RE: ISQL AND INFORMIX

---------- From: eric_langlois@berclain.com[SMTP:eric_langlois@berclain.com] Sent: Tuesday, March 17, 1998 12:46 PM Hi, Many of you talk about isql with Informix. I just want to know what is isql? I know a tool call isql for Sybase. Is it the same kind of tool? (isql for sybase is the same kind of tool use to interact with the db like sqlplus for oracle). JL: I'm not very familiar with either Sybase's isql or Oracle's sqlplus, but I suspect that one part of Informix's isql program is going to match the functionality of the other tools. Informix's isql is a program which has: * schema editing * query execution * forms * reports * user menus The query execution and schema editing correspond to the facilities in Informix's DB-Access program, and will be similar to the facilities in the Oracle and Sybase offerings. The forms are a simple but powerful way of accessing the database and editing the data in it. You can do amazing things with it; it also has many features missing. Similarly, the reports are a way of extracting data from the database and presenting it. Again, you can do amazing things with it, and it has a few features missing. The user menus are a simple way of writing 'applications' which run programs, forms and reports. There will be roughly analogous tools somewhere in the arsenal of Oracle and Sybase, but probably not in either Sybase's isql or Oracle's sqlplus. If you really want to know more, buy 'Using Informix-SQL', written by yours truly, published by Addison-Wesley, ISBN 0-201-56509-9 - yes, that's a shameless plug. Yours, Jonathan Leffler (jleffler@visa.com) #include <bother.ms-exchange.h>