PC World 1997 November

home *** CD-ROM | disk | FTP | other *** search

/ PC World 1997 November / PCWorld_1997-11_cd.bin / software / programy / komix / DATA.Z / readme.1st < prev next >

Wrap

Text File | 1996-06-15 | 23.3 KB | 524 lines

Sybase SQL Anywhere Version 5.0.03: Release Notes ===================================================== This file contains release notes for Sybase SQL Anywhere 5.0.03. If you purchased this product on CD-ROM, you will find system requirements and installation guidance in the file INSTALL.TXT in the root directory of the CD-ROM. You will also find a complete list of installed files in the file FILELIST.TXT in the root directory of the CD-ROM. If you have problems with this software, please contact Sybase SQL Anywhere technical support at the address given in the Contact Sheet and in the online Help. Sybase's customer support services for this product are subject to then-current prices, terms, and conditions. ----------------------------------------------------------------------- Contents -------- 1. Default DOS and Windows 3.x I/O method 2. Documentation corrections 3. The quoted_identifier option and SQL keywords 4. External procedure changes 5. Note for users of the Open Server Gateway for NetWare 6. Known bugs and limitations 7. Behavior change in Release 5.0 8. About Release 5.0.01 9. About Release 5.0.02 10. About Release 5.0.03 1. DOS and Windows 3.x I/O -------------------------- The default I/O method for DOS and Windows 3.x standalone engines and network servers is now DOS I/O rather than direct I/O. The -d command line switch is supported, but ignored. If you are a user of Watcom SQL 4.0 with a large database running on Windows 3.1 or on Windows 3.11 without 32-bit disk access, you may want to use a new command-line switch, -di, which means "use direct I/O if possible". More documentation can be found in the online Help, but not in the printed manual. 2. Documentation corrections ---------------------------- Some of the following corrections to the printed User's Guide have been made in the online Help. The online Help is generally more up to date than the printed documentation. 2.1 GRANT REMOTE syntax ----------------------- The syntax of the GRANT REMOTE and GRANT CONSOLIDATE SQL Remote statements does not include the optional SEND AT and SEND EVERY clause. See the online Help and the section "Granting and revoking REMOTE and CONSOLIDATE permissions" in the chapter "SQL Remote Administration" for a description of these clauses. 2.2 Long binary and long varchar types in Embedded SQL ------------------------------------------------------ In the section "Length field values" in the chapter "Embedded SQL", the table states that the database field type LONG BINARY is returned as an Embedded SQL type DT_LONGBINARY. In fact, it is returned as DT_BINARY. Similarly, LONG VARCHAR is returned as DT_VARCHAR. 2.3 System procedures ---------------------- You may wish to correct the following typographic errors in your copy of the User's Guide: p 1124: The failure code for xp_startmail is 3. p 1125: The correct argument for xp_sendmail is include_file, not include-file. p 1127: The failure code for xp_stopmail is 2. 2.4 Using xp_startmail with Microsoft Exchange ---------------------------------------------- When using the xp_startmail system procedure with Microsoft Exchange, the mail_user parameter is an Exchange profile name, and no password should be included in the procedure call. 2.5 Network Server -i command-line switch ----------------------------------------- Pages 60 and 64 of the Network Guide describe the database server -i command-line switch as disconnecting clients after a specified idle time. The -i command-line switch for the network server disconnects connections (not clients) that have not submitted a request for the specified number of minutes. 3. The quoted_identifier option and SQL keywords ------------------------------------------------ The quoted_identifier option is a database option introduced for Transact-SQL compatibility. With the quoted_identifier option set to ON (the default), keywords can be used as identifiers if surrounded by double quotes. With the quoted_identifier option set to OFF, the engine treats strings in double quotes as strings. If you use quoted_identifier set to OFF, you must avoid using keywords as identifiers or be prepared to flip the setting to ON temporarily. If you set quoted_identifier to OFF, and issue a SET statement in ISQL, only a subset of the options is displayed. This is because the SET statement references a table with a column named "option". which is a keyword. We recommend that you use quoted_identifier ON wherever possible. The quoted_identifier option should be used as a mechanism to allow existing queries that use double quotes to work. 4. External procedure changes ------------------------------ Calling functions in external libraries from stored procedures is discussed in the chapter "Procedures, Triggers, and Batches". The following changes should be noted. 4.1 Calling functions in NLMs ---------------------------- When a function in a NLM is called, only loaded NLM's are searched for the function. The database engine does not search or load NLM's that are currently not loaded. 