Note: The OEM Partners section of the Progress DataDirect Web site is password-protected. As part of your OEM agreement, Progress DataDirect provides you with the appropriate location and passwords for the site.

Before you brand the drivers:

  • Optionally, verify the digital signature of the installer package you want to brand. Verifying the signature assures that the installer package you are branding has not been tampered with. See "Verifying an installer package signature" for details.
  • Register a 24-character password through the Progress DataDirect Web site. The password you enter during branding is locked into your drivers.

    Your password must be a maximum of 24 characters of 7-bit ASCII values. If you enter fewer than 24 characters, the missing characters are automatically padded as uppercase Qs. For example, if you enter: DATAD1RECT the password is automatically padded with Qs as follows: DATAD1RECTQQQQQQQQQQQQQQ

    Important: It is important to register your password with Progress DataDirect so that you always have a resource from which to retrieve it.
  • Register for a 2-character prefix through the Progress DataDirect Web site to avoid file name conflicts with other Progress DataDirect for ODBC drivers, DataDirect Connect Series for ODBC drivers, or DataDirect Cloud drivers for ODBC that may be installed on a user’s system. We recommend that you register a prefix using the following characters: a-z and 0-9 with special characters that are valid for file names in your operating system, such as underscore (_) or the dollar sign ($). Invalid characters for file names on Windows are \ / : * ? “ < > |.
    • Using the same prefix among different DataDirect ODBC drivers can cause conflicts. For example, if you already have a registered prefix for branding Progress DataDirect for ODBC 32-bit drivers, you should register for a second unique prefix for the 64-bit drivers to avoid file naming conflicts.
    • The registered prefix can be used by any DataDirect ODBC driver.

The branding process encodes the 2-character prefix into the case-insensitive license file. The process creates a closed driver that can be used only with your product. Attempts to use the driver with any other product cause an error message to be displayed. The 2-character prefix replaces the characters ODBC in the license file name, for example, if you enter gg as the prefix, the 32-bit license file name becomes IVGG.LIC.

Table 1. Default License Files
Driver Default File Name Branded Example
DataDirect Connect (32-bit)

Progress DataDirect (32-bit)

 IVODBC.LIC IVGG.LIC
DataDirect Connect (64-bit)

Progress DataDirect (64-bit)

 DDODBC.LIC DDGG.LIC

To invoke your drivers after branding, an application must unlock your driver license file with the correct password. This password protects your drivers from being used by other applications. The password is case-sensitive; therefore, pay particular attention when mixing uppercase and lowercase letters in the password.

Note: When you use your password to invoke the drivers from your applications, you must type all 24 characters, including any padded Qs.