Re: I-Connect Questions

jlumbley@netcom.com (Joe Lumbley) wrote: :Tony Marasco (tonmar@steamer.berksiu.k12.pa.us) wrote: :: We just received the I-Connect client piece yesterday and, throught :: many trials and errors, got the thing working just fine. It is :: connecting to Online 5.07 on an AT&T box. The client is the Win-95 :: 32-bit version. : :: My question is how do I access the data using something other than :: the demo? I know that sounds very basic, but I read that the :: connectivity requires ESQL/C or ESQL/Cobol -- neither of which we :: have or plan on ever using. We got the I-Star/I-Connect package :: to access data via IQ for Windows and custom third party software :: written in Powerbuilder and Delphi. I presume these packages support :: I-Connect, since we don't have these pieces yet. : :: What if I want to access the database via VB or Excel? Do I need :: an ODBC driver in addition to what I have? I downloaded Microsoft :: ODBC 2.5/3.0 and OpenLink Lite and have had no success (ODBC cannot :: access the OpenLink driver). Is this supposed to be an easy setup? You should forget about any Microsoft drivers. They have nothing for Informix. OpenLink lite should work with I-Connect. May be you need some newer version of this driver for the latest I-Connect. Realy you need neither I-Connect nor CLI, but should use the OpenLink server based drivers which also do away with the need for I-Star/I-Connect on the server. See below. :: Finally, I read about something named "cli". What is that and should :: I buy/need it? : :You need Informix-CLI, which is Informix's ODBC driver. It comes with :I-Connect and runs over it. You can then use VB, Crystal Reports, and :the like to connect. I've also found it neat to install an Informix engine :on the client machine just so I can have dbaccess working across the network. I wouldn't do this. With the Informix CLI drivers you have no way of protecting yourself against users with access (login and password) to the database through some other program (MS Windows or Unix based) simply starting a tool like MS Access and interactively updating almost anything in your database. There are several other significant disadvantages with the I-Connect/CLI combo as well that makes them rather useless. Even though I-Connect now come free with the engine (do one still have to pay for CLI?) I would still use the OpenLink drivers for their far superior features. I am not talking about the socalled Lite drivers here of course, but the server based drivers. Do read their white paper at http://www.openlinksw.com under products. :INFORMIX!!!! Hey guys, anybody listening? Why don't you bundle dbaccess :with I-Connect? See my other responce to this. They shouldn't. : :Joe : :: Thanks! :: -- :: Tony Marasco :: http://www.berksiu.k12.pa.us mailto:tonmar@berksiu.k12.pa.us :-- :--------------------------------------------------------------------------- :Joe Lumbley(jlumbley@netcom.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