ACT 2008 SQL Database Access

Hi there.

Thanks for the speedy response.
You've been of much more specific help than Sage support was. :-)

I've not installed the SDK - as I don't particularly want .NET APIs - but only to know how to get a data provider.
But it's interesting to know that it's freely available none the less.
(I fear that won't be the case with Sage Accounts :-s)

I used the second link to set up a data connection in Excel as exampled.
It failed and crashed Excel (I'd not saved the password) but it didn't matter - the persisted connection odc file gave me the actual settings I wanted for a connection string.
(The provider is ACTOLEDB for any who want it specifically - not terribly shocking as provider names go lol).
An ADO connection established from Access and recordset opened moments later. ;-)

I wouldn't have immediately appreciated the requirement to connect to an external connection settings file though (which is all the .pad file seems to be).
It is perhaps the compromise for the locked down SQL instance...

Thanks for your help.
I've gotten somewhere - which is a whole lot further on than I was before.

There's nothing to install with the SDK... it's already installed as part of ACT!. The download is just a document on how to use it. It is the only way to write to the ACT! database from an external source

The PAD file is just a Pointed to ACT! Database. You can open it in Notepad to see what's there

Yes I'd already examined the PAD file (was the first thing I did when I became aware of them) and read the acronym therein.
(I'm a "seems" and "perhaps" kinda guy - including when I know something.  I find it less obtrusive.)

I may yet, one day, look to the SDK.
Though there will be little point unless I can find this level of default integration in Sage's other main product. :-)

Cheers for the pointers!

Thanks for the links.  The second one ultimately leads the way to the details needed.

I once attempted to use SQL sa authentication against an ACT! 9 database (I believe that was the version) and endeavored to get direct access to it, also. Of course, ACT! installs it's own instance named ACT but what the credentials are it uses are deliberately concealed. Symantec Backup Exec couldn't touch it, and Windows Updates for Microsoft SQL were failing on the ACT instance.

One thing that I tried that was seemingly successful at first was to manually install a SQL instance with the same name, with my own selected sa password, etc then install ACT - it indicated its awareness of a pre-existing instance and agreed to use it. I thought, whoah-ho - defeated... Not. Following the ACT install I discovered that it immediately changed the sa password, silently leaving me back to square one. Sneaky #$#!ds. And after that, I determined that the database collation I originally selected ACT couldn't play with once I started to use the database. Misc error, first thing noticed was a corupt list of users, etc.

You can get the SA Pass utility from Sage for that... but only if using the Premium version.

Or you can reset the SA password and access the DB directly.