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 File > Open.... Other data sources may also be available depending on your installed data providers. In general, you will have more options available if you retrieve data using a data connection (File > Add Data Tables > Add > ConnectionTo) rather than through the data provider access described in the following sections.
General data connection recommendations:
Preferably, use a data connection or an information link to retrieve your data.
If you for some reason cannot use a data connection and need to use SqlServer, use the SqlClient Data Provider.
If you for some reason cannot use a data connection and need to use Oracle, install the Oracle Data Provider for .NET (ODP.NET) on all machines that must reach the database. It is faster and better than the default data provider for Oracle.
It is not recommended to use the OracleClient Data Provider because is at least twice as slow at retrieving data (compared to the other options) and even slower at retrieving metadata.
Use OleDb rather than ODBC, since ODBC only refers to a local registry connection string (one on each machine), which means it will be hard to administer. For OleDb 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 also: