If you cannot connect to a database using either a data connection or an information link, you might be able to load your data using a data provider directly. By default, Spotfire can connect to several data source types using the following drivers: ODBC, OLE DB, OracleClient and SQLClient. OLE DB UDL files can also be opened directly using Browse local file in the Files and data flyout. Other data sources might also be available depending on your installed data providers.

1. Preferably, use a data connection or an information link to retrieve your data.
2. If you for some reason cannot use a data connection and need to use SQL Server, use the SqlClient Data Provider.
3. f you for some reason cannot use a data connection and must use Oracle, install the Oracle Data Provider for .NET (ODP.NET) on all computers that must reach the database. It is faster and better than the default data provider for Oracle.
4. It is not recommended to use the OracleClient Data Provider because it is at least twice as slow at retrieving data (compared to the other options) and even slower at retrieving metadata.
5. Use OLE DB rather than ODBC, because ODBC only refers to a local registry connection string (one on each machine), which means it will be hard to administer. For OLE DB, the connection string is saved within the file. One advantage with ODBC is that you can change the connection string in a single place for one computer.

See Opening data from a database using data providers and the following sections for more details.