OFF98: Contents of the ODBC 3.0 Read Me Text File

• Microsoft Office 98 Macintosh Edition

SUMMARY

The ODBC 3.0 Read Me is a text file that contains supplemental information about installing and using the Open Database Connectivity (ODBC) drivers that are included with Microsoft Office 98 Macintosh Edition. The "More Information" section in this article contains the complete text of this file, which is located on your Microsoft Office 98 compact disc (CD) in the following folder:

   Value Pack:Data Access:ODBC Components

MORE INFORMATION

README

        INTERSOLV DataDirect ODBC Pack for Power Macintosh
        Version 3.01
        November 1997

   Version 3.01 for Power Macintosh
   Available DataDirect ODBC Drivers
   Installing the DataDirect ODBC Drivers
   System Requirements for the Client
   About ODBC Preferences
   About the ODBC Demo
   Notes and Known Problems
   Contacting INTERSOLV Answerline for Technical Support
   Installed Files

Version 3.01 for Power Macintosh

This new version of the DataDirect ODBC Pack for Power Macintosh features a new Installer program and a new format for Driver Setup dialog boxes that adheres to Apple Human Interface guidelines and is more consistent with the DataDirect ODBC Pack on other platforms. The following list summarizes features in version 3.01.

   ODBC 3.0 Compliance
           * Extended Diagnostic capabilities
           * Catalog function enhancements
           * Named parameter support for stored procedure execution
           * Vastly extended metadata information
           * Numerous performance enhancing options
           * Granular access to parameter/result information

   All Drivers
           * Thread Safe on all platforms
           * SQLBulkOperations/SQL_ADD (formerly SQLSetPos/SQL_ADD)
           * Driver configuration enhancements including Tab dialogs
           * Support for bookmarks
           * Multiple environment handles supported

   All Flat-File Drivers
           * ALTER TABLE support for read/write drivers
           * Column ALIAS support
           * Changeable file extensions (xBASE and Text)

   xBASE
           * Foxpro 3 support

   Oracle
           * SQLTablePrivileges support
           * SQLColumnPrivileges support
           * Scrollable cursor support
           * Option to enable SQLDescribeParam support
           * Option to enable Scrollable cursor support

   Sybase
           * Long data enhancements
           * Quoted identifier support
           * Enhanced multi-threading support
           * Many new configuration options

   Text
           * Support for UPDATE and DELETE DMLs
           * Support for international decimal representations


           Available DataDirect ODBC Drivers

   Driver                      Supports
   -----------------------------------------------------------------

   dBASE                       dBASE IV and V files and FoxPro files
                               versions 2.5 and 3.0

   FoxPro 3.0 DBC              FoxPro 3.0 DBC

   Oracle                      Oracle 7.x and 8.0
                              (driver linked against SQL*NET 2.1.4.0.4)

   Sybase                      System 10 and System 11 from Sybase
                              (driver linked against 10.03 client)

   Text                        ASCII text files

For information about installing the DataDirect ODBC Pack, refer to the DataDirect ODBC Pack Installation Guide.

System Requirements for the Client:

The ODBC Pack for Power Macintosh requires:

   System 7.1 or greater (System 8 is supported)
   8 MB memory
   6 MB of free space on the startup drive

We have included a sample ODBC Preferences file, which defines data sources to enable you to use the ODBC drivers. If necessary, you can edit ODBC Preferences using SimpleText. We strongly suggest, however, that you use the ODBC Setup Control Panel to configure and modify the data sources defined in your ODBC Preferences file.

In the ODBC Preferences file, the ODBC Data Sources section describes the available data sources. The name to the left of the equal sign is the data source name. The name to the right of the equal sign is the driver name. Each data source has a section that describes the options for that data source. You may change the data source name; however, if you do so, you must change the section name for that data source to match the data source name. DO NOT CHANGE THE DRIVER NAME. ODBC will not be able to find your data source if the driver name is changed. Do not change the Driver entry under each section. Please refer to the INTERSOLV DataDirect ODBC Drivers Reference for more information on configuring data sources.

