My application relies on a database, which I connect to via ODBC Data Source on the machine and OLE DB Driver for ODBC within the app. I'm having difficulty packaging my application so that the executable recognizes the database it needs when the whole package is installed on a recipient computer.

What's the best way to handle packaging and deploying data connections without hard-coding connection strings anywhere in your code? I would think that ODBC is the way to go, because once you set up the DSN, the app just needs to know the name, and not the whole connection string... but now I'm discovering that upon installation, the app does not set up a DSN automatically on the recipient machine - this must be done manually for the app to work right! Any ideas? Any advice would be very helpful.

Thanks,
Sabrina