Editing Open Database Connectivity (section)

===Drivers===
ODBC is based on the [[device driver]] model, where the driver encapsulates the logic needed to convert a standard set of commands and functions into the specific calls required by the underlying system. For instance, a [[printer driver]] presents a standard set of printing commands, the API, to applications using the printing system. Calls made to those APIs are converted by the driver into the format used by the actual hardware, say [[PostScript]] or [[Printer Command Language|PCL]].

In the case of ODBC, the drivers encapsulate many functions that can be broken down into several broad categories. One set of functions is primarily concerned with finding, connecting to and disconnecting from the DBMS that driver talks to. A second set is used to send SQL commands from the ODBC system to the DBMS, converting or interpreting any commands that are not supported internally. For instance, a DBMS that does not support [[Cursor (databases)|cursors]] can emulate this functionality in the driver. Finally, another set of commands, mostly used internally, is used to convert data from the DBMS's internal formats to a set of standardized ODBC formats, which are based on the C language formats.

An ODBC driver enables an ODBC-compliant application to use a ''data source'', normally a DBMS. Some non-DBMS drivers exist, for such data sources as [[Comma-separated values|CSV]] files, by implementing a small DBMS inside the driver itself. ODBC drivers exist for most DBMSs, including  [[Oracle database|Oracle]], [[PostgreSQL]], [[MySQL]], [[Microsoft SQL Server]] (but not for the [[SQL Server Compact|Compact aka CE edition]]), [[Mimer SQL]], [[Adaptive Server Enterprise|Sybase ASE]], [[SAP HANA]]<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://db-engines.com/en/system/SAP+HANA |title=SAP HANA System Properties |website=[[DB-Engines]] |access-date=2016-03-28 }}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |url=http://help.sap.com/saphelp_hanaplatform/helpdata/en/66/a4169b84b2466892e1af9781049836/content.htm |title=Connect to SAP HANA via ODBC - SAP HANA Developer Guide for SAP HANA Studio - SAP Library |website=help.sap.com |access-date=2016-03-28 }}</ref> and [[IBM Db2]]. Because different technologies have different capabilities, most ODBC drivers do not implement all functionality defined in the ODBC standard.  Some drivers offer extra functionality not defined by the standard.