The Informix FAQ 1.2
Hi world. Here's the second release of the FAQ. Thanks to all those who contributed! - Kerry S ---------- Cut Here ---------- $Id: informix.f%v 1.2 1994/08/03 09:25:01 kerry Exp kerry $ Frequently Asked Questions about Informix Products -------------------------------------------------- This document attempts to answer some of the questions which regularly appear in the Usenet Newsgroup comp.databases.informix. In addition to "frequent" questions I've also included questions which I consider useful or interesting. Please don't hesitate to offer opinions on the content of this FAQ, and suggestions for improvement ("I've never done this before", he said shyly). What do *you* consider to be common problems, or other items that should be in the FAQ? Send your questions, preferably with answers, and I'll be pleased to add them to the next release. The latest version of this document can be retrieved via anonymous ftp as "/u2/ftp/informix/informix.faq" from kcbbs.gen.nz. It's companion document, "informix.apx" lives in the same directory and holds the appendices. [BEWARE: There are some glaring holes in this document, in addition to some feeble, poorly informed, answers. Please correct them!] Contents -------- 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 do Informix sell, and what do they do? 1.5 What're the differences between Turbo/Online/SE/4GL/RDS/ESQL... 1.6 What are TPC-C benchmarks? 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 3. Tell me More about... 3.1 The Integrated Debugger 3.2 4GL for Windows 3.3 Istar/Inet 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? 4.2 ESQL/C: 4.2.1 Why have Informix duplicated stleng, stcopy() etc in ESQL/C? 4.2.2 How can I get a list of databases? 4.3 ACE: 4.3.1 How do I call a custom C function from ACE? 5. Common SQL Questions: 5.1 How can I speed up my queries? 5.2 How can I use the results of an SQL query in a shell script? 5.3 Why can't I create a view with a calc column 5.4 How can I access data outside the current database? 6. Common Questions about the Engine: 6.1 What're some pointers for configuring Online? 6.2 What do I need to use MS-Access/Visual Basic with my Informix database? 6.3 Where can I get an ODBC driver? 6.4 What error messages are caused by locking problems? 6.5 What should I use instead of kill -9? 6.6 How can I tell what version I'm running? 6.7 Locking in pre-6.0 engines (neighbour index locking - ask Dave Kosenko) 6.8 Space 'reclamation' 6.9 Online Disk Fragmentation 6.10 Why do UPDATE STATISTICS? 6.11 How do we get serial field starting values for a table 6.12 Can I count the number of rows SELECTed, without using SELECT COUNT? 6.13 Is the number of rows processed in the SQLERRD structure accurate? 6.14 Interpreting SysColumns.ColType and SysColumns.ColLength 6.15 More tuning suggestions for Online 7. DBA Issues 7.1 Permissions, permissions, permissions 8. Configuring things 8.1 Environment variables 8.2 How do you read termcap's ZA string? 9. Gimme something for nothing, what's available? 9.1 Informix Archive Sites 9.2 Is there a Perl interface to Informix? 9.3 What about Mac Client Software? 9.4 Is there an RDS de-compiler available? 9.5 What about a GUI interface? 10. Miscellany 10.1 What machines get ported to first? 10.2 I've finished the FAQ, what else can I read? 10.3 Is there any Informix info on The Web? 10.4 List of major bugs fixed in the various versions Appendices APPENDIX A Temporary String Space (TSS) APPENDIX B Sample 4GL Routine to read ASCII files APPENDIX C Sample C Routine to read ASCII files APPENDIX D C Routine to give a list of databases APPENDIX E How to interpret syscolumns (in English) APPENDIX F How to interpret syscolumns (in 4GL) APPENDIX G GUI builders summary --------------------- Frivolous background stuff: --------------------------- 1.1 Who, or what, is Informix? ------------------------------- Informix Software Inc produce the Relational Database Engines, and associated programming tools that are generically labelled "Informix". The snail mail address is: Informix Software Inc 4100 Bohannon Drive Menlo Park CA 94025 USA The main switchboard number is: +1 415 926 6300 1.2 The Informix Time-line -------------------------- 1980 - Informix was founded by Roger Sippl and Laura King under the name "Relational Database Systems Inc". 1981? - They released C-ISAM (under the name "Marathon") 1982 - Release the pre-SQL product suite (Informer query language, Perform form manager, Ace report writer, ALL - reaching version 3.3) 1984? - Release of Informix Second-generation SQL-based products, first general releases being Informix-SQL and Informix-ESQL/C versions 1.10 and the companion C-ISAM version 2.10. 1986? - This was followed by Informix-4GL. 1986? - Informix-Turbo was introduced in 1986, and Informix-SE became a separate product. 1988? - The company changed its name to Informix Software Inc. In due course, Informix-4GL/RDS and Informix-4GL/ID, the p-code versions of Informix-4GL were introduced. 1988 - Release WingZ on the Macintosh, the beginning of graphical spreadsheets with speed, flexibility and high quality graphic capabilities. 1990 - Informix-OnLine introduced. 1993 - Informix-OnLine Dynamic Server. 1.3 How do you pronounce "Informix"? ------------------------------------- Informix employees and the Politically Correct say "InFORmix". Humans tend to say something closer to "Infor-mix". An American accent is part of the key to the first pronunciation. 1.4 What products do Informix sell, and what do they do? --------------------------------------------------------- Informix sells products in 3 broad categories: 1.4.1. Engines. These are raw database products capable of understanding SQL (Structured Query Language) commands. You need these to add@@NL@