IBM Informix Client Software Development Kit components
You use the Client SDK to develop and run client applications. Client SDK includes APIs, programs, and database utilities.
Applications that run on client computers require IBM® Informix® Connect to access database servers. Informix Connect is a runtime connectivity product that is composed of runtime libraries that are included in Client SDK.
The following table describes the APIs and programs of Client SDK.
| Component | Description |
|---|---|
| IBM Informix .NET Provider (Windows only) | The IBM
Informix .NET Provider is a .NET
assembly that lets .NET applications access and manipulate data in IBM
Informix databases. It does this by implementing
several interfaces in the Microsoft .NET Framework that
are used to access data from a database. Using the IBM
Informix .NET Provider is more efficient than accessing the IBM
Informix database through either of these methods:
For more information, see the Informix .NET Provider Guide. |
| Informix ESQL/C with XA support | An SQL embedded-language product that is used to create custom C
applications. For more information, see the ESQL/C Guide. |
| IBM Informix Object Interface for C++ | A C++ interface to develop object-oriented client applications for use with
all IBM
Informix database servers and client-side
value objects for IBM
Informix For more information, see the Informix Object Interface for C++ Guide. |
| IBM Informix GLS (Global Language Support) | An interface that allows IBM
Informix products to use different locales that have
defined conventions for a particular language, culture, or code set. For more information, see the ESQL/C Guide and the GLS User's Guide. |
| IBM Informix ODBC Driver with MTS support | The IBM
Informix
implementation of the Open Database Connectivity (ODBC) 3.0 Level 1+ standard that supports Microsoft Transaction Server (MTS). This driver contains
extensibility support for IBM
Informix. For more information, see the Informix ODBC Driver Guide. |
| IBM Informix OLE DB Provider (Windows only) | A client-side, native OLE DB provider that implements full functionality for
base-level providers and contains extensibility support for IBM
Informix. For more information, see the Informix OLE DB Provider Guide. |
| IBM OpenAdmin Tool (OAT) for Informix | OpenAdmin Tool (OAT) for Informix is a web
application for administering and analyzing the performance of IBM
Informix database servers. For more information, see OpenAdmin Tool (OAT) for Informix. |
| IBM Informix Global Security Kit (GSKit) | The IBM
Informix Global Security Kit (GSKit) provides libraries and
utilities for SSL communication. For more information, see the IBM Informix Global Security Kit (GSKit). |
| IBM Data Server Driver Package | The IBM Data Server Driver
Package includes drivers that are compatible with Distributed Relational Database Architecture™ (DRDA®) protocols. For a list of the
contents of the IBM Data Server Driver
Package, see IBM data
server client and driver types. You can use the IBM Data Server JDBC Driver to develop JDBC applications with Informix software. You can use the IBM Data Server .NET Provider to develop .NET applications with Informix software. The IBM Data Server .NET Provider includes support for web application development in IBM Database Add-Ins for Visual Studio. IBM Data Server Driver Package installation does not affect an existing installation of the IBM Informix .NET Provider or the Informix JDBC Driver. You can use either or both of the .NET Providers or JDBC drivers. For more information about the differences between the Data Server .NET Provider and the Informix .NET Provider, see NEED |
The following table describes the IBM Informix common database utilities in the Client SDK.
| Component | Description |
|---|---|
| Documentation Viewer | Use the viewer to see the release and machine notes in text format. |
| The finderr utility on UNIX systems and the Informix Error Messages utility on Windows systems | Use these utilities to obtain information about error messages, including corrective actions, that are specific to IBM Informix. |
| The ILogin utility (Windows only) | Use the ILogin Demo utility to quickly test the connection to IBM Informix. Click then enter the IBM Informix connection parameters. You must create the target database before you connect to it. |
| Password CSM | IBM
Informix
Password Communications Support Module for client applications. Password CSM must also be installed
on the Informix database server to which the
client connects. For more information, see CSM configuration file. |
| Connection Manager | The Connection Manager is a utility that can monitor
the workload and status of database servers in high-availability clusters, Enterprise Replication
domains, grids, and server sets. Connection Managers can control failover for high-availability clusters, direct client connection requests to appropriate database servers, act as proxy servers to handle client/server communication, and prioritize connections between application servers and the primary server of a high-availability cluster. For more information, see Connection management through the Connection Manager. |
| DB-Access | The DB-Access utility
is included in the IBM
Informix
Client SDK when the corresponding IBM
Informix server version is available for the same
operating system. When the DB-Access utility is included in the Client SDK, it is the same utility that is delivered with
the Informix server. The utility provides a
stand-alone client command-line tool that can directly access the IBM
Informix database instance. This dbaccess client
supports the same user interface and functionality as the dbaccess server utility. For the setup requirements, see Requirements for the Informix Client Software Development Kit DB-Access utility. |
| The ConnectTest utility (Windows only) | Use the ConnectTest utility to test the connection to the IBM Informix server. You can start the utility from the shortcut in the Start menu or from the $INFORMIX/bin directory. The utility populates the server details from the registry that is registered by the Setnet32 utility. You can manually edit the utility to connect to other servers not listed in the registry, which does not modify the registry entry. The utility shows the resulting data of the executed SQL query. |
| Setnet32 (Windows only) | Use the Setnet32 utility for configuring client products. Each package might include online help, example programs, and support programs. |
The latest version of IBM Database Add-Ins for Visual Studio supports only the Data Server .NET Provider and does not support Client SDK Informix .NET Provider. Information about using the add-ins with the Client SDK Informix .NET Provider is available at: http://www-933.ibm.com/support/fixcentral/.