Intercom V01n03, 1997

InterBase Software Corporation

InterCom

The InterBase Newsletter VOLUME 1, NUMBER 3, FALL 1997

The Newly Released InterBase5 Says “Hello, World” The new InterBase5 delivers businesscritical robustness with SuperServer Architecture and a Java JDBC driver. On December 8, 1997, InterBase Software Corporation announced the availability of InterBase 5.0, the business-critical embedded database. It combines the traditional strengths of InterBase—ease of installation, use and maintenance—with new SQL and server features that give InterBase true scalability, superior concurrency and improved productivity. “The release of 5.0 reestablishes InterBase as a significant player in the embedded database market” said Jim Weil, president of InterBase Software Corporation. “It fulfills our commitment to provide state-ofthe-art technology to our customers inside and outside the Borland community.”

InterBase 5.0 has already been implemented as the primary database of Colorado Mountain Express, an

“The release of 5.0 reestablishes InterBase as a significant player in the embedded database market” organization successfully running 40 users with over 100 connections to handle reservations and operations for its transportation systems at Vail, Aspen, and other ski areas.

“I have been a long time advocate of InterBase, having used NT, Novell, and SCO versions since 3.0 Beta,” said Loren French, chief technology officer of Colorado Mountain Express. “Without question, this version of InterBase provides the best stability and performance of any version of InterBase. We have been operating the Beta 2 version of 5.0 continuously for more than 25 days without a single problem and I'm very impressed!” InterBase 5.0 features SuperServer across all supported platforms. This multiclient, multithreaded architecture eliminates bottlenecks and reduces the overhead required for multiple process tasks. InterBase 5.0 includes InterClient, a true all-Java JDBC driver that allows for highperformance connectivity and easy deployment. This radically reduces deployment and life cycle costs to Java client/server developers.

Table of Contents 4The Newly Released InterBase5 Says

“Hello, World” . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1

4Using InterClient to Connect JBuilder

to InterBase . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2

The folks at InterBase take some time off from developing excellent software to mug for the camera and have a little holiday party.

4Q&A: Joe Alfaro & Siok Bie Tie . . . . . . . 3

Using InterClient to Connect JBuilder to InterBase CHRIS LEVESQUE

InterClient is an all-Java thin-client JDBC driver specifically designed to access InterBase databases. It is included in the JBuilder Client/Server product, but can be used with the JBuilder Professional version as well. JBuilder rapid application development design makes integrating JDBC drivers easy, and InterClient is no exception. In addition, InterClient is part of the InterBase 5.0 kit and is available free on the Web at www.interbase.com.

Easy Installation and Integration When you install InterClient Version 1.11 or later, the installer detects whether you have JBuilder on the machine and automatically makes the appropriate changes to the JBUILDER.INI file. Those changes are outlined in the JBuilder Integration Notes that are provided with InterClient. Without these changes, you will not be able to run InterClient-based applications from within the JBuilder IDE.

Database Application Basics If you want your JBuilder application/ applet to connect to a database, you would

Connecting with InterClient To connect your JBuilder application to an InterBase database using InterClient, follow these steps: 1. Highlight a Database component and edit the Connection property. JBuilder displays the Connection dialog. 2. Provide a Connection URL (see the sidebar on page 3), a Username, and a Password. 3. Enter interbase.interclient.Driver in the Driver Class field.

The secret to using the InterClient JDBC driver to connect to an InterBase database lies in the Driver class field: type in interbase.interclient.Driver. Remember: capitalization is important.

typically use a Database component to establish the connection, a DataSet component (such as a TableDataSet or QueryDataSet component) to provide the data, and a data-aware control (such as a GridControl) to display the results. You would follow these steps for any JDBC driver. In order to connect using the InterClient driver, you must supply the correct values in the Connection dialog. When you edit the connection properties of a Database component, JBuilder displays the Connection dialog. To connect to an InterBase database with your Java application or applet, you need to specify the following connection parameters: the name of a JDBC driver class, a username, a password, and a connection URL. The name of the InterClient JDBC driver class is always interbase.interclient.Driver Spelling and capitalization are important. If you spell the driver class incorrectly, you may get a ClassNotFoundException, and consequently, a No suitable driver error when the connection is attempted. The username and password parameters are the same that you would use when connecting to a database with Windows ISQL or any other tool. For the sake of simplicity, these examples use sysdba and

InterCom 2

masterkey for username and password, respectively. There are other useful features of this dialog, as well. Once you fill in your URL, you can press the Test connection button to ensure that the connection parameters are correct. The Prompt user password check box forces the user to enter a proper username and password before establishing a connection. The extended properties check box and property page is not used by InterClient.

JDBC URL Primer The JDBC URL is the parameter that specifies the database you want to connect to. A JDBC URL consists of three parts, separated by colons: the keyword jdbc, the subprotocol name, and the datasource name or location. The jdbc keyword is needed to distinguish JDBC URLs from other URLs, such as those for HTTP or FTP. The subprotocol name selects the proper JDBC driver for the connection. Every JDBC driver has its own subprotocol name that it responds to. InterClient URLs always have a subprotocol of interbase. Other JDBC drivers have their own unique subprotocol names. For example, the JDBC-ODBC Bridge answers JDBC URLs with the

Examples of JDBC URLs Here are a few possible configuration options and their corresponding JDBC URLs. To access this

