Using the SQL Server Bond with Non-Sybase Gateways [Revelation On-Line Wiki]

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====== Using the SQL Server Bond with Non-Sybase Gateways=====

^Published By^Date^Version^Knowledge Level^Keywords^
|Revelation Technologies|23 APR 1992|2.1X|INTERMEDIATE|SQLSERVER, BONDS, SYBASE, SERVER, OPEN, MICRODECISIONWARE, DB2, DB-LIBRARY, GATEWAYS|

With the advent of Sybase's gateway technology to other platforms,
developers have raised the question of the compatibility of Revelation
Technologies' SQL Server Bond with these non-Sybase platforms. This bulletin
briefly outlines Revelation Technologies' position on the use of these
gateways.

You can use the current (and future) SQL Server Bond with any gateway or
server that uses DB-Library as the API. This list includes:

  * Micro Decisionware's Database Gateway (DB2, IBM EE DM, Teradata, and SQL/DS).
  * Sybase's Open Server products (DB2, ORACLE, Informix, SQL/400, VAX RMS, IDMS, and Ingres).
  * Microsoft's Open Data Services (Gateway Services) products (DEC's Rdb).
  * Microsoft SQL Server.
  * Sybase SQL Server (all platforms).

==== Limitations in Using Gateways ====

Currently, if you use the SQL Server Bond to access any of the gateways, you
are limited to using MSSQL_C (the direct link to DB-Library). In most cases,
the SQL Server Bond can't manufacture syntactically correct TRANSACT-SQL
statements for all of these gateways when using the Advanced Revelation
tools (Window, SQL, R/LIST, etc.). The exceptions, are the Sybase and
Microsoft versions of SQL Server. The Bond also can't map the datatypes for
each of these gateways correctly, though this feature is expected to be
included in the next major release of the Bond (1.2).

This limitation may or may not be a hindrance to you. Many developers using
the SQL Server Bond take advantage of the bond-specific subroutine MSSQL_C.
In addition, dictionaries are not always needed, which eliminates the
requirement to follow strict datatyping conventions. In short, using the SQL
Server Bond to access back-end data through a third-party gateway requires
more development work but gives you the same results as if you were using a
specific bond to the back-end.

Revelation Technologies offers a specific bond to DB2. It makes more sense
to use the DB2 Bond than to use the SQL Server Bond. The DB2 Bond maps
datatypes correctly and manufactures the correct SQL statements for the DB2
environment. If you use Advanced Revelation tools the result is faster
prototyping and easier maintenance.

**Note**: the Database Gateway from Micro Decisionware does not support all the
DB-Library calls that SQL Server does (no two-phase commit, no isoption
function, etc.) See the DB2 Bond documentation for more details.

All trademarks are acknowledged.