4.2 Argument order in Windows 3.x DLLs -------------------------------------- The calls to functions in Windows 3.x DLLs can employ the cdecl calling convention, as opposed to the default Pascal calling convention. To use the cdecl calling convention, in which parameters are passed in right to left rather than left to right, use the VARARGS keyword, as in the following syntax: CREATE PROCEDURE dll_proc ( parameter-list ) EXTERNAL NAME 'Windows3X:function_name[varargs]@library.dll'; 5. Note for users of the Open Server Gateway for NetWare -------------------------------------------------------- Before loading the Open Server Gateway for NetWare (DBOS50.MNLM) you must ensure that certain symbols are defined and required libraries are loaded. You should ensure that the following tasks are complete before loading DBOS50.NLM: o Add the Sybase NLMs directory to the search path. The following command carries out this task: search add sys:\sybase\nlms o Add the Sybase install directory to the search path for Sybinit purposes. The following command carries out this task: search add sys:\sybase\install o Load the NetWare Transport Level Interface Library provided by Novell. The following command carries out this task: load tli.nlm o Load the Sybase LIBSRV NLM. The following command carries out this task: load libsrv.nlm You can now load the SQL Anywhere Open Server Gateway. 6. Known bugs and limitations ----------------------------------- 6.1 Log Translation utility (DBTRAN) output and character sets -------------------------------------------------------------- Output from the log translation utility that includes binary data, such as encrypted passwords, cannot be run from Windows ISQL. 6.2. SQL Central limitations ---------------------------- You can carry out almost all database administration tasks with the SQL Central database administration tool. The following are known limitations of SQL Central: 6.2.1 Administrative tasks -------------------------- There is no support for setting and viewing database options (SET OPTION, GET OPTION). The rebuild, dbcollat, and dbinfo command-line tools are not available in SQL Central. You cannot pre-extend the transaction log file. You cannot unload specific tables. 6.2.2 Users and groups ---------------------- You cannot make a user into a group, or vice versa. 6.2.3 Miscellaneous limitations ------------------------------- You cannot use single or double quotes in entry fields. For example, user names with apostrophes (Dave O'Brien) are not supported. SQL Central should not be used on a Watcom SQL 4.0 database engine; instead use the SQL Anywhere 5.0 engine to connect to pre-5.0 databases. When creating foreign keys CHECK ON COMMIT can be selected for non-RESTRICT actions (but is harmless). 7. Behavior change in Release 5.0 ---------------------------------- The SQLSTATE for the error TABLE_NOT_FOUND has been changed from 52W01 to 42W33, to conform to the ANSI92 standard. 8. About Release 5.0.01 ----------------------- 8.1 Numbering scheme -------------------- Sybase SQL Anywhere uses numbers to indicate patch or maintenance-level releases. Release 5.0.01 is the first maintenance-level release for Sybase SQL Anywhere 5.0. The numbering scheme replaces the alphabetic scheme used for Watcom SQL patch-level releases. 8.2 In release 5.0.01 --------------------- Release 5.0.01 is being released to address some problems in the initial 5.0 release, particularly a backwards-compatibility problem. The backwards-compatibility problem applies only to databases initialized with Watcom SQL 4.0 or earlier. During recovery following a system failure or other improper database shutdown, the 5.0 database engine does not process the transaction log for databases initialized with Watcom SQL 4.0 or earlier. Consequently, committed transactions made between the most recent checkpoint and shutdown are not recovered for these databases. Release 5.0.01 fixes this problem. 9. About Release 5.0.02 ----------------------- This section lists new features in Release 5.0.02, with pointers to the online Help for more information. To locate a topic in the online Help, goto the index or search facility and type the topic name. Some of the new features involve changes to the system tables, and are accessible only if you upgrade your database, using the SQL Central Upgrade wizard or the DBUPGRAD command-line utility. CREATE SCHEMA statement Creates a collection of tables, views, and associated permissions for a user. For information, see "CREATE SCHEMA statement". in the online Help. FLOAT( P ) data type Stored as REAL or DOUBLE, depending on the value of P. SQL Central does not allow you to create columns using the FLOAT( P ) data type. For information, see "Numeric data types" in the online Help. Foreign keys More than one unnamed foreign key per table can now be created. For information, see "CREATE TABLE statement" in the online Help. GRANT statement SELECT and REFERENCE permissions can now be granted on a column by column basis, and permissions on views can be granted by users other than the DBA. For information, see "GRANT statement" in the online Help. To take advantage of the new permission features, you must upgrade your database using the SQL Central Upgrade Wizard or the DBUPGRAD command-line utility. Column default extension Constant expressions are now allowed as column defaults, as long as they do not reference