NPL Gateway to ODBC

Niakwa is pleased to announce the availability of another Niakwa Library Product - the NPL Gateway to ODBC (Open Database Connectivity) SDK (Software Development Kit).

The NPL Gateway to ODBC allows developers to make calls to any MS-Windows based ODBC database driver.

Features

The NPL Gateway to ODBC is fully compliant with Microsoft's ODBC 2.01.

Calling conventions of the NPL ODBC API are nearly 100% compatible with the native 'C' ODBC API. In addition, this product includes a generic interface to third party .DLL files that allows NPL developers to access third-party ODBC drivers without writing code in 'C.'

The NPL Gateway to ODBC works in conjunction with Microsoft's ODBC SDK. The Microsoft ODBC SDK provides a set of sample drivers and a driver management layer that allows application developers, in this case NPL developers, to access any database that has an ODBC compliant driver written for it.

Typically, this means databases that support dynamic SQL, but drivers also exist for many non-relational database formats. Samples of these drivers are shipped with the Microsoft ODBC SDK, allowing programmers to test their code against popular databases.

Niakwa's ODBC interface also allows developers to support multiple back-end databases with the same source code. Microsoft's ODBC API connectivity ensures that your application can access the data it needs, regardless of the driver in use.

Benefits

The Niakwa Gateway to ODBC provides many benefits for today's businesses:

• Meets ODBC compliance requirements requested in many corporate accounts' RFPs
• Allows applications access to many database formats
  • Popular PC formats, including Btrieve, Microsoft Access, Excel, Paradox, dBase, Text files
  • High performance / volume SQL servers, such as NetWare/SQL and SQL/400
• Allows extensive use of SQL data access commands
• Substantially improves performance and reliability
  • Reduces network traffic
  • Minimizes workstation memory requirements
• Improves performance in client/server implementations
  • Query criteria are evaluated by the server in reliable high-performance server OS environment
  • Reduces network load since only matching results need to be sent to the client
  • Low-cost / low-performance clients
• Makes predefined custom queries easier
  • Commonly used SELECT statements can be configured or determined by system analysis
• Simplifies Ad hoc queries
  • Syntax of SELECT statements is close to natural language, easily learned by operators
  • Widespread availability of SQL training and experience

REQUIREMENTS

• MS-DOS 5.0 or greater
• MS-Windows 3.1 or greater
• NPL for MS-Windows 4.10 or greater
• Microsoft ODBC 2.01 SDK