Using this Book

The content of this book assumes that you are familiar with your operating system and its commands. It contains the following information:

"Values for the Attribute IANAAppCodePage" provides valid values for the IANAAppCodePage connection string attribute. This attribute is valid only for drivers that run on UNIX and Linux.

"ODBC API and Scalar Functions" lists the ODBC API functions that each driver supports. Any exceptions are listed in the appropriate driver chapter in the DataDirect Connect for ODBC and Connect XE for ODBC User's Guide, under the section "ODBC Conformance Level." This chapter also lists ODBC scalar functions.

"Threading" discusses how ODBC ensures thread safety.

"SQL for Flat-File Drivers" explains the SQL statements that you can use with Btrieve, dBASE, Paradox, and text files.

"Internationalization, Localization, and Unicode" discusses internationalization issues concerning the use of ODBC drivers.

"Designing ODBC Applications for Performance Optimization" provides guidelines for designing performance-oriented ODBC applications.

"Using Indexes" provides general guidelines on how to improve performance when querying a database system.

"Locking and Isolation Levels" provides a general discussion of isolation levels and locking.

If you are writing programs to access ODBC drivers, you need to obtain a copy of the ODBC Programmer's Reference for the Microsoft Open Database Connectivity Software Development Kit, available from Microsoft Corporation.

Database drivers are continually being added to each operating environment. For the latest information about the specific drivers available for your platform, refer to the readme file in your software package or refer to the DataDirect Technologies World Wide Web page at:

NOTE: This book refers the reader to Web pages using URLs for more information about specific topics, including Web URLs not maintained by DataDirect Technologies. Because it is the nature of Web content to change frequently, DataDirect Technologies can guarantee only that the URLs referenced in this book were correct at the time of publishing.