Connection syntax

/usr/databases/atlas.gdb on a Unix machine named sunbox

jdbc:interbase://sunbox//usr/databases/atlas.gdb

C:/interbas/examples/employee.gdb on an NT machine named mrbill

jdbc:interbase://mrbill/c:/interbas/examples/employee.gdb

The two examples above assume that InterServer and InterBase are running on the same machine. The next example lets you get to the NT box through th Unix box. (Local connections are faster, though.) InterServer running on sunbox and InterBase running on mrbill

jdbc:interbase://sunbox/mrbill:c:/interbas/examples/employee.gdb

Client and the server on the same machine (local connection)

jdbc:interbase://localhost/c:/interbas/examples/employee.gdb

subprotocol of odbc, and Borland’s DataGateway responds to URLs with a subprotocol of BorlandBroker. The third part of a InterClient URL holds the name of the server that is running InterServer and the location (relative to InterServer) of the database that you want to connect to. The syntax for an InterClient URL is jdbc:interbase://servername/ pathToDatabase.gdb Other than these connection-specific issues, InterClient can be used like any other JDBC driver with JBuilder, and with the inclusion of Local InterBase in JBuilder Professional and Client/Server versions, it is easy to develop and test powerful database applications in Java.

Q&A: Joe Alfaro & Siok Bie Tie

group responsible for formulating the US position on the SQL database language. InterBase has been a voting member of this organization for a number of years, participating in the formulation of SQL-92, and now participating in formulating the SQL3 standard. The H2 committee is composed of major database vendors such as IBM, InterBase, Oracle, and Sybase, and members of the user community. Roughly 16 to 20 people meet 4 to 6 times a year to create the US stance on the current standards. Members of this committee go to the international body to argue the US position. Q: When was the last committee meeting? The latest H2 meeting was held November 17 to 19, 1997 in Washington DC. Sixteen members attended the committee meeting. Joe Alfaro, InterBase’s Director of

Each issue of InterCom features an interview with a key InterBase personality. This month, we interview Joe Alfaro, Director of InterBase Development, and Siok Bie Tie, Development Engineer. The topic is InterBase Software Corporation’s representation at H2, the ANSI SQL committee.

Q: What is the current topic of discussion for the committee? The committee is currently formulating the US position on the proposed SQL3 standard. Q: When is the SQL3 standard to be released? The proposed release for the standard is sometime in 1998. Q: What is the focus of the SQL3 standard? Both the national and international bodies have realized that the SQL-92 standard was too broad. Consequently, no one ever implemented the full standard beyond the entry level and even in the entry level of implementation there were many inconsistencies because the standard was too big. Given this realization, the committee has reorganized the standard into several different “packages.” The basis of SQL3 is the Core Package. In addition to the SQL3 Core there will be a number of packages aimed at specific industries and interests. One of these packages will include some object relational features to help bring SQL into the growing arena of object-?oriented technologies.

SETTING STANDARDS

Q: What is the H2 committee? The H2 committee (formerly known as X3H2) is part of the International Standards Organization (ISO) and is the US

Research and Development, represented InterBase for the November meeting. For many of these members, the SQL standard creation is their sole job. Others, such as Joe, have additional commitments.

Siok Bie Tie (l) and Joe Alfaro represent InterBase at the H2 standards meetings.

InterCom 3

By creating a small core component with the ability to add on additional levels of complexity, the committee is seeking to

propagate a real standard in the SQL3 Core package. The committee hopes that this will enable database vendors to conform to the SQL standard more completely and less painfully than in the past. Q: How will InterBase implement SQL3? InterBase is carefully tracking development of SQL3 and will implement the standard in ways that meet the needs of our customers. For example, in InterBase 5.0 we supported SQL Roles, which allow security privileges to be assigned to roles, which are in turn assigned to individual users. This met a growing need for structuring security. For more about InterBase and the SQL standard, see the white paper “What Is InterBase 5.0?” on the InterBase website (http://www.interbase.com/products/). Q: Does everyone have access to the SQL3 working draft? No, the proposal is available only to members of the H2 committee. This is a major reason why InterBase has joined the committee: we want to be aware of the proposed standards and to help influence the decisions so that our customers’ needs are met. Q: Can anyone submit proposals to the H2 SQL committee? Only active members can make proposals to the SQL3 committee. Active membership requires attendance to the committee

InterBase Software Corporation 1800 Green Hills Road, Suite 150 Scotts Valley, California 95066

meetings; any member missing two meetings in a row is removed from active membership. Q: How are new elements introduced into the standard? The committee operates according to strict parliamentary procedures. In order to propose any addition or change to the standard, a member must write a formal paper on the topic and submit it for review by the other members well in advance of the meeting where it will be addressed. There then follows an extensive period of discussion and voting. Q: What is the InterBase position on the SQL standard? InterBase wants to protect our customers and their investment in their software. To this end, we agree with the US position that the new standard must have a reasonably small, manageable core and enough additional “packages” to meet diverse needs. In addition, we work to get customers’ views made known for development of the SQL3 standard. We don’t just blindly follow what the standards say. If the SQL standard meets our customers’ needs, then we will use the SQL standard: InterBase will push the agenda for our customers. We are very customer-driven and are pushing the needs of our customers in the forming of the SQL standard.

Q: When is the next H2 meeting? The next committee meeting will be held in January, 1998. Q: What is InterBase’s role for the future of SQL3? We will continue to follow and influence the standard and implement what our customers tell us is in their best interests.

Credits InterCom is a quarterly publication of InterBase Software Corporation and is sent free of charge to members of the InterBase VAR Program. Bill Karwin, editor InterBase Software Corporation 1800 Green Hills Road, Suite 150 Scotts Valley, CA 95066 Email: [email protected] InterBase is a registered trademark of InterBase Software Corporation. InterClient and InterServer are trademarks of InterBase Software Corporation. All other trademarks are property of their respective owners.  1997 InterBase Software Corporation. All rights reserved.