Application Enablers: Middleware - IBM i series Handbook

IBM Licensed Programs: Networking Products
– When the cursor is positioned over menu items on the toolbar, extended tool tip
information will be provided
– In the Properties panel, you can now set to "display or not display" warnings that
occur while transferring data

Application Enablers: Middleware

To assist programmers in the development of client/server applications, Client Access
provides significant middleware to enable application development for PC-to-iSeries
programming. A variety of key enablers is provided for accessing iSeries resources, such as:
• iSeries ODBC Driver: ODBC is a widely accepted application programming interface
(API) for database access. You can use the iSeries Client Access Express ODBC
driver to access database information from programs like Excel, Access, and 1-2-3. It
is based on the Call Level Interface (CLI) specifications from X/Open and ISO/IEC for
database APIs and uses Structured Query Language (SQL) as its database access
language. Client Access Express has enhanced its Open Database Connectivity
(ODBC) driver to:
– Support the Microsoft ODBC 3.5 Specification.
– Support Microsoft Transaction Server (MTS). MTS support enables DB2 UDB for
iSeries to participate in transactions involving two-phase commit coordinated through
MTS (requires connectivity to OS/400 V5R1).
– Support the BIGINT data type.
– Support direct conversion of data to the column CCSID for parameter markers in SQL
statements.
– Support the thread-safety ODBC driver.
– Enhanced diagnostic support.
– Improved support for Unicode ODBC applications. Unicode ODBC applications will be
able to use Unicode database fields to store and retrieve multilingual data. Also,
OS/400 V5R1 accepts SQL statements in Unicode, so multilingual literals can be
used.
• iSeries OLE DB Provider: OLE DB is Microsoft's component database architecture
that provides universal data integration over an enterprise's network regardless of the
data type. OLE DB is a fundamental Component Object Model (COM) building block
for storing and retrieving records and for accessing and manipulating all types of data.
Client Access Express has enhanced its OLE DB Provider (driver) to support the V2.5
definition of OLE DB. Therefore, it will work with ADO 2.1 (this ships with Microsoft
Internet Explorer 5.0 and Office/2000 products), ADO 2.5 (this ships with Microsoft
Windows/2000), and Visual Basic 6.0 OLE DB controls and wizards. The OLE DB
Provider includes enhancements such as:
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iSeries Handbook