Yes, you can connect a 32-bit application to a 64-bit ODBC driver by using the ODBC-ODBC Bridge.
Without the ODBC-ODBC Bridge, a 32-bit application cannot connect to a 64-bit ODBC driver. 32-bit applications must be linked against 32-bit libraries. For this reason, 32-bit applications can only link against a 32-bit ODBC Driver Manager library. 32-bit ODBC Driver Managers can only load 32-ODBC drivers.
The ODBC-ODBC Bridge is a client/server product. The ODBC-ODBC Bridge Client is not linked against the ODBC-ODBC Bridge Server. The ODBC-ODBC Bridge Client communicates with the ODBC-ODBC Bridge Server by using the Remote Procedure Call (RPC) mechanism. A 32-bit ODBC-ODBC Bridge Client can be used with a 64-bit ODBC-ODBC Bridge Server and vice versa.
To connect a 32-bit application with a 64-bit ODBC driver, you use a 32-bit ODBC-ODBC Bridge Client and a 64-bit ODBC-ODBC Bridge Server.
ODBC calls made by your 32-bit application are passed from the 32-bit ODBC driver (the ODBC-ODBC Bridge Client) to the target 64-bit ODBC driver via the 64-bit ODBC-ODBC Bridge Server.
The following steps show how to access a 64-bit ODBC driver from a 32-bit application on a 64-bit Windows machine. The ODBC driver used is the Microsoft SQL Native Client driver. The application used is Visual Studio 2010.
Accept the Default option during Setup, which will install both the ODBC-ODBC Bridge Client and Server components.
To access the 32-bit ODBC Data Source Administrator, run the following command in the Windows Run dialog box:
%windir%\syswow64\odbcad32.exe
Note The 32-bit ODBC Data Source Administrator is not accessible from Windows Control Panel.
The Data Source Configuration Wizard starts.
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