Open Internet Database Connectivity

IDC is an ISAPI that uses Open Database Connectivity (ODBC) APIs to move information between SQL Server and the Internet. IDC provides the ability to create direct links between fields on HTML forms and SQL Server data without the need for complicated CGI scripts. Organizations are already using IDC to:

Publish real-time database information to the active Internet.
Capture and store gigabytes of information directly to SQL Server.
Perform high-performance searches of online SQL Server data.
Build a new class of active Internet commercial and business applications.

Conceptually, database access is performed by Internet Information Server (IIS) as shown in the following illustration.

Internet Database Connector

IDC uses two types of files to control how the database is accessed and how the output Web page is constructed. These files are Internet Database Connector (.idc) files and HTML extension (.htx) files.

IDC files contain the necessary information to connect to the desired ODBC data source and execute the SQL statement. An IDC file also contains the name and location of the HTML extension file.

The HTML extension file is the template for the actual HTML document that will be returned to the Web browser after the database information has been merged into it. This allows static text, graphic images, or even real-time video to be combined with database information on the same Web page.

IDC is ideal for building active Internet applications that allow the user to view and update information in a database. Applications for event registration, loan application processing, online banking, and other uses can be created by using this technology.