Integrations · Synced live
Altium ODBC Connector
A real ODBC driver, built for Altium's DBLib. Your library shows up in the Components panel as an ordinary database library, with no Access file on a share, no SQL server, and no nightly export. One installer, one connection string.
SidebandSetup
One installer, one connection string, done
The usual DBLib stack is an Access file on a network drive, or a SQL server someone has to provision, plus a DSN on every machine and an export script to keep it fed. The Sideband connector replaces the lot with a signed MSI and a connection string pasted into the .DbLib.
You configure no DSN. The .DbLib carries the URL and the token, and the driver does the rest.
The entire setup
- 1
Run the installer
lateraldb-odbc-x64.msi signed - 2
Point the .DbLib at your library
Connection String = DRIVER={lateraldb-odbc};Url=https://sideband.local;Bearer=•••▏
No DSN to configure, no database server to provision. The connection string carries everything.
Live
Synced by change-data-capture
Every library write is caught at the source. A database trigger fires the moment the edit commits, a signal reaches the driver, and the driver pulls just that change into its local cache. Swap a footprint in Sideband and the engineer placing the part has it on their next panel refresh.
You schedule no export, and no day-old copy quietly drifts from the source of truth.
One edit, end to end
-
Edit saved
footprint swapped
-
Change captured
database trigger
-
Signal pushed
SSE tick
-
Delta pulled
just that change
-
Altium sees it
next panel refresh
Push when the network allows, a quiet poll as the safety net. Staleness is bounded either way.
Engineering
Built for exactly what Altium asks
Altium's DBLib has habits: the Parts view it expects, the [Manufacturer Part Number] lookups it issues, the way it brackets identifiers and capitalises Description and Value. The driver implements each one on purpose, and each is pinned by its own test.
Parts arrive ready to place. Library references, footprint paths and parameters come through in the columns Altium reads.
- A native ODBC 3.80 driver, written in Rust
- The documented Altium quirks, each covered by a named test
- Anything outside Altium's query shapes gets a clear diagnostic, never a silent wrong answer
Scale
Flat at any library size
On connect the driver takes one streamed snapshot; after that it only ever pulls deltas. Queries from the Components panel are answered from an in-memory columnar cache, with no network round-trip per search, whether the library holds three hundred parts or three hundred thousand.
{
"results": [
{
"id": "CMP-1044",
"mpn": "GRM21BR61E106KA73L",
"value": "10uF",
"package": "0805",
"stock": 880,
"symbol": "SYM-220",
"footprint": "FP-318"
}
],
"total": 1
}The same feed, for your tools
Snapshot and deltas, over plain HTTP
The endpoints the driver reads are ordinary HTTP: a streamed snapshot, an incremental delta feed, a change signal. CI checks, ERP reconciliation and dashboards read the same canonical library Altium does, so automation and CAD never disagree about what current means.
Inbound connectors fill and enrich the library; the ODBC connector is how it reaches the CAD seat. One source of truth, every consumer live.
Windows x64, where Altium lives · read-only by design (Altium reads, Sideband stays the source of truth) · changes arrive by push, with a quiet polling safety net.
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Altium ODBC Connector
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