About the DataBlade Developers Kit Tutorial

DataBlade Developers Kit Tutorial

About the DataBlade Developers Kit Tutorial

The DataBlade Developers Kit Tutorial is a set of exercises that demonstrate how to create extensions to Informix Dynamic Server and package them as DataBlade modules using the DataBlade Developers Kit.

Note: You should have a basic understanding of extensibility before you start this tutorial. The focus of this tutorial is on creating extensions, not on defining them. To learn about extensibility, read the "DataBlade Module Development Overview."

The DataBlade Developers Kit consists of the following tools:

BladeSmith. For defining the objects that your DataBlade module creates and generating code templates for them
DBDK Visual C++ Add-In and IfxQuery. For debugging your DataBlade module on Windows NT
BladePack. For packaging a final installable version of your DataBlade module
BladeManager. For registering DataBlade modules in your databases

In the first exercise, Creating a Simple User-Defined Routine, you learn how to use BladeSmith and the DBDK Visual C++ Add-In by creating a simple DataBlade module and debugging it. All tutorial users should start with Exercise 1.

The rest of the exercises demonstrate how to create DataBlade modules that are increasingly complex. You can choose to either work through the exercises sequentially or pick just the ones that interest you.

The tutorial contains the following exercises:

1. Creating a Simple User-Defined Routine

2. Creating Distinct Data Types and Casts

3. Creating Row Data Types

4. Creating Opaque Data Types

5. Using Interfaces

6. Using Smart Large Objects

Software Dependencies

To use this tutorial, you need the following Informix software:

The DataBlade Developers Kit, Version 4.0
Informix Dynamic Server, Version 9.14 or Informix Dynamic Server 2000, Version 9.2
The Informix Client Software Developer's Kit, Version 2.3 or later
Microsoft Visual C++, Version 6.0

See the Read Me First for the DataBlade Developers Kit for system requirements.

Before you start the tutorial, load the DBDK Visual C++ Add-In into your Microsoft Visual C++ program.

Tips

Throughout each exercise you can use a drop-down list that gives you access to any of the other exercises. You can also click buttons to go to the InfoShelf home page, to this page, or to print this tutorial.

Sample code is shown in blue, like the following fragment:

Gen_RetVal = Int1 + Int2;

When you add code to your source files, you can copy and paste the code from this tutorial.

This tutorial has links to C source code files (.c) and text files (.txt) containing SQL statements. How these files are displayed depends on your setting in Windows Explorer. For example, if you have .c files set to open in Microsoft Visual C++, when you click a link to a .c file in the tutorial, the file opens in Microsoft Visual C++. If you do not have .c and .txt files configured to be opened by another application, the files open in your browser. In that case, you can use the Back button on your browser to return to the tutorial.