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Database Connectivity

database connectivity
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Following the terminology change from ‘database connectivity kits’ to ‘database drivers’ by Data Access, this page has been superceded by the page DataFlex Database Drivers.

Supporting the products Unicorn InterGlobal use and sell, are a number of database connectivity kits and drivers, from the following suppliers:

Data Access Connectivity Kits

Data Access has a range of database connectivity kits, that allow you to connect DataFlex applications to your preferred database or server, rather than the native DataFlex database management system (DBMS).

Database Connectivity kits are available from Unicorn for developing for, or migrating, to:

  • IBM DB2
  • Microsoft SQL Server
  • Actian PSQL
  • any database which supports ODBC

DataFlex Connectivity Kit for IBM DB2 Universal DB

The IBM DB2 Connectivity Kit enables developers to use IBM’s top ranked DB2 Universal Database with DataFlex and Web Application Server solutions.

The Connectivity Kit includes database drivers and file conversion utilities for migrating application data to DB2 databases, as well as numerous performance optimizations and support for Embedded SQL.

DataFlex Connectivity Kit for Microsoft SQL Server

The Microsoft SQL Server Connectivity Kit enables DataFlex and WebApp applications to store and retrieve data using Microsoft’s SQL Server, a high performance, client/server relational database management system.

DataFlex Connectivity Kit for Actian PSQL

The Actian PSQL Connectivity Kit enables DataFlex and WebApp applications to store and retrieve data using the Actian PSQL high-performance database management system.

DataFlex Connectivity Kits for ODBC

The ODBC Connectivity Kit is used to access ODBC databases from DataFlex programs. ODBC (Open DataBase Connectivity) is an industry standard that allows programs to access multiple database types without the need to rewrite the code for the program or having to re-link the program.

A wide variety of database management systems can be accessed through ODBC. These include enterprise database systems such as Oracle, Sybase, SQL Server, flat file systems as dBase, Paradox and even non database systems as Excel and ASCII. Many existing DataFlex applications, without change, will be able to use these non-DataFlex database systems.

Mertech Drivers

Mertech has developed the Flex2SQL family of ISDBC drivers to allow applications that have been created for use with DataFlex to seamlessly function with relational databases. The ability to rapidly leverage existing data without the need to write source level changes eliminates costly development projects.

The advent of 64-bit DataFlex has brought about changes for Mertech database drivers. Flex2SQL v17 will have two versions: a 32-bit Classic version and a 64-bit version. Mertech has documented this information (very nicely) in the article Flex2SQL v17 has support for both 64-bit & 32-bit Unicode.

The following Mertech drivers are available from Unicorn:

DataFlex to MS SQL Server Driver

SQLFlex® is a high-performance ISDBC driver for connecting to Microsoft MS SQL Server® database from DataFlex programs. The driver uses Microsoft’s SQL Server Native Client for communicating with and accessing the MS SQL Server database. The SQL Server Native client is available as a free small download from Microsoft. There is no need to buy additional drivers from other vendors, like in the case of ODBC.

DataFlex to MySQL Server (Windows / Linux) Driver

Developed using MySQL’s C API, Mertech’s ISDBC driver for MySQL provides complete support for various table handlers; file creation parameters; support for uppercase or lowercase object names and fast loading of data into tables using text files. DataFlex programs can take advantage of MyISAM tables which offer low-level ISAM access.

DataFlex to PostgreSQL (Windows/Linux) Driver

PostgreSQL provides an enterprise level database with no licensing fee. This driver provides access to stored procedures and functions from within a DataFlex program by using embedded SQL calls. Ideal for those looking to adopt an enterprise level database with no license fee or royalty, PostgreSQL is the solution.

DataFlex to Oracle Driver

Mertech’s Oracle database driver allows existing DataFlex® applications to connect with an Oracle® database server using Oracle’s Oracle Call Interface (OCI) for communicating and accessing the Oracle database. The driver communicates directly with the Oracle server through Oracle’s network interface called SQLNet. SQLNet is an Oracle Corporation product used to connect user and server processes on different machines on a network or between user processes on the same machine through a shared network dispatcher.

This is more efficient and faster than using an ODBC based solution because the direct driver allows greater flexibility in exploiting native optimization schemes of the Oracle server and less complication in application deployment by not requiring you to configure a data source for each workstation.

DataFlex to DB2 (Windows/Linux) Driver

Mertech’s ISDBC Driver for DB2 is a high-performance database driver for connecting to DB2 server from DataFlex programs.

Written using IBM’s Call Level Interface (CLI) API for DB2, this driver has all the features and some functionality of its highly successful ISDBC drivers for Oracle and MS SQL Server. The DB2 ISDBC driver has been designed keeping in mind the specific requirements of DataFlex programs. For example, DataFlex developers make extensive use of case sensitive indexes and overlap fields. Mertech’s driver provides excellent support for handling these DataFlex specific features without affecting performance. This driver also uses sophisticated cursor management techniques and fetch optimizations to enhance performance.

FLEXQuarters ODBC driver

The FLEXquarters ODBC driver, is a fully functional driver that can read and write DataFlex version 2.3 and 3.x format files. It requires an ODBC compliant front-end application such as Microsoft Access, Visual Basic, PowerBuilder, Delphi, Microsoft Word or Microsoft Excel. Once installed, it will allow these applications to read and write DataFlex files in the same fashion as other SQL data.