Connect Microsoft Visual Studio to Zoho CRM

This topic describes how to connect Microsoft Visual Studio to a Zoho CRM database using the ODBC driver.

Visual Studio is a powerful development environment that provides tools for editing, debugging, and compiling code, as well as creating applications. These applications can connect to databases and services on a local machine, across a network, or in any cloud environment—private, public, or hybrid. To connect Visual Studio to a data source such as Zoho CRM, you can use Devart ODBC driver for Zoho CRM.

Create a DSN for Zoho CRM

Before you start, you need to configure a DSN for Zoho CRM in the ODBC Data Source Administrator. It’s required to establish a connection to an ODBC database in Visual Studio.

For instructions, see Configure a Windows DSN for Zoho CRM.

Connect Visual Studio to Zoho CRM

1. Open Microsoft Visual Studio.

2. To open Server Explorer, on the View menu, select Server Explorer.

3. In Server Explorer, right-click Data Connections and select Add Connection.

4. In the Choose Data Source dialog, select Microsoft ODBC Data Source and click Continue.

5. In the Data source specification section, select your Zoho CRM DSN from the Use user or system data source name dropdown list.

6. Optional: Click Test Connection to verify the connection settings.

7. Click OK.

The new connection appears under Data Connections in Server Explorer.