Release 10.1A: OpenEdge Data Management:
DataServer for ODBC

Unsupported 4GL statements

The DataServer supplies you with complete OpenEdge functionality when accessing ODBC data sources. Nearly all 4GL language elements (statements, functions, and so forth) and Data Dictionary features work the same whether your application accesses a data source through the DataServer or an OpenEdge database.

Use the DBRESTRICTIONS function to find out which OpenEdge features your ODBC data sources or specific tables in those data sources do not support. For the DataServer for ODBC, DBRESTRICTIONS can return SETUSERID, SET–CURRENT–VALUE, and COUNT–OF. In certain circumstances, it can return additional values:

It can return READ–ONLY if:
You connect to the schema holder for a DB2, Informix, or Sybase data source in read-only mode.
You connect to a Sybase logical data source in read-only mode.
If your ODBC data-source table does not include the columns necessary for supporting the RECID function, DBRESTRICTIONS also returns RECID.

See the DBRESTRICTIONS function reference entry in the OpenEdge Development: Progress 4GL Reference for information on syntax.

Table 2–7 summarizes the 4GL differences between OpenEdge databases and ODBC data sources.

Table 2–7: 4GL differences for OpenEdge databases and ODBC data sources (

Progress feature	ODBC data-source difference
BEGINS operator Abbreviated Index USING option	When you use these 4GL elements to access data in an ODBC data source, you might get different results than from an OpenEdge database. Suppose, for example, that you have customers named SI and SIM and that you issue this FIND statement: FIND customer WHERE name BEGINS "SI". Progress returns the customer named SI. With the DataServer, the FIND fails because the FIND statement is ambiguous. You receive the same results when you use an abbreviated index or the USING option in your query.
CONTAINS operator	This operator relates to word indexing, which the DataServer does not support.
COUNT–OF function	The DataServer does not support this function.
CREATE statement	Records that you create after opening a cursor might be invisible to that cursor.
CURRENT–VALUE statement	The DataServer for ODBC can retrieve CURRENT–VALUE if the data source supports the OpenEdge Compatibility dictionary feature.
FIND statements FOR EACH statements OPEN QUERY statement	To reduce the number of records included in the results set, qualify your FIND statements and queries with a WHERE clause.
MATCHES function BEGINS function	The DataServer does not support using the percent (%) or underscore (_) character with the MATCHES and BEGINS functions. Do not use these functions with a pattern that is not an expression, but is stored in an ODBC data source. It is theoretically possible to do this with an OpenEdge database, but using this kind of criteria results in poor performance.
NO–LOCK option1 SHARE–LOCK option EXCLUSIVE–LOCK option	A Progress EXCLUSIVE-LOCK is emulated in the ODBC DataServer. A Progress NO-LOCK can be emulated in the ODBC database when the isolation level is set to read-uncommitted. SHARE-LOCK behavior is data-source and isolation-level dependent. See the "Data-source record locking" section for more information.
NULL	ODBC data source NULL = Progress unknown value("?") Progress NULL (empty string) = one space in ODBC data source The ODBC data source does not distinguish between a zero-length character string and a string that contains only blank spaces.
Record creation	In an ODBC data source, a record is created at the end of a record’s scope and not when the required index information becomes available.
SETUSERID function	You cannot use this function to change the login name and password of an ODBC data source.
For more information, see the "Data-source record locking" section.