       READ.ME
       INTERSOLV DataDirect ODBC Pack for OS/2
       Version 2.11
       September 30, 1995

This README file contains information not included in the INTERSOLV
DataDirect ODBC Drivers Reference.  This file contains information
about the following topics:

What's New since Version 2.0
Available DataDirect ODBC Drivers
For MicroDecisionware Driver Users
For SQL Server Driver Users
Setting the Driver Manager Trace
OS/2 Multithread Applications
OS/2 Warp Considerations
Notes and Known Problems


       What's New since Version 2.0

The following list summarizes the new features since version 2.0.

New Drivers
- DB2/2 driver (IBDB208.DLL)
- MicroDecisionware driver (IBMDI08.DLL)

All Drivers
- Now fully compliant with version 2.10 of the ODBC specification
- Now support translation DLLs

Many Drivers
- Now support ODBC right outer join syntax

dBASE Driver
- Now supports long filenames as table names and
  long pathnames as table qualifiers
- Now supports FOR expressions that contain the clauses AND,
  NOT, OR, and NOT DELETED
- Now opens tables in a read-only mode when an index is opened
  that contains a FOR expression or an index expression that
  is not recognized by the driver

Flat-File Drivers (dBASE and Text)
- Now support the SQLSetPos function
- Now support subqueries in INSERT statements
- Many queries are optimized so that they execute faster.
  For example, OR predicates or IN predicates may now use indexes.

INFORMIX 5 Driver
- Now supports databases that do not have transaction logging enabled
- Offers an option to support scrollable cursors
- Uses tables from different databases via database qualifiers

INGRES 6.4/04 Driver
- Includes many performance tuning options
- No longer requires that you set the II_DATE_FORMAT environment
  variable to US
- Now supports the SQLPrimaryKeys ODBC level 2 function

SQL Server Driver
- Now supports Microsoft SQL Server version 6.0

SQLBase Driver
- Now supports SQLBase 6.x and includes support for SQLBase stored
  procedures

System 10 DRIVER
- Offers many new performance tuning options

Text Driver
- Now supports long pathnames as table qualifiers


       Available DataDirect ODBC Drivers

The following drivers are available:

DRIVER                          SUPPORTS
------                          --------
DB2/2 (IBDB208.DLL)             DB2 (DDCS/2 or DDCS/6000), DB2/2,
                                DB2/6000, SQL/DS (DDCS/2 or DDCS/6000)

dBASE (IBDBF08.DLL)             dBASE III, IV, and V files, Clipper
                                files, FoxBASE files, FoxPro files
                                versions 1, 2.5

INFORMIX (IBINF508.DLL)         INFORMIX 5

INGRES 6.4/04 (IBING408.DLL)    INGRES Release 6.4/04

MicroDecisionware (IBMDI08.DLL) IBM Database 2 (DB2) and InfoHub

Oracle 7 (IBOR708.DLL)          Oracle 7

Oracle (IBORA08.DLL)            Oracle 6

SQLBase (IBGUP08.DLL)           Gupta SQLBase

SQL Server (IBSS08.DLL)         SQL Server from Microsoft and Sybase

System 10 (IBSYB08.DLL)         System 10 from Sybase

Text (IBTXT08.DLL)              ASCII text files

The ODBC Drivers are compliant with OS/2 2.x and 3.x and are all 32-bit
drivers. The relational database network support drivers should all be
32-bit compliant. For more information, refer to "ODBC Drivers
Reference," specifically, the "System Requirements" section in each
chapter.



       For MicroDecisionware Driver Users

The DataDirect ODBC Drivers Reference omits the MDI Driver system
requirements. To use the MDI driver, you must have the appropriate Sybase
SQL Server DB-Library and Net-Library installed to gain access to MDI DB2
databases. Your database must support catalog stored procedures.
For OS/2, you must have Net-Library version 2.0 (32-bit) or higher,
which is required to set up your network environment. Contact a
Sybase SQL Server vendor for more information on Net-Library.

