>>>>>...the connection string specifies both the Driver and the Server.
>>>

>>lcConnString = "Driver={SQL Server};Server=(local);TrustedConnection=True"

>>>>I was confusing the connection string with a sample connection string in the VFP and SQL Server book, which was:
>>>>"DSN=northwind;UID=sa;PWD;DATABASE=northwind"
>>>>
>>>>Thank you for very much for clarifying it for me.
>>>
>>>Ah, yes. I forgot about that form of the Connection String. If you have an existing DSN, the Driver and Server, along with other properties, are read from there.
>>>
>>>I've mostly gotten away from creating DSNs, because connection strings can be so much more flexible.
>>
>>I presume that since the book I use was published in 2000, the syntax you describe was not yet available.
>
>I just did some surfing, and the first reference to "Driver=" in a connection string that I could find was in 1996. I'm sure it was available before that, though: I tend to pick suboptimal search terms.
>
>>Follow up question (I promise to stop asking, today <g>). Does using Connection String without DSN make the data access faster? Or this is just for easier installation/setup?
>
>I don't know the answer to this question. Sorry.

Thank you anyway. You have helped me a great deal.