IBM Informix ODBC Driver Features

IBM Informix ODBC Driver implements the Microsoft Open Database Connectivity (ODBC) Version 3.0 standard. The IBM Informix ODBC Driver product also provides the following features and functionality:

• Data Source Name (DSN) migration
• Driver Manager Replacement Module, which supports compatibility between ODBC 2.x applications and the ODBC driver, Version 2.90.
• Microsoft Transaction Server (MTS), which is an environment that lets you develop, run, and manage scalable, component-based Internet and intranet server applications. MTS performs the following tasks:
  • Manages system resources, including processes, threads, and database connections, so that your application can scale to many simultaneous users
  • Manages server component creation, execution, and deletion
  • Automatically initiates and controls transactions to make your application reliable
  • Implements security so that unauthorized users cannot access your application
  • Provides tools for configuration, management, and deployment
    Note:
    If you want to use distributed transactions managed by MTS with the Informix ODBC Driver, you must have connection pooling enabled.

• Extended data types, including rows and collections
• Long identifiers
• Limited support of bookmarks
• GLS data types
• Extensive error detection
• Unicode support
• XA support
• Internet Protocol Version 6 support for internet protocols of 128-bits. (For more information, see IBM Informix: Administrator's Guide.)

Support for Extended Data Types (IDS)

IBM Informix ODBC Driver supports the following extended data types:

• Collection (LIST, MULTISET, SET)
• DISTINCT
• OPAQUE (fixed, unnamed)
• Row (named, unnamed)
• Smart large object (BLOB, CLOB)
• Client functions to support some of the extended data types

Support for GLS Data Types

IBM Informix ODBC Driver supports the following GLS data types:

• NCHAR
• NVCHAR

For more information on data types, see SQL Data Types.

Extended Error Detection

IBM Informix ODBC Driver detects the following types of errors:

• ISAM
• XA