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Overview of database access

Host On-Demand includes three paths for database access:

With all three paths of database access, users can perform the following actions:

A Java Database Connectivity (JDBC) driver must be installed on the client workstation. The JDBC driver for an iSeries host (AS/400 Toolbox for Java) is included with Host On-Demand and is automatically downloaded to the client.

Note If you use a proxy server to connect to an iSeries and you use the Download client, you can decrease the download time when loading the Database On-Demand applet. Edit the CommonJars.js file and replace hoddba.jar with hodpxdba.jar. This smaller jar file contains only the classes needed for running Database On-Demand when connecting through a proxy server.

Example uses of database access

Dynamic queries
Without knowing SQL, a user can use the SQL Wizard to create an SQL statement or to modify an existing SQL statement. The statement can then be executed or saved for later use.
Saved SQL and File Upload statements
Saved SQL and File Upload statements can be distributed to a user or a group of users. The user can then select the saved SQL or File Upload statement and click Run to view the results.
File download
Query results can be saved in various file formats and later imported into a personal productivity program, such as a spreadsheet or a word processor.
File upload
The contents of database files in various formats can be stored into a host database.
Web page publishing
For the Database On-Demand client, results can be written to an HTML template file. An HTML template file is an HTML document that contains special tags indicating where the query results should be imbedded. The resulting Web page contains everything in the template file, including the query results in the specified location.
Security
Applets running under browsers have limited access to system resources, such as local file access and network access. The Host On-Demand client and Database On-Demand client request special permissions from the browser to perform these operations. Browsers display a window asking the user to grant or deny these requests. If the user denies the request, the applet is not granted the privilege, and the operation fails.

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