Re: Should I use dbaccess or isql ?

IMHO the only reason you would choose isql over dbaccess is if you made use of the forms and / or reports that come with this product. Since these features are somewhat antiquated I would think it unlikely that your shop would have need for them. I've never heard of dbaccess having the potential of corrupting informix file system. Though as someone else mentioned there could be a bug in the version you are using and if so it should be reported. If you have DBA rights then both products have the potential of allowing you to drop database objects including the database. I don't know if that's what your DBA meant by corrupting. But both can do the same damage if not used carefully. Unless there is a bug in your version or you are using forms and reports I would definitely use dbaccess over isql as it will give you access to all the features offered by your engine. Isql might be lagging a bit behind. Gregg Walker "joseph v d'silva" <j_v_dsilva@www.com> wrote in message news:25bda1a5.0305282220.36359e20@posting.google.com... > Hi, > > Our DBA has advised us to use isql and not dbaccess. He says that > the later has a chance of corrupting informix file system ( not sure > if that was the term he used ). But our problem is that isql always > returns 0 even for errors, and redirecting the ouput to some log file > and grep ing for all sorts of thing seems to be the only workaround > with isql, but that seems quite a bit unprofessional and dirty coding > to me, and we do a lot of database access from shell scripts, so this > work around is also very tedious and there is every chance of messing > up things, on the other hand dbaccess returns error code which can be > used in shell scripts to write a more legible, easily maintanable code > .... but our DBA says otherwise.. > > can some one tell me the facts on dbaccess vs isql or any other > workarounds ...? > > Thanx