Wich .Net Provider for Informix use?

Hi, question: Wich of the several clients (latest version) for informix should i use to connect to Informix from .Net (.Net Provider) ? Is free download ? Have the link ? I know there is some Informix CSDK (3.70 latest ?) and there is some ibm data packages or something like, etc. Our production environment has Informix 3.50 CSDK but the installer mess up with 32/64 bits version, and doesnt add well the config sections in the machine.config of the several frameworks 2/4 and in 32/64 bits version of each one, also doesnt integrate in visual studio 2010, in short, after run the installer there is a mess that need manual changes over several places to make it work in Windows 7 64 bits (Dev machines) and Server 2008 64 bits (Prod Servers). Thanks as always.

The IBM Data Server Driver for .NET has better support for .NET features and better performance than the one in the Informix CSDK, however, it does not support any Informix specific data types. Also, since it is actually a DRDA protocol driver for DB2 you will have to define a DBSERVERALIAS using the drsoctcp protocol to use with this driver. The CSDK driver is preferable is you use any Informix specific data types that DB2 does not support. To find the driver and a PDF file describing the differences between the two .NET drivers, go to this link: https://www14.software.ibm.com/webapp/iwm/web/preLogin.do?lang=en_US&source=swg-informixfpd You will have to login with an IBM ID (you can register there if you don't have one) Click the button for "*IBM Informix Free Product Download" *and then "Continue". Fill out the contact form and "Submit". Scroll down to the documentation section and look for "*IBM Data Server .NET Provider for Informix Dynamic Server and IBM Informix .NET Provider"* you will see a link to download the document describing the differences between the two drivers and also a programmers guide for the IBM .NET Provider. Further down is the section to download the IBM Data Server Driver. Art Art S. Kagel Advanced DataTools (www.advancedatatools.com) Blog: http://informix-myview.blogspot.com/ Disclaimer: Please keep in mind that my own opinions are my own opinions and do not reflect on my employer, Advanced DataTools, the IIUG, nor any other organization with which I am associated either explicitly, implicitly, or by inference. Neither do those opinions reflect those of other individuals affiliated with any entity with which I am affiliated nor those of the entities themselves. On Thu, Sep 27, 2012 at 12:32 PM, eferreyra <eferreyra@gmail.com> wrote: > Hi, question: > > Wich of the several clients (latest version) for informix should i use to > connect to Informix from .Net (.Net Provider) ? > > Is free download ? Have the link ? > > I know there is some Informix CSDK (3.70 latest ?) and there is some ibm > data packages or something like, etc. > > Our production environment has Informix 3.50 CSDK but the installer mess > up with 32/64 bits version, and doesnt add well the config sections in the > machine.config of the several frameworks 2/4 and in 32/64 bits version of > each one, also doesnt integrate in visual studio 2010, in short, after run > the installer there is a mess that need manual changes over several places > to make it work in Windows 7 64 bits (Dev machines) and Server 2008 64 bits > (Prod Servers). > > Thanks as always. > > > _______________________________________________ > Informix-list mailing list > Informix-list@iiug.org > http://www.iiug.org/mailman/listinfo/informix-list >

