The integration into the Visual Studio environment is established via the Microsoft Repository. The Microsoft Repository provides a common place to persist information about objects and relationships between objects. In doing so, it provides a standard way to describe object-oriented information used by software tools:
A software tool is modeled in Microsoft Repository through an information model. Each information model is stored in the Repository database as a Repository type library.
The SAP DCOM Component Connector has been modeled as a software tool and provides you with a centralized model to manage the SAP DCOM components and provides detailed information about the business calls they represent. Note: If you are familiar with the SAP R/3 development environment you can compare the Visual Studio Integration with the output of the transactions SW02 or SE37 - plus the added benefit of component management for the Visual Studio developer.
For the Business Framework/Repository integration to work properly, the Visual Studio 6.0 or later (or Visual C++ 6.0 or later) installation must include the Visual Component Manager and Microsoft Repository installation. If you have not installed the Visual Component Manager on this machine, the install will exit and you will not be able to use the Microsoft Visual Studio integration!
Microsoft® Repository can access Repository databases that are managed by Microsoft SQL Server™ 7.0; NOTE: SQL Server has to be purchased separately - please visit http://www.microsoft.com/sql for details about product options and pricing. Additional databases - again to be purchased separately - are supported by Platinum Technology.
The ODBC connection string that is used to specify the location of the Repository database varies, depending upon which database server is managing the Repository database. The ODBC connection string contains keyword=keyValue pairs, separated by semicolons.
To connect to a SQL Server Repository database, use the SERVER keyword to specify the SQL Server name and the database name using this syntax:
SERVER=serverName;DATABASE=databaseName
If the database name is not specified, the default database for the user performing the open is used.
Note If you choose to use a SQL Server Repository database, you must either use an existing database, or create an empty database and specify which users can access the database. The Repository engine will not automatically create this database for you. If you create a new SQL Server database, be sure to create the necessary "Login" and "User" accounts for people who will be accessing the database, and assign the appropriate permissions to these accounts. If everyone will be granted full permissions, then you can use this SQL command to set database access permissions: "Grant all to public".
You can use the DSN keyword to specify a Data Source Name (DSN) to connect to an existing SQL Server Repository database. The DSN keyword specifies a Data Source Name that has been configured via the ODBC Data Source Administrator.
Example: DSN=DSNName;