About ODBC Demo:

ODBC Demo is a demonstration application that will make three attempts to connect to a data source. If unsuccessful, it will return an error message. The ODBC Demo folder contains source code and a Code Warrior 2.x project that explains how to build an application using ODBC.

Notes and Known Problems:

The following are notes, known problems, or restrictions with version 3.01 of the DataDirect ODBC Pack for Power Macintosh.

These are the only known problems with this version. If you find others, please report them to INTERSOLV as soon as possible.

Text Driver Changes

Changes have been made to two of the tabs available when you are configuring the Driver:

Advanced Tab--The "Return Additional Tables" pane has been removed to the Mac File Types tab.

Mac File Types Tab--"Find tables by using" and "Return Additional Tables" panes have been added to the Mac File Types tab. Select one of the radio buttons in the "Find tables by using" pane to specify whether to use Macintosh file types or DOS file name extensions to locate tables. If you choose to "Return Additional Tables," you can do so either by matching file types or file name extensions. Your choice under the "Find tables by using" pane determines which selection box is active in the "Return Additional Tables" pane. See the Text Driver chapter of the ODBC Drivers Reference for complete information about returning additional tables.

ODBC Driver Manager

ODBC 3.0 drivers require the 3.0 version of the ODBC Driver Manager PPC. Because the ODBC 3.0 Driver Manager is compatible with 2.x compliant drivers, all 2.x versions of the Driver Manager should be removed from your Extensions folder to ensure application stability. Failing to remove older versions of the Driver Manager may result in application errors and abnormal terminations.

Microsoft Office 4.2 Compatibility

Because Microsoft developed version 4.2 of Microsoft Office to use 680x0 ODBC even on the Power Macintosh, the ODBC Drivers are not currently compatible. The current ODBC Drivers are intended for Power Macintosh processing only. INTERSOLV is working to develop compatibility with the forthcoming version of office

SQLColAttribute(s)

The column attributes 1001 and 1002, which were assigned as INTERSOLV specific attributes, were inadvertently used as system attributes by the Microsoft 3.0 ODBC implementation. Applications using those attributes should now use 1901 and 1902 respectively.

SQL_C_NUMERIC

Because of inconsistencies in the ODBC specification, users attempting to use SQL_C_NUMERIC parameters should set the precision and scale values of the corresponding structure, and the descriptor fields in the APD.

For Text Users

Restriction: When encountering an invalid file, you may receive too many or duplicate errors from SQLError.

Contacting INTERSOLV Answerline for Technical Support:

Before calling INTERSOLV Answerline, please collect basic information about your system to help us understand the environment in which you are working and the exact steps to reproduce the problem.

Installed Files:

Choosing the standard installation copies the following files into System Folder:Extensions:

   INTERSOLV 3.01 Base Library         Classes needed by all drivers
   INTERSOLV 3.01 Flat Library         Classes needed by flat-file drivers
                                      (installed only in the case of flat-
                                       file drivers)
   INTERSOLV Translate PPC             INTERSOLV sample translation shared
                                       library
   INTERSOLV 3.01 Utilities Library    Utilities required by all drivers
   ODBC Configuration Manager PPC
   ODBC Cursor Library PPC
   ODBC Driver Manager PPC
   ODBC Trace Library PPC
   ODBC 2.x Bridge PPC                 Allows applications built under ODBC
                                       2.X Driver Manager to use the 3.0
                                       Driver Manager

   INTERSOLV 3.01 dBASE driver
   INTERSOLV 3.01 FoxProDB driver
   INTERSOLV 3.01 Oracle driver
   INTERSOLV 3.01 Sybase driver
   INTERSOLV 3.01 Text driver

   ODBC Setup PPC                      INTERSOLV ODBC Administrator

   ODBC Connection Test               Previously built demo application
   ODBC Connection Test.1             Code Warrior 2.x project file for
                                      building the demo application

   odbcinst.h
   sql.h
   sqlext.h
   sqlmac.h
   sqltypes.h

   DemoMac.h
   DemoODBC.c
   DemoODBC.rsrc

   ODBC Configuration Manager PPC
   ODBC Driver Manager PPC

   ODBC Preferences PPC                Defines ODBC data sources
   IVODBC.LIC                          License file