Provider=Microsoft.Jet.OLEDB.4.0;Data Source=c:\myDb;Extended Properties=Paradox 5.x;

Please note that you should only specify the folder where the database resides. Not the database name itself.

.NET Framework Data Provider for OLE DB

Use an OLE DB provider from .NET

Provider=any oledb provider's name;OledbKey1=someValue;OledbKey2=someValue;

See the respective OLEDB provider's connection strings options. The .net OleDbConnection will just pass on the connection string to the specified OLEDB provider. Read more here.

DataDirect provides this Paradox 7.x table format driver with read-write capability. Note that Paradox tables remain frozen at table format 7.x, That means that software mentioning Paradox 8, 9, 10 tables are really always referencing format 7.x.

DSN=MyDSN;AUT=1;CT=7;DQ=0;FOC=0;IS=1;PW=myPassword;USF=1;ULQ=1;

Not all parameters are required, most of them can be set at the DSN system config.

Parameters definition
AUT - ApplicationUsingThreads
CT - CreateType
DB - Database
DSN - DataSourceName
DQ - DeferQueryEvaluation
FOC - FileOpenCache
IS - IntlSort
ND - NetDir
PW - Passwords
USF - UltraSafeCommit
ULQ - UseLongQualifiers

Microsoft Paradox Driver

5.X

Driver={Microsoft Paradox Driver (*.db )};DriverID=538;Fil=Paradox 5.X;DefaultDir=c:\pathToDb\;Dbq=c:\pathToDb\;CollatingSequence=ASCII;

7.X

Provider=MSDASQL;Persist Security Info=False;Mode=Read;Extended Properties='DSN=Paradox;DBQ=C:\myDb;DefaultDir=C:\myDb;DriverId=538;FIL=Paradox 7.X;MaxBufferSize=2048;PageTimeout=600;';
Initial Catalog=C:\myDb;

Please note that this one only supports read operations.

.NET Framework Data Provider for ODBC

Use an ODBC driver from .NET

Driver={any odbc driver's name};OdbcKey1=someValue;OdbcKey2=someValue;

See the respective ODBC driver's connection strings options. The .net OdbcConnection will just pass on the connection string to the specified ODBC driver. Read more here.

Paradox connection strings

Microsoft Jet OLE DB 4.0

Standard (Paradox)