OpenEdge Data Management:<br />DataServer for ODBC Introduction

The Progress® OpenEdge® DataServer for ODBC allows you to develop and deploy Progress® 4GL or WebSpeed® applications that access the following ODBC-compliant data sources: DB2‚, Informix‚, and Sybase‚. Throughout this manual, the term ODBC data sources, or simply data sources, refers specifically to these data sources. To obtain DataServer support for Microsoft® SQL Server 7.0 or higher use the OpenEdge® DataServer for Microsoft SQL Server. The OpenEdge DataServer for ODBC is fully compliant with ODBC-3.5. However, the OpenEdge DataServer for ODBC only partially implements ODBC-2.0 and ODBC-3.0 features, such as stored procedures. For more information on stored procedures and other programming feature functionality, see Chapter 2, " Programming Considerations."

This chapter will introduce you to the DataServer for ODBC. It will describe the DataServer components, utilities, and configurations. It will also discuss software requirements for the data sources, and guidelines for using the DataServer.

The OpenEdge DataServer for ODBC allows you to access your ODBC data source with the Progress 4GL and develop applications within the OpenEdge Studio. The OpenEdge Studio is a set of tools that helps you to maintain data sources and develop applications with graphical user interfaces. When you develop applications with the OpenEdge Studio, you can design a separation of your user interface, business logic, and data sources. OpenEdge Studio provides user interface independence, whether you need a character UI, a Graphical Windows UI, or a Web interface. When you incorporate a dataserver with OpenEdge Studio, you are enabling the use of your Progress 4GL business logic to access a foreign data source.

OpenEdge provides you the tools for the development, deployment, management, and integration of your application. The DataServer allows you to implement the OpenEdge features and Progress 4GL expansions in applications that run with the supported data sources. Some of these tools and features are:

OpenEdge Application Server — Use an application server to partition your application across multiple servers.

Progress Dynamics — Use Progress Dynamics to design and develop a repository-based application.

Data Dictionary — Use the Data Dictionary to modify database schema; create indexes; and define database triggers, validation expressions, and help messages.

Database triggers — Use a trigger to fire a block of Progress 4GL code whenever a specific data source event occurs; for example, when creating or deleting a record or assigning a value to a field.

Note that using the DataServer to access an ODBC data source does not provide you with access to all Progress 4GL, WebSpeed, and database features. For details, see Chapter 2, " Programming Considerations."

The OpenEdge DataServer for ODBC is a fully featured DataServer with a wide range of deployment flexibility and scalability. The following are a few of the features:

It is available for use by multiple users.

It can be configured on remote servers.

The ODBC drivers for the supported data sources are bundled with the product.

It is available only on Professional Windows platforms. For specific versions supported, see the OpenEdge Release Notes and the
OpenEdge Getting Started: Installation and Configuration .

Note: To install and use an ODBC driver successfully, your system must meet the driver system requirements for connecting to data sources. These system requirements are documented in the DataDirect Connect Reference available on the OpenEdge product CD in Adobe Acrobat PDF format. You can view and print this book using Acrobat Reader licensed from Adobe Systems. You can download the Acrobat Reader software from the Adobe Web site at no charge. The URL for the Acrobat Reader is: http://www.adobe.com/prodindex/acrobat/readstep.html.

This chapter describes the OpenEdge DataServer for ODBC and discusses how OpenEdge and WebSpeed applications work with it to access data sources through the ODBC standard. It discusses the following topics:

DataServer components, including DataServer logic, the schema holder, security, utilities, the demonstration database, and configurations.

Software requirements.

Guidelines for using the DataServer.

Related DataServer information in other OpenEdge manuals.

Subsequent chapters provide additional information about using the DataServer. If you are using the DataServer with WebSpeed and with applications written in SpeedScript, all information regarding Progress 4GL applies to your application.