Re: Informix CLI driver ODBC vs Native Access Help

mc9j9@aol.com (MC9J9) wrote: :Hello, : While looking at the new Informix CLI drivers which are in fact ODBC :Ver 3.0 32 bit drivers, Informix CLI was allways ODBC (but different versions). : it seems that Informix now wants all client-server :interaction to go through ODBC rather than any "native" access. Does :Informix still support native access through I-NET or CLI? They support "native" access through I-Net (now called I-Connect). That's however not a call level interface. You need ESQL/C (embedded SQL) to use that. Of course I-Net/I-Connect *is* a call level interface as well (it's implemented as a DLL which by definition can be nothing else). Informix just haven't documented it anywhere. CLI is their standard based call level interface. This implements ODBC but that again is based on the ANSI standard call level interface (ANSI/CLI). At least for the MS Windows platform it have to implement ODBC as that is the de facto call level interface here. Informix probably call it CLI, not ODBC, for marketing reasons. (Had they thought of sales as well they would at least have made it *very* clear that it *is* ODBC.) : Is native :access still better than ODBC or does 32-bit ODBC make this irrelevant? With the implementation Informix have had with CLI using I-Net/I-Connect (I would assume CLI is implemented using ESQL/C) using it would mean going through an extra level of calls, first to the CLI library, than to I-Net/I-Connect. This might slow down things some. The practicle consequenses used to be quite bad for these types of solutions. In newer software on new machines it may no longer mean much. The real problem is in security which is totaly absent. : I :am using PB 5.0 with the Informix CLI 7.2 on a Windows NT 4.0 platform. :Any help would be appreciated. As I understand it PowerBuilder also support "native" connectivity to Informix. This means you do not need CLI at all, but only I-Net/I-Connect. That now comes free with the latest engines. I believe you still have to pay for CLI, but may be wrong on this. If you do have to pay for the CLI (or even if it's free now) and you want to continue to use ODBC, I would look at the OpenLink ODBC drivers as well for their security implementation if nothing else. Check their web site for the white paper that describes this (http://www.openlinksw.com). Nils.Myklebust@idg.no NM Data AS, P.O.Box 9090 Gronland, N-0133 Oslo, Norway My opinions are those of my company The Informix FAQ is at http://www.iiug.org