am using windows 98 & have constructed a ms access 2000 db that i have been trying to connect to via zope. wasn't sure so i downloaded zodbc db adapter.

You will need something like the Z ODBC Database Connection. Someone has also contributed a direct Jet Zope DA product, which should be better overall, but I do not know if there are any issues connecting to Access 2000 with it (the author has posted on the list recently, so I am sure he is on the case here).

a couple of problems if my connection depends on this. 1st i add it to the top level of the zope installation but it is installed lower down

With the similar, and very simple, stuff that I have done so far, I have put the database connection instance in the Zope root, so that it is available globally (through aquisition). Err, I don't understand your question.

& 2nd i require a id & password to connect to my zope applications so do i need to put in a connection string & if so where?

Access does not normally need a connection string, so you can leave this blank. I have come across Access applications where username/password authentication was required, but I do not know how this is done, and with Access <= Office 97 it is not the default.

at the moment the only db it is giving me access to is the gadfly demo. do i even need the zodbc adapter?

Only if you want to work through ODBC. Database-specific adaptors will give you better performance, and possibly access to facilities that are not available through ODBC (which is a lowest-common-denominator solution), but ZODBC will give you access to a larger number of database types. It would probably be worth boning up on ODBC before continuing, to get clear about the issues (Internet search for "ODBC", in particular Microsoft should have a good overview, but there are many independent suppliers producing good tools and documentation). Richard