Basic syntax:
<DSN> name of data source set up through Control Panel </DSN>
<MDB> path to Microsoft Access database </MDB>
<XLS> path to Microsoft Excel spreadsheet </XLS>
<UDL> path to Universal Data Link file </UDL>
<CSV> path to folder containing one or more comma delimited files </CSV>
You can use any of the elements to establish a connection to the external data source. The DSN and UDL methods allow connection to any database supporting a OLE DB connection, such as SQL Server and Oracle, and several others.
To use DSN in Windows Vista, create a data source using Control Panel > Administrative Tools > Data Sources (ODBC). The <DSN> statement must contain the name of the data source that you create. To use a <UDL> statement, you must create and configure a Universal Data Link (UDL) file. For more
information, see Define an external data source.
The XLS and MDB statements are the simplest to set up. All that is required is a valid path to the database or spreadsheet file:
<XLS>C:\SampleIsoDir\S5Tutorial\Data\Get External Data\GetExternalData.xls </XLS>
<MDB>C:\SampleIsoDir\S5Tutorial\Data\Get External Data\GetExternalData.mdb </MDB>
The CSV statement treats a folder that contains one or more comma delimited files as a database, with the individual .csv files forming the tables within the database.
<CSV> C:\SampleIsoDir\S5Tutorial\Data\Get External Data\ </CSV>