C# Signature:

[DllImport("odbc32.dll",CharSet=CharSet.Unicode)]
extern static short SQLAllocHandle(ushort HandleType, int InputHandle, out IntPtr OutputHandle);

VB Signature:

Private Declare Auto Function SQLAllocHandle Lib "odbc32.dll" (ByVal HandleType As Short, ByVal InputHandle As IntPtr, ByRef OutputHandle As IntPtr) As Short

User-Defined Types:

None.

Notes:

HandleType can be one of four values:

public const ushort SQL_HANDLE_ENV = 1;
public const ushort SQL_HANDLE_DBC = 2;
public const ushort SQL_HANDLE_STMT = 3;
public const ushort SQL_HANDLE_DESC = 4;

Tips & Tricks:

Please add some!

Sample Code:

Please add some!

HERE is how to find SQL Server on the LAN. This code is taken from somebody else. I' just a bigginer in this field and I don't understand this the best way:

public class SqlLocator
    {
    [DllImport("odbc32.dll")]
    private static extern short SQLAllocHandle(short hType, IntPtr inputHandle, out IntPtr outputHandle);
    [DllImport("odbc32.dll")]
    private static extern short SQLSetEnvAttr(IntPtr henv, int attribute, IntPtr valuePtr, int strLength);
    [DllImport("odbc32.dll")]
    private static extern short SQLFreeHandle(short hType, IntPtr handle);
    [DllImport("odbc32.dll", CharSet = CharSet.Ansi)]
    private static extern short SQLBrowseConnect(IntPtr hconn, StringBuilder inString,
        short inStringLength, StringBuilder outString, short outStringLength,
        out short outLengthNeeded);

    private const short SQL_HANDLE_ENV = 1;
    private const short SQL_HANDLE_DBC = 2;
    private const int SQL_ATTR_ODBC_VERSION = 200;
    private const int SQL_OV_ODBC3 = 3;
    private const short SQL_SUCCESS = 0;

    private const short SQL_NEED_DATA = 99;
    private const short DEFAULT_RESULT_SIZE = 1024;
    private const string SQL_DRIVER_STR = "DRIVER=SQL SERVER";

    private SqlLocator() { }

    public static string[] GetServers()
    {
        string[] retval = null;
        string txt = string.Empty;
        IntPtr henv = IntPtr.Zero;
        IntPtr hconn = IntPtr.Zero;
        StringBuilder inString = new StringBuilder(SQL_DRIVER_STR);
        StringBuilder outString = new StringBuilder(DEFAULT_RESULT_SIZE);
        short inStringLength = (short)inString.Length;
        short lenNeeded = 0;

        try
        {
        if (SQL_SUCCESS == SQLAllocHandle(SQL_HANDLE_ENV, henv, out henv))
        {
            if (SQL_SUCCESS == SQLSetEnvAttr(henv, SQL_ATTR_ODBC_VERSION, (IntPtr)SQL_OV_ODBC3, 0))
            {
            if (SQL_SUCCESS == SQLAllocHandle(SQL_HANDLE_DBC, henv, out hconn))
            {
                if (SQL_NEED_DATA == SQLBrowseConnect(hconn, inString, inStringLength, outString,
                DEFAULT_RESULT_SIZE, out lenNeeded))
                {
                if (DEFAULT_RESULT_SIZE < lenNeeded)
                {
                    outString.Capacity = lenNeeded;
                    if (SQL_NEED_DATA != SQLBrowseConnect(hconn, inString, inStringLength, outString,
                    lenNeeded, out lenNeeded))
                    {
                    throw new ApplicationException("Unabled to aquire SQL Servers from ODBC driver.");
                    }
                }
                txt = outString.ToString();
                int start = txt.IndexOf("{") + 1;
                int len = txt.IndexOf("}") - start;
                if ((start > 0) && (len > 0))
                {
                    txt = txt.Substring(start, len);
                }
                else
                {
                    txt = string.Empty;
                }
                }
            }
            }
        }
        }
        catch (Exception ex)
        {
        //Throw away any error if we are not in debug mode

#if (DEBUG)

        MessageBox.Show(ex.Message, "Acquire SQL Servier List Error");

#endif

        txt = string.Empty;
        }
        finally
        {
        if (hconn != IntPtr.Zero)
        {
            SQLFreeHandle(SQL_HANDLE_DBC, hconn);
        }
        if (henv != IntPtr.Zero)
        {
            SQLFreeHandle(SQL_HANDLE_ENV, henv);
        }
        }

        if (txt.Length > 0)
        {
        retval = txt.Split(",".ToCharArray());
        }

        return retval;
    }
    }

Alternative Managed API:

Do you know one? Please contribute it!