database objects. For information, see "CREATE TABLE statement" and "Constant expression defaults" in the online Help. SQL Anywhere Service Manager extensions SQL Anywhere NT services can now be configured to not interact with the NT desktop. For information, see "Adding a new SQL Anywhere service" in the online Help. NT Service examples Sample Embedded SQL and ODBC applications in C are provided that can be run as an NT service from the Service Manager. For information, see "NT Service examples" for the Embedded SQL example and "The sample program" for the ODBC example in the online Help. New engine and server switches The -m command-line switch truncates the transaction log after each checkpoint, for situations where the transaction log is not required for recovery and disk space is a concern. With the -u switch, the engine or server uses the operating system disk cache. This switch is available for the Windows 95 and Windows NT engine and server only. The HOST network communications option (-x switch) on the Windows 95 and Windows NT server can be used on IPX networks to locate servers on specific machines. For information on new engine and server switches, see "The database engine" in the online Help, and "The database server" in the online Server Manual. New database options The NON_KEYWORDS option allows you to avoid incompatibilities introduced by new keywords. For information, see "SET OPTION Statement" in the online Help. The ANSI_BLANKS option forces a truncation error if a CHAR(N) value is read into a char(M) C host variable, and N is greater than or equal to M. For information, see "SET OPTION Statement" in the online Help. Transact-SQL support CREATE TABLE and CREATE INDEX now support the ON segment-name clause. CREATE INDEX permits the CLUSTERED and UNCLUSTERED keywords, although no clustering is performed. For information, see "Transact-SQL CREATE INDEX statement" and "Transact-SQL CREATE TABLE statement" in the online Help. The GOTO control of flow statement is now supported. For information, see "Transact-SQL GOTO statement" in the online Help. The system objects owned by the DBO user ID are now not unloaded by either the Unload or Extraction utilities. For information, see "The Unload utility" and "The SQL Remote database extraction utility" in the online Help. Client/Server timeout management For client/server connections to the network server, a set of server and client switches have been introduced to control the closing down of inactive connections. For information, see "The database server" and "The SQL Anywhere Client" in the online Server Help file. Multiple-event triggers A single trigger can now be defined to handle a combination of INSERT, UPDATE, and DELETE operations on a table. For information, see "CREATE TRIGGER Statement" in the online Help. Escape character for loading and unloading data The escape character for loading and unloading data can be changed from its default value of the backslash. For information, see "LOAD TABLE statement", "UNLOAD TABLE Statement", "INPUT Statement", "OUTPUT Statement", "Unload utility options", and "Extraction utility options" in the online Help. Support for Borland C++ SQL Anywhere now supports Borland C++ 4.5 as a development compiler for the Windows NT platform. For information, see "Supported Compilers" in the online Help. SQLSTATE/SQLCODE can be declared For ISO/ANSI compliance, you can declare SQLSTATE and SQLCODE as host variables within a declare section of a C program. For information, see "Host variable usage" in the online Help. CREATE/DROP DOMAIN as alternative to CREATE/DROP DATATYPE The keyword DOMAIN is a synonym for DATATYPE in the CREATE/DROP DATATYPE statements. The use of DOMAIN reflects the ANSI/ISO SQL3 draft standard. For information, see "CREATE DATATYPE statement" in the online Help. ISQL START DATABASE statement The ISQL START DATABASE statement now has an optional AUTOSTOP clause. For information, see "START DATABASE statement" in the online Help. Beta release of new SQL Remote message types DLL's are provided for SMTP and VIM message type support in SQL Remote. These are provided as beta pre-release versions. SMTP support is provided for the Windows 95, 3.x, and NT, while VIM support is provided for Windows 3.x only. SQL Central enhancements SQL Central shows all running databases on a server, not just connected databases. You can start and stop databases on a server. You can create global temporary tables. The enhancements to object permissions, including grant options, are accessible from SQL Central. You can create user accounts with no password. SQL Remote users now have a statistics page. A Create Table wizard has been added. 