The ODBC driver provided with Access 2.0 (ODBCJT16.DLL with a file size of <65k) is designed to work only within the Microsoft Office environment. To work with ODBC/Access in Delphi, you need the Microsoft ODBC Desktop Driver (ODBCJT16.DLL with a file size of approx 260k) kit, part# 273-054-030 available from Microsoft Direct for $10.25US (post on WINEXT for where to get it in your country if you are not in the US). It is also available on the Jan. MSDN, Level 2 (Development Platform) CD4 \ODBC\X86 as part of the ODBC 2.1 SDK. Be aware that your redistribution rights for the Desktop Drivers are pretty restricted by Microsoft. For info on (and objections to) the restrictions post on the WINEXT forum.

 You also need the following ODBC files.

 Minimum:
  ODBC.DLL       03.10.1994, Version 2.00.1510
  ODBCINST.DLL   03.10.1994, Version 2.00.1510
  ODBCINST.HLP   11.08.1993
  ODBCADM.EXE    11.08.1993, Version 1.02.3129

 Better:
  ODBC.DLL       12.07.1994, Version 2.10.2401
  ODBCINST.DLL   12.07.1994, Version 2.10.2401
  ODBCINST.HLP   12.07.1994
  ODBCADM.EXE    12.07.1994, Version 2.10.2309

 The following steps will get you started in Delphi

  1. Using the ODBC Administrator, set-up a datasource for your database. Be sure to specify a path to your mdb file. For the purposes of this explanation we'll say that the datasource name is MYDSN.

  2. Load the BDE Configuration utility.

  3. Select New Driver.

  4. Give the driver a name (call it ODBC_MYDSN).

  5. In the driver combo box select, "Microsoft Access Driver (*.mdb)

  6. In the name combo box select MYDSN

  7. Go to the Alias page.

  8. Select New Alias.
 

  9. Enter MYDSN for name.

 10. For Alias Type, select ODBC_MYDSN.

 11. In Delphi, drop a DataSource, Table, and DBGrid on your form.

 12. Set DBGrid1.DataSource to DataSource1.

 13. Set DataSource1.DataSet to Table1.

 14. Set Table1.DatabaseName to MYDSN.

 15. In the TableName property in Table1, click the downarrow, you will see the "Login" dialog. Press OK, after a short pause you will see a dropdown list with all your table names. Select one.

 16. Set the Active property in Table1 to True, the data from your table will be displayed in the grid.