ACC: Using the INSTCAT.SQL Script with an ODBC Application

ID: Q104601

The information in this article applies to:

SUMMARY

Advanced: Requires expert coding, interoperability, and multiuser skills.

The INSTCAT.SQL script should be run on SQL Server for products that use the SQL Server driver. Because different versions of the INSTCAT.SQL script ship with different versions of the products and of the SQL Server driver, this article discusses compatibility issues.


MORE INFORMATION

The INSTCAT.SQL script, when run on SQL Server, installs several stored procedures that are later used by the ODBC SQL Server driver to query the system catalog. Products such as Microsoft Visual Basic and Microsoft Access, which use the SQL Server driver for ODBC access to SQL Server, cannot be fully functional unless this script is run on the server.

The INSTCAT.SQL script may have been run on SQL Server during the installation of SQL Server itself. As a rule of thumb, we recommend that the INSTCAT.SQL script that ships with Microsoft Access or Visual Basic be used instead. (Note that this is an uncompressed file on the driver disk.) To verify which version of the INSTCAT.SQL script is running on the server, the following command can be issued from any client utility (ISQL, SAF, and so forth): 


   sp_server_info 500

This command returns a version string, such as 01.02.3015, in the attribute_value column.

The table below lists the sizes, dates, and versions of the two INSTCAT.SQL scripts that are included with Microsoft Access version 1.1, 2.0, 7.0, and Visual Basic version 3.0:

NOTE: These INSTCAT.SQL scripts must also be run on Sybase SQL Server machines across when using Microsoft Access 1.1 or 2.0 or Visual Basic 3.0. Microsoft Access for Windows 95 does not include an ODBC driver for any version of Sybase SQL Server. 

   Product                 Size         Version
   -----------------------------------------------
   Visual Basic 3.0        93834        01.01.2806
   Microsoft Access 1.1    93834        01.01.2807
   Microsoft Access 2.0   100363        01.02.3015
   Microsoft Access 7.0   137788        06.00.120

However, the above versions of the INSTCAT.SQL script are incompatible with Microsoft Access version 1.0. As documented in the README.TXT included with the Visual Basic 3.0 and Microsoft Access 1.1 products, if you are also using Microsoft Access 1.0 as a client for SQL Server, you should use the INSTCAT.SQL script that was included with Microsoft Access 1.0.

NOTE: Visual Basic 3.0 and Microsoft Access 1.1 will work correctly with the INSTCAT.SQL script from Microsoft Access 1.0, except that Visual Basic 3.0 will be unable to delete indexes from tables.

Sybase SQL Server is manufactured by Sybase, Inc., a vendor independent of Microsoft; we make no warranty, implied or otherwise, regarding this product's performance or reliability.

Additional query words: adk 


Keywords          : kbusage OdbcOthr 
Version           : 1.0 1.1 2.0 7.0
Platform          : WINDOWS 
Issue type        : kbinfo

Last Reviewed: March 26, 1999