Applies to: Azure SQL Database
This article helps C and C++ developers connect to Azure SQL Database.
PrerequisitesTo complete the steps in this guide, you need the following:
There are currently two ways to connect to Azure SQL Database: ODBC (Open Database Connectivity) and OLE DB (Object Linking and Embedding database). In recent years, Microsoft has aligned with ODBC for native relational data access. ODBC is much faster than OLE DB. The only caveat here is that ODBC does use an old C-style API.
Create your Azure SQL DatabaseSee the getting started page to learn how to create a sample database.
Get connection stringAfter your Azure SQL Database has been provisioned, you need to carry out the following steps to determine connection information and add your client IP for firewall access.
In the Azure portal, go to your Azure SQL Database Connection strings by using the Show database connection strings listed as a part of the Overview section for your database:
Select the ODBC tab.
Copy the contents of the ODBC (Includes Node.js) [SQL authentication] string. We use this string later to connect from our C++ ODBC command-line interpreter. This string provides details such as the driver, server, and other database connection parameters.
At this point, you have configured your Azure SQL Database and are ready to connect from your C++ code from your workstation.
Tip
Adding your client's workstation IP to the public network firewall is acceptable for a temporary lab or learning setup but for an enterprise solution or long-lived project, follow these Security best practices:
You can easily connect to your Azure SQL Database using ODBC on Windows using this sample that builds with Visual Studio. The sample implements an ODBC command-line interpreter that can be used to connect to our Azure SQL Database. This sample takes either a Database source name file (DSN) file as a command-line argument or the verbose connection string that we copied earlier from the Azure portal. Bring up the property page for this project and paste the connection string as a command argument as shown here:
Make sure you provide the right authentication details for your database as a part of that database connection string.
Launch the application to build it. You should see the following window validating a successful connection. You can even run some basic SQL commands like CREATE TABLE to validate your database connectivity:
Alternatively, you could create a DSN file using the wizard that is launched when no command arguments are provided. We recommend that you try this option as well. You can use this DSN file for automation and protecting your authentication settings:
Congratulations! You have now successfully connected to Azure SQL using C++ and ODBC on Windows. You can continue reading to do the same for Linux platform as well.
Connect from a Linux C/C++ applicationYou can develop C++ Linux applications in Visual Studio. To learn more, review the following blog: Visual C++ for Linux Development.
To build for Linux, you need a remote machine where your Linux distro is running. If you don't have one available, you can set one up quickly using Linux Azure Virtual machines and a variety of deployment methods.
This guide assumes you have an Ubuntu 16.04 Linux distribution set up. The steps also apply to Ubuntu 15.10, Red Hat 6, and Red Hat 7.
The following steps install the libraries needed for SQL and ODBC for your distro:
sudo su
sh -c 'echo "deb [arch=amd64] https://apt-mo.trafficmanager.net/repos/mssql-ubuntu-test/ xenial main" > /etc/apt/sources.list.d/mssqlpreview.list'
sudo apt-key adv --keyserver apt-mo.trafficmanager.net --recv-keys 417A0893
apt-get update
apt-get install msodbcsql
apt-get install unixodbc-dev-utf16 #this step is optional but recommended*
Launch Visual Studio. Under Tools -> Options -> Cross Platform-> Connection Manager, add a connection to your Linux box:
After connection over SSH is established, create an Empty project (Linux) template:
You can then add a new C source file and replace it with this content. Using the ODBC APIs SQLAllocHandle, SQLSetConnectAttr, and SQLDriverConnect, you should be able to initialize and establish a connection to your database.
Like with the Windows ODBC sample, you need to replace the SQLDriverConnect call with the details from your database connection string parameters copied from the Azure portal previously.
retcode = SQLDriverConnect(
hdbc, NULL, "Driver=ODBC Driver 13 for SQL"
"Server;Server=<yourserver>;Uid=<yourusername>;Pwd="
"<password>;database=<yourdatabase>",
SQL_NTS, outstr, sizeof(outstr), &outstrlen, SQL_DRIVER_NOPROMPT);
The last thing to do before compiling is to add odbc as a library dependency:
To launch your application, bring up the Linux Console from the Debug menu:
If your connection was successful, you should now see the current database name printed in the Linux Console:
Congratulations! You have successfully completed the guide and can now connect to your Azure SQL Database from C++ on Windows and Linux platforms.
Get the complete C/C++ tutorial solutionYou can find the GetStarted solution that contains all the samples in this article at GitHub:
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