Hello. Just some questions: are you going to connect using ODBC, or do you really want to integrate connections on Visual Studio? There´s a good site explaining some tips, I hope you watch, and if you have additional doubts, just ask us again, ok? http://eb140.elearn.ihost.com/ECM/KnowledgeNow/26/player.html Another article that can help you on this: http://www.ibm.com/developerworks/data/library/techarticle/dm-1007dsnetids/index.html The second question should be done using IBM Informix Data Server Driver, there´s a specific release for integration (including Entity Framework), and probably will require Informix server side additional configurations. The first one is very easy, Informix CSDK 3.70.FC5 is able to connect to several Informix versions (11.10+) I think. If you could mention your Informix version, architecture and also Hope it helps. Regards. Alexandre Marini IBM Informix Certified Professional v10 / v11.50 / v11.70 IBM Information Management Informix Technical Professional IBM Infosphere DataStage Technical Professional Database Administrator - Cleartech Ltda BRIUG website administrator Informix independent consultant > Date: Thu, 27 Sep 2012 09:32:04 -0700 > Subject: Wich .Net Provider for Informix use? > From: eferreyra@gmail.com > To: informix-list@iiug.org > > Hi, question: > > Wich of the several clients (latest version) for informix should i use to connect to Informix from .Net (.Net Provider) ? > > Is free download ? Have the link ? > > I know there is some Informix CSDK (3.70 latest ?) and there is some ibm data packages or something like, etc. > > Our production environment has Informix 3.50 CSDK but the installer mess up with 32/64 bits version, and doesnt add well the config sections in the machine.config of the several frameworks 2/4 and in 32/64 bits version of each one, also doesnt integrate in visual studio 2010, in short, after run the installer there is a mess that need manual changes over several places to make it work in Windows 7 64 bits (Dev machines) and Server 2008 64 bits (Prod Servers). > > Thanks as always. > > > _______________________________________________ > Informix-list mailing list > Informix-list@iiug.org > http://www.iiug.org/mailman/listinfo/informix-list

Thanks Art and Alex The servers are 11.5x most of them: IBM Informix Dynamic Server Version 11.50.FC9 We dont use ODBC from .Net, old win32 apps still use some ODBC, there is no problem in enable the DRDA, already requested to our DBA. We want VS2010 (Ultimate) integration, thats the deal. The relevant of the architecture is: Database servers are Enterprise Linux with IDS 11.5x as described. App servers are Windows 2003/2008 32 and 64 bits, most apps are IIS hosted in fact are WCF services. Development machines have several configurations but latest are Windows 7 64 bits. Currently all clients (app servers and dev machines) use CSDK 3.50 TC4DE to connect. Art: The PDF file describing the differences between the two .NET drivers is quite old, 2008 i hope i can use database names longer than 8 chars! :S We are going to setup a lab machine with Win7 and VS2010 does the VS addin version 10.1 (latest) works with this VS version ? always says 2008 in docs...

Honestly I don't use .NET myself (the few .NET projects I have worked on someone else was on the application side and I was just working in the database) and I don't do Windows (love saying that ;-). I cannot find any later documentation than the v9.50 docs which do indeed date from the corresponding DB2 release in 2008. I would call IBM Informix support or open an online support case and ask your questions there. The 8character database name thing has likely been resolved since while DB2's database names must be less than 8 bytes long, IBM is recommending this driver for Informix and not putting much work into improving the Informix specific driver. Art Art S. Kagel Advanced DataTools (www.advancedatatools.com) Blog: http://informix-myview.blogspot.com/ Disclaimer: Please keep in mind that my own opinions are my own opinions and do not reflect on my employer, Advanced DataTools, the IIUG, nor any other organization with which I am associated either explicitly, implicitly, or by inference. Neither do those opinions reflect those of other individuals affiliated with any entity with which I am affiliated nor those of the entities themselves. On Thu, Sep 27, 2012 at 3:04 PM, eferreyra <eferreyra@gmail.com> wrote: > Thanks Art and Alex > > The servers are 11.5x most of them: > IBM Informix Dynamic Server Version 11.50.FC9 > > We dont use ODBC from .Net, old win32 apps still use some ODBC, there is > no problem in enable the DRDA, already requested to our DBA. > > We want VS2010 (Ultimate) integration, thats the deal. > > The relevant of the architecture is: > > Database servers are Enterprise Linux with IDS 11.5x as described. > App servers are Windows 2003/2008 32 and 64 bits, most apps are IIS hosted > in fact are WCF services. > Development machines have several configurations but latest are Windows 7 > 64 bits. > > Currently all clients (app servers and dev machines) use CSDK 3.50 TC4DE > to connect. > > Art: The PDF file describing the differences between the two .NET > drivers is quite old, 2008 i hope i can use database names longer than 8 > chars! :S > > We are going to setup a lab machine with Win7 and VS2010 does the VS addin > version 10.1 (latest) works with this VS version ? always says 2008 in > docs... > _______________________________________________ > Informix-list mailing list > Informix-list@iiug.org > http://www.iiug.org/mailman/listinfo/informix-list >