Re: My new master -- Informix SE/c4gl

"Nelson H. Fredsell" <nfredsel@cornercap.com> wrote: :We currently use Informix SE as a repository for some :mission-critical reporting and data analysis. I am very :(< 2 months) new to Informix, and have been trying to :understand the benefits of the SE product, particularly :in relation to my primary database reference point: :Microsoft Access. The effort one must make to view :data using c4gl thru forms and reports seems herculean :compared to the less code-intensive MS-Access :environment. Yes it is herculean in comparison, but will have significant benefits for large databases. There are however other options... :Should I keep a heads-down approach with my new :Informix tools, put Access behind me, and see how I feel :about it in 6 months? Or should I consider developing a :GUI front-end (using MS-Access) via ODBC? You should definitely set up ODBC and use MS Access. It's a very good environement for ad hoc query during development and for some other purposes. For plain reporting it's a fine tool in many cases. Just make sure you do not expect too much speed if the amount of data required is growing. MS Access is however not the best tool for application development. Look into Delphi, Visual Basic or Java for that purpose. Do be carefull however if you have large batch type reporting or update applications. These will run much better by using 4GL on the server. We are now starting our testing of Java for this purpose, and expect that to give similar performance advantages. This have the advantage of giving us the same language for development on the server and for GUI client applications. : I'm also :thinking of using Access as a utility to explore what is :going on with this Informix app (tables, relationships and :columns). For ad hoc querying it's fine. If you want an overview of tables, relationships and columns I would however use a database design tool like ERWin or one of it's competitors. MS Access is not good for this purpose, at least not when connecting to a remote database. :Our company is very small (13 people) with definite expansion :plans. Our tables have fewer than 10,000 records, although as :we expand the scope of our app, a few tables might exceed :100,000 records (historical data). These are relatively tiny amounts of data (yes even the 100,000 records) so SE should be fine. On a proper machine (a Unix server, a PC with SCO Unix perhaps) it should give you much better performance than MS Access on Windows, particularly when multiple users are connected. Also if performance should become an issue you can easily upgrade to Informix OnLine without changing your applications. :Thanks in advance for any feedback. : :Regards, :Nelson Fredsell : :Cornerstone Capital Corp. :Atlanta, GA :nfredsel@cornercap.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