This section discusses the organization of the manual, the intended audience, and the associated software products you must have to develop and use the DataBlade module.

Organization of This Manual

The DataBlade Module Development Overview provides a basic orientation for DataBlade module development. For detailed reference information about DataBlade modules, the DataBlade Developers Kit, and Informix Dynamic Server, refer to the proper user and reference guides in the Informix documentation set. See Appendix A for a complete guide to DataBlade module documentation.

This manual includes the following chapters:

• This introduction provides an overview of the manual, describes the documentation conventions used, and explains the generic style of this documentation.
• Chapter 1, "DataBlade Module Concepts," introduces DataBlade modules. It includes the definition of a DataBlade module, an overview of how DataBlade modules fit into Informix Dynamic Server architecture, descriptions of DataBlade module components, and DataBlade module programming language options.
• Chapter 2, "Building a DataBlade Module," provides a description of the DataBlade Developers Kit tools, a list of DataBlade module development tasks, and a description of programming resources and examples.
• Appendix A, "DataBlade Module Documentation," is a reference guide to current Informix documentation on DataBlade modules. The appendix is divided into three sections:
  • An overview of the documentation set, arranged by concept
  • A descriptive catalog of the documents, arranged alphabetically by title
  • An alphabetical list of topics concerning DataBlade modules, with references to the document or documents that contain detailed information about each topic
• Appendix B, "Informix DataBlade Modules," introduces Informix DataBlade modules and describes how they extend Informix Dynamic Server.

Types of Users

Software Dependencies

To use BladePack to package your DataBlade module with an interactive installation for Windows NT, you need an InstallShield Professional license.

The DataBlade Developers Kit InfoShelf requires either:

• Netscape Navigator 3.01 or later.
• Microsoft Internet Explorer 4.0 or later.