The setup program is what the user runs to start the setup process. It is written by the application or driver developer. In addition to installing ODBC components, it can install other software. For example, application developers might use the same setup program to install both ODBC components and their application.
The setup program can be created in one of two ways:
From the Driver Setup Toolkit. The Driver Setup Toolkit is part of the ODBC SDK and helps developers create
and customize a standard setup program. For more information on the Driver
Setup Toolkit, see the Microsoft ODBC SDK Guide.
Important The Driver Setup Toolkit is a subset of Windows Setup that is designed specifically for installing ODBC components. It cannot be used to install any other software.
From scratch. Developers can write a setup program from scratch, using the Windows SDK
setup utilities or setup software from other vendors. They generally do this so
the setup program can install additional software, such as their ODBC
application, or so they can have complete control over the setup program
How much of the installation is actually done by the setup program depends on what functions it calls in the installer DLL. The installer DLL contains functions to install ODBC components in the following ways:
Install individual ODBC components. The setup program calls SQLInstallDriverManager, SQLInstallDriverEx, or SQLInstallTranslatorEx in the installer DLL to retrieve the path of the directory in which the
component is to be installed and to add information about the component to the
registry. Note that these functions do not actually copy files; the setup program
does this using the information in the arguments of these functions.
The installer DLL contains functions to remove ODBC components in the following ways:
Remove individual ODBC components. The setup program calls SQLRemoveDriverManager, SQLRemoveDriver, or SQLRemoveTranslator in the installer DLL to decrement a component