10. About Release 5.0.03 ----------------------- 10.1 Behavior change ------------------- When an INSERT or UPDATE truncates a CHAR or VARCHAR string, previous versions of SQL Anywhere and Watcom SQL truncated the string silently, and did not generate an error. A new default behavior corresponds to ANSI/ISO SQL/92 behavior, and raises an error when entries are truncated. To obtain the same behavior as previous versions, set the database option STRING_RTRUNCATION to OFF. 10.2 New features ---------------- This section lists new features in Release 5.0.03, with pointers to the online Help for more information. To locate a topic in the online Help, goto the index or search facility and type the topic name. SQL Remote enhancements Subqueries in publications can be used in a broader range of situations. If a row in a table is updated so as to "move" from one subscription to another, you can now ensure that all rows in foreign key tables are also moved, by using a new syntax for the UPDATE statement. For information, see "UPDATE Statement" and "Using subqueries in publications". Subqueries in SUBSCRIBE BY clauses can now return more than a single value, so that rows can appear in more than one subscription. For information, see "SUBSCRIBE BY subqueries returning multiple values" in the online Help. The Message Agent (DBREMOTE) has a new command-line switch (-l) to control the maximum length of messages. For information, see "The SQL Remote Message Agent" in the online Help. VIM and SMTP message support is now available for each of OS/2, Windows 3.x, Windows 95, and Windows NT. Registry entries and initialization file entries are available for control over some aspects of SQL Remote message links. DBSTOP can stop the server The DBSTOP utility can be used to stop the server. The permission required to stop a standalone engine or network server can be set using the new -gk engine or server command-line switch. For information, see "The database engine" in the online Help, and "The database server" and "Stopping the database server executable" in the online Network Guide. New engine and server switches The new -ta command-line switch for the database engine, server, and client control the disconnection of connections from terminated applications. This termination prevents applications that crash from holding on to a connection for longer than a specified time. For information, see "The database engine" in the online Help, and "The database server" and "The SQL Anywhere Client" in the server online Help DESCRIBE statement A new clause has been added to the DESCRIBE statement to retrieve column names with more than thirty characters. For information, see "DESCRIBE statement" in the online Help. Procedures with different-shaped result sets A new clause on the DESCRIBE statement allows different-shaped result sets to be used within a procedure. For information, see "DESCRIBE statement" in the online Help. To take advantage of this facility, ODBC developers should delay calling SQLDescribeCol until after they have executed the statement, instead of calling it after the statement is only prepared. SQL Central enhancements SQL Central has context-sensitive help. SQL Central allows altering of views and triggers. For details, see "ALTER TRIGGER statement" and "ALTER TRIGGER statement" in the online User's Guide. Wizards are now provided to help you write views and stored procedures. The code editor now has Find, Replace, and Go To facilities, and also options to control the display font. Support for users without DBA authority has been improved. ANSI/ISO option The STRING_RTRUNCATION option allows control over generation of an error when an INSERT or UPDATE truncates a character string. For information, see "SET OPTION statement" in the online Help. ALTER VIEW and ALTER TRIGGER statements These new statements allow an existing view or trigger definition to be replaced by a new definition. For details, see "ALTER TRIGGER statement" and "ALTER VIEW statement" in the online Help. Transact-SQL accepted by parser To enhance SQL Server compatibility, performance parameters that can be used in SELECT, UPDATE, and DELETE statements in System 11 are now accepted and discarded by SQL Anywhere. Also, the PREFETCH System 11 option is allowed, but has no effect. ISO/ANSI SQL/92 flagging The embedded SQL preprocessor supports command-line switches that flag SQL statements not conforming to entry, intermediate, or full SQL/92 with an error or warning. For information, see "The SQL Preprocessor" in the online Help. Two database options are available that flag non-conforming SQL syntax in the same way within the database engine. For information, see "database options" in the online Help. Open Server Gateway enhancements Several enhancements have been made to improve SQL Server compatibility: The Open Server Gateway has more complete datatype support. It supports numeric and decimal datatypes, and datatype conversions based on the capabilities of the application. Improved text and image support have been added to support replication and to support DBLIB and CTLIB applications that use text and image API calls. Improved cursor API support has been added. New Embedded SQL function The db_interface_option function has been added. It has the form: void db_interface_option( struct sqlca *sqlca, int option, long value ) The db_interface_option() is an Embedded SQL function used to set database interface options. Currently there is only a single option, DBO_ANSI_TRUNCATION. The DBO_ANSI_TRUNCATION option specifies how to set indicator variables in the case of string truncation. If DBO_ANSI_TRUNCATION is set to 0, indicator variable values include the null char when indicating the size of the truncated string. Set DBO_ANSI_TRUNCATION to 1 to get ANSI/ISO behaviour, which is to not include the null char when indicating the size of the truncated string. The default value for DBO_ANSI_TRUNCATION is 0, for backwards compatibility.