Informix FAQ 2.8 now available
Hi Team, This is to let everybody know that the latest release of the Informix FAQ (version 2.8, March 1997) has now been released. Cheers, Kerry S ------------------------------------,------------------------------------------ Kerry Sainsbury, kerry@kcbbs.gen.nz | THE INFORMIX FAQ v2.8 March 1997 Quanta Systems, Auckland | http://www.iiug.org/techinfo/faq/ New Zealand. Work: +64 9 377-4473 | ftp://ftp.iiug.org/pub/informix/faq Home: +64 9 279-3571 | ftp://kcbbs.gen.nz:/pub/informix/ 0 FAQ Facts =========== 0.1 What's new in this release of the FAQ? --------------------------------------------- I've tested all of my links to other Web sites, and either fixed or removed those which were broken. The plain-text version of the FAQ has been abandoned. If you don't have access to a Web Browser it's time you sought therapy. Seriously though, if this is an issue let me know -- I'll consider bowing to public pressure. A major change is the inclusion of a new section: 12 Third Party Products to help folks track down non-Informix (or ex-Informix) products that are tough to find any other way NEW! 4.8 Stored Procedure Language (SPL)? is an entirely new section dedicated to SPL 4.8.1 What is SPL? 4.8.2 Advantages of SPL 4.8.3 Disadvantages of SPL 4.8.4 Can I access the SQLCA via a Stored Procedure? 4.8.5 When should I use a SP rather than 4GL? 5.1 How can I speed up my SQL commands? has couple of new subsections, thanks to Dennis Pimple (can't believe we didn't have "Use Indexes" anywhere!): 5.1.4 Avoid "OR" and 5.1.5 Use Indexes 5.11 Is there *really* no "Upper" function!? includes some stored procedures from June Tong to provide this LONG OVERDUE function (Thanks June) 6.18 Recovering broken (or missing) indexes in SE, thanks to Rudy Fernandes. 10.2 Is there a Perl interface to Informix? has two new sections 10.2.1 A simple interface 10.2.3 DBD::Informix 12 Third Party Products is new and exciting with 12.1 Hyperscript Tools 12.2 4GL Clones 12.2.1 Querix 12.2.2 F4GL Compiler 12.3 Fourgen-CASE 12.4 ODBC Drivers 12.5 JDBC Drivers IMPROVED! 1.2 The Informix Time-line has been updated to include the "Universal Server". 10.2.2 isqlperl now mentions that it is not compatible with Perl 5. 10.7 Is there any Web Server software available? has been updated to include some more info, including opinion on Informix's freeware offering, and a link to Jeff Rowe's hugely useful web site. 11.5 What is Informix-Link? has had a bit of Informix-bashing removed -- there is now a search function on the bugs database! What was "11.8 Are there any 4GL clones available?" has been moved to 12.2 4GL Clones. --------------------------------------------- 0.2 How can I get the latest copy of the FAQ? --------------------------------------------- 0.2.1 anonymous ftp The latest version of this document can be retrieved via anonymous ftp from New Zealand at ftp://ftp.kcbbs.gen.nz/pub/informix/faq/ifaq.tar.Z or from the USA at ftp://ftp.iiug.org/pub/informix/faq/ifaq.tar.Z If you've no knowledge of Unix, and have never heard of .Z or .tar formats, just get a copy of WinZip from http://www.winzip.com it's a very sexy Windows95/NT program which can decipher these for you. 0.2.2 World Wide Web USA: http://www.iiug.org/techinfo/faq/informix.htm (The International Informix User Group's site) http://www.garpac.com/informix/ (Contact clay@garpac.com (Clay Irving)) EUROPE: Turkey: http://www.metu.edu.tr/METU/CC/OL/INFORMIX/ (Contact Ayhan Ergul, who also invites you to visit the main URL for the Middle East Technical University (Ankara, Turkiye) at: http://www.metu.edu.tr) AUSTRALASIA: Australia: http://www.dataspace.com.au/faq/informix.html (Contact Rafal Czerniawski (rafal@zip.com.au) and visit his main page at http://www.dataspace.com.au/resource.html ----------------- Table of Contents ----------------- 0 FAQ Facts: 0.1 What's new in this release of the FAQ? 0.2 How can I get the latest copy of the FAQ? 0.2.1 anonymous ftp 0.2.2 World Wide Web 0.2.3 comp.databases.informix 0.2.4 email 0.2.5 Compuserve 0.3 Who do I complain to? 1 Frivolous background stuff: 1.1 Who, or what, is Informix? 1.2 The Informix Time-line 1.3 How do you pronounce "Informix"? 1.4 What products to Informix sell, and what do they do? 1.4.1 Engines 1.4.2 Tools 1.5 What're the differences between Turbo/Online/SE/4GL/RDS/ESQL... 1.5.1 Online vs Standard Engine. 1.5.2 Online vs Turbo. 1.5.3 4GL vs 4GL-RDS. 1.5.4 4GL vs 4GL for Windows vs 4GL/GX 1.5.5 ESQL/C vs 4GL 1.5.6 HyperScript Tools vs WingZ 1.6 What are TPC-C benchmarks? 1.7 What are the meaning of the acronyms used in this newsgroup? 1.8 New Features by product (or: Why you should upgrade) 2 Not so frivolous background stuff: 2.1 Who are we - comp.databases.informix 2.2 How do I join the list or unsubscribe? 2.3 What's the Consensus on Job Postings? 2.4 Other User Groups 2.5 Other Mailing lists 3 Tell me More about... 3.1 The Integrated Debugger 3.2 4GL for Windows 3.3 I-Star/I-Net 4 Common Questions about tools: 4.1 Informix-4GL 4.1.1 I keep getting -4518 errors! How can I fix this problem? 4.1.2 How can I write to a flat ASCII file? 4.1.3 How can I read from a flat ASCII file? 4.1.4 How can I force INPUT ARRAY onto the next line? 4.1.5 How can I make a screen dump? 4.1.6 Any undocumented features that I could play with? 4.1.7 Performance tips (Code Optimization) 4.1.8 Performance tips (Design Optimization) 4.1.9 How can I use #DEFINE-style constructs, like C? 4.1.10 Why are RUN's return codes screwy? 4.1.11 Are there any RDS compatibility problems? 4.1.12 Can you link Compiled I4GL functions into a custom P-code runner? 4.1.13 How can I check if any rows exist, without OPEN-FETCH-CLOSE? 4.1.14 How do you include Printer control characters in an Informix Report? 4.1.15 How can I dynamically change Report OPTIONs at runtime? 4.1.16 My .err files are incomplete 4.1.17 Can I run a Stored Procedure from 4GL? 4.1.18 What problems will I have upgrading from 4.x to 6/7.x? 4.1.19 Tips on running 4GL via Cron 4.1.20 Will Informix explode in the year 2000? 4.1.21 How can I use GNU C (gcc) with 4GL? 4.1.22 Why does 4GL generate invalid dates when it performs arithmetic with months? 4.2 ESQL/C: 4.2.1 Why have Informix duplicated stleng, stcopy() etc in ESQL/C?