Cannot Publish to Joomla!

[Max H]

I'm trying the "Publish to Joomla!" functionality for the first time, and I've been hitting the same wall for a few days now.

I am running EA 13.5 on Windows 10 Pro.

At this point, I have followed the instructions for XAMPP / Joomla! installation.  (http://www.sparxsystems.com/enterprise_architect_user_guide/13.5/model_publishing/publish_joomla.html).   
I had previously attempted using the Bitnami install of Joomla, but since it violated the requirements about  folder location and the database name being the same as the folder name, I uninstalled that and re-installed from the raw Joomla! package in the htdocs folder.

I am able to set up everything under the "Publish as Joomla! Article" dialog in EA, except that the Joomla! User  drop-down remains unpopulated, and attempts to set it result in an error "Enterprise Architect currently supports publishing to MySQL based Joomla! Database only"

I set up my ODBC connection to MariaDB.  XAMPP now ships with MariaDB instead of MySQL, but all information I could find indicates that it should be transparent to clients.  ** I UNDERSTAND THAT THIS MAY BE THE SOURCE OF THE PROBLEM, BUT WANTED CONFIRMATION BEFORE MODIFYING XAMPP TO THIS EXTENT IN CASE THERE MAY BE A SIMPLE WORKAROUND **

My connection string is "DBType=0;Connect=Provider=MSDASQL.1;Persist Security Info=False;User ID=root;Data Source=Joomla4Maria;Initial Catalog=joomla_staged;"

I am able to read and write the database, and the ODBC setup connection tests pass.

The driver being used is the MySQL ODBC 5.3 ANSI Driver.  Results are the same for the MySQL ODBC 5.3 Unicode Driver and the MariaDB ODBC 3.0 Driver.   Results also don't change whether I use the default root user with blank password, or another admin user with a password.

Suggestions anyone?

[qwerty]

I have no idea about that Yoomla, but remember a few threads dealing with that. Try a search in the forum.

q.

[Max H]

I searched them before my post -- no other reports of this issue.  I suspect that this is a new issue, likely caused by XAMPP replacing MySQL with MariaDB.   The API is the same, since it is a fork of MySQL, but the version ID reports back that it is Maria.   I'm hoping that there is either a work-around, or that Sparx is able to make changes to allow MariaDB in the EA14, since it sounds like there is a move by Oracle to make MySQL a paid product.  This is why the developers created the fork.

[qwerty]

I worked with Maria alternatively to MySQL in the past with no issue, but that wont mean much. Contact Sparx support via mail.

q.

[Max H]

Thank you.  I did email Sparx Support, and they diagnosed the problem immediately.  I'll relay the info for those who may follow in my footsteps...

It seems that the ODBC connection must be configured as a User DSN, and I had configured as a System DSN.  That was it.  Works like a charm now.   I'm still configured as described above, otherwise.