ODBC and other indoor sports...

In article <2vearv$dh6@raffles.technet.sg>, >Kenneth Leung (kleung@netcom.com) wrote: >: I am a little new to Client Server technology so please bear with me. >: I have an Informix database on a SCO Unix box running Standard Engine, >: and I want to access the database over TCP/IP Ethernet from a DOS/Windows >: PC, and I want to use something like Microsoft Acess or Foxpro 2.6 that >: supports ODBC to develop my Windows appl. > >: Can I accomplish this? My understanding is Informix Net does not support >: ODBC, and there is supp. a company named Q&E that can do it. Any info >: would be appreciated ODBC is starting to become less of a mystery to most people, but here is basically how it works: There are a few major requirements for ODBC to work. You need: - An ODBC compliant application (Access, Approach, Foxpro, etc, Windows only) - The Windows ODBC Control Panel Manager - The individual driver for the backend you want to reach (ie: Q+E's ODBC drive for Informix) - The necessary protocol "carriers" for that backend, ie: I-net. ODBC is sort of a "Skeleton Key" for data. It allows the compliant client application to make fairly generic SQL calls to the ODBC driver, which then "translates" it into something the backend can understand. There are different "classes" of drivers, with different grades of functionality. ODBC is going to be a little slower than a .DLL or something that has been written exclusively for Informix because the limitations don't allow it to take advantage of some of the Informix performance enhancements, and you are adding that additional layer between you and the back-end, but it does allow you to write programs in product like Microsoft Access and go against databases servers that weren't initially supported by the product. Q+E Software (formally Pioneer Software?) makes the best ODBC library kit. I think you can get it for like $149 mail order and it comes with about 20+ different ODBC drivers, as well as the control panel manager. ...spoken like a true marketing person. What can I say, I just came from Lotus where I was an engineer and wasn't let out too much! (smile) --Doug -- Doug Mason, Windows Czar Informix Software, Inc. dmason@informix.com Menlo Park, Ca 94025 +01 415.926.6917