Connecting GeneSpring to Databases 

If the expression data you would like to analyze is stored in some sort of (relational) database system, such as the Affymetrix GCOS Publish database or the BASE database, you can configure GeneSpring to connect directly to those databases.

We have provided a few examples of database connectivity that can be downloaded and installed in GeneSpring.

In order to connect to the Affymetrix GCOS database, follow these steps:

1. Download GCOS-GeneSpring.zip.
2. Drag this file onto an open window of GeneSpring or use the "Open GeneSpring Zip" from the File menu.
3. Define an SQL Server ODBC connection to the GCOS publish database and call this 'affydb'.
   
   1. Go to menu item START > Control Panel > Administrative Tools > Data Sources (ODBC)
   2. For more information on setting up the ODBC connection, see GCOS-GeneSpring.pdf.
4. Start GeneSpring and test the database connection (Menu item Help > Test Database Connectivity > GCOS Publish DB).

If the test is successful, you can start loading data from the database. The database will be referred to as "GCOS Publish DB" in the File > Import Data from Database menu.

In order to connect to the BASE database, follow these steps:

1. Download BaseDB-GeneSpring.zip.
2. Drag this file onto an open window of GeneSpring or use the "Open GeneSpring Zip" from the File menu.
3. Define a MySQL ODBC connection to the GCOS publish database and call this 'base'.
   
   1. If you don't have the MySQL ODBC driver yet, download it from the MySql website.
   2. Go to menu item START > Control Panel > Administrative Tools > Data Sources (ODBC). For more information on setting up the MySQL ODBC connection, please see BaseDB-GeneSpring.pdf.
4. Start GeneSpring and test the database connection (Menu item Help > Test Database Connectivity > GCOS Publish DB).

If the test is successful, you can start loading data from the database. The database will be referred to as "BASE DB" in the File > Import Data from Database menu.