To Connect to an ODBC Database from the Product Properties Dialog

Right-click the product icon and from the menu that appears, choose Properties.
In the Properties dialog, select the Shortcut tab.
At the end of the Target field, key in -wdodbc.
The Target field should now look something like this, depending on where you installed your product:

C:\Program Files\Bentley\MicroStation <version_number>\MicroStation\microstation.exe -wdodbc
Click Apply to save the changes and close the dialog.
Start the product by double-clicking its icon.
In the Key-in window, key in DB=<data_source_name> where data_source_name is the name created in ODBC.
Note: If you were once connected to the database with this DGN file and you saved the settings in the file after connecting the first time, starting MicroStation with the -wdodbc switch automatically loads the configuration variables and will connect you to the database.