Clarification on dbConnect() documentation

[asadow]

I found arguments like Authentication through SO, but I'm wondering how to find these organically through documentation.

Under the dbConnect() documentation it writes:

... authentication arguments needed by the DBMS instance; these typically include user, password, host, port, dbname, etc. For details see the appropriate DBIDriver.

My question is, where do we "see the appropriate DBIDriver"?

[krlmlr]

Thanks, Adam. Is the "Methods in other packages" section in https://dbi.r-dbi.org/reference/dbConnect.html helpful? Do we need to rephrase?

[asadow]

Thanks, Kirill. I'm not sure; I may be missing something. How would I navigate that page toward finding the authentication argument (for the below example)?

conn <- DBI::dbConnect(
  odbc::odbc(),
  driver = "ODBC Driver 17 for SQL Server",
  database = "Standard",
  server = "some-analytics-ondemand.sql.azuresynapse.net",
  authentication = "ActiveDirectoryPassword",
  uid = "[email protected]",
  pwd = keyring::key_get("aad-pass")
)

[krlmlr]

Tough call. There are two steps.

1. Find the correct method, in this case, odbc::dbConnect("OdbcDriver") . Is this clear enough, or does this need reformatting?
2. Find the argument in https://odbc.r-dbi.org/reference/dbConnect-OdbcDriver-method.html . Unfortunately, it maps to the ... argument for the OdbcDriver method . If we fix, we need to fix there.

The odbc page has

Connection string keywords are driver-dependent

as the best clue, perhaps this needs to move or be copied closer to the top?

[asadow]

On 1., no that's clear enough (apart from MySQL vs. SQL Server confusing everyone :))

On 2., I think the only thing is that it's not clear, if one is naive, where to go looking for these keywords. I see there are some resources under "Learn More".

It's tough for me to make any suggestions. Maybe this is a duct-taping challenge. The error without the authentication argument is vague:

Error in `DBI::dbConnect()`:
! ODBC failed with error HY000 from [Microsoft][ODBC Driver 17 for SQL Server][SQL Server].
✖ Cannot open server "somewhere.com" requested by the login.  The login failed.
ℹ From nanodbc/nanodbc.cpp:1150.
Run `rlang::last_trace()` to see where the error occurred.