Also, you must have DB-Library version 4.6 (32-bit) or higher,
available from Sybase. All DLLs from Net-Library and DB-Library
must be in directories listed in the LIBPATH environment variable
in your CONFIG.SYS file.


       For SQL Server Driver Users

The SQL Server driver no longer uses the Sybase SQL Server 4.6x client
pieces. You'll need the Sybase System 10.2 (or higher) client pieces. Contact
Sybase to obtain them.

The DataDirect ODBC Drivers Reference gives incorrect system requirements.
The current system requirements are as follows:
To gain access to Microsoft SQL Server or Sybase SQL Server databases,
you must install the Sybase Open Client-Library and the appropriate Sybase
Net-Library.

SYBPING is a tool that is provided to test connectivity from your client
workstation to the database server (servers that are added through SQLEdit).
Use this tool to test your connection.

SQLEdit is a tool that allows you to define servers and adds them to
SQL.INI.

Set the environment variable SYBASE to the directory where you installed
the System 10 client. For example, SET SYBASE=C:\SQL10. You set this
environment variable in the config.sys file.

The DataDirect ODBC Drivers Reference incorrectly states that the
SQL Server driver supports only isolation level 1. The SQL Server driver
actually supports isolation levels 1 (read committed) and 3 (serializable).


       Setting the Driver Manager Trace

You can set the Driver Manager trace on or off by clicking the
"Options" button in the Data Sources dialog box of the ODBC
Administrator.  For more information, please check your ODBC 2.0
Programmer's Reference and SDK Guide.


       OS/2 Multithread Applications

Some database drivers do not allow multiple threads in an OS/2
application to access the database concurrently, others have
restrictions on how it must be handled.  The table below lists
the drivers and their multithread application considerations.

IBDBF08.DLL  (dBASE driver)
IBTXT08.DLL  (Text driver)
These drivers fully support multithreaded access.

IBDB208.DLL  (DB2/2 driver)
This driver allows multithreaded access if used with a version of
DB2/2 that allows such access.

IBMDI08.DLL (MicroDecisionware driver)
IBORA08.DLL (Oracle 6 driver)
IBOR708.DLL (Oracle 7 driver)
IBSS08.DLL (SQL Server driver)
IBSYB08.DLL  (Sybase System 10 driver)
These drivers allow multithread access provided each thread calls
SQLConnect to obtain its own handle to the database.

IBINF508.DLL (INFORMIX 5 driver)
IBING408.DLL (INGRES 6.4/04 driver)
IBGUP08.DLL  (Gupta SQLBase driver)
These drivers do not allow concurrent access by multiple threads.
Applications must guarantee that only one thread access the database
at all times.


       OS/2 Warp Considerations

OS/2 Warp users need a patch from IBM to fix a problem that may
occur when using any database driver (DataDirect ODBC drivers or
others). To get the patch, call IBM OS/2 Technical Support at
(800) 992-4777 and ask for the fix for APAR #PJ18056.
Without this fix, you may see the error message "Not able to load the
specified driver." You must exit your application and restart it
immediately. Failure to restart your application may result in a Trap E
error, during which the operating system halts with a possible loss of
data.


       Notes and Known Problems

The following are known problems with all of the drivers in this
release of the DataDirect ODBC Pack for OS/2.

Note:  Some error messages returned by SQLError may be different than the
error messages you get from other driver managers.  For example, you may
get a function sequence error when an invalid cursor state error occurs.

Restriction:  IBM has fixed the following restriction. Contact OS/2
Technical Support at (800) 992-4777 and ask for the fix for APAR# PJ18060.

If an INI file is opened and closed on Warp (OS/2 3.X) using
the PrfOpenProfile and PrfCloseProfile functions, the PrfOpenProfile call
fails after approximatley 12972 times. This problem affects the Text and
dBASE drivers and could possibly impact other drivers.
For example, if the following calls are made in a loop on the Text driver,
the driver is found to fail after 4320 loops.

     SQLAllocEnv
     SQLAllocConnect
     SQLConnect
     SQLAllocStmt
     SQLExecDirect
     SQLFreeStmt
     SQLDisconnect
     SQLFreeConnect
     SQLFreeEnv
