Introduction

DB-Access provides a user interface for entering, executing, and debugging Structured Query Language (SQL) statements and Stored Procedure Language (SPL) routines. SQL and SPL allow you to perform data-definition tasks, such as specifying the number and type of data columns in a table as well as data management tasks, such as storing, viewing, and changing table data. The DB-Access interface allows you to apply powerful Informix extensions to SQL and SPL.

You can use DB-Access for the following aspects of database processing:

• Using ad hoc queries that you execute infrequently
• Connecting to one or more databases, transferring data between the database and external text files, and displaying information about a database
• Displaying system catalogs and the Information Schema
• Testing applications that you intend to store for use in a production environment

The DB-Access user interface also supports the following:

• Running statements interactively, discarding them after you achieve the desired results, or saving them in a file for repetitive execution
• Typing statements directly in the DB-Access text-entry screen or your preferred text editor
• Starting DB-Access in menu mode and selecting options from the menus

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Enhancement to DB-Access

The -a command line option is new to the dbaccess command syntax.

Exit on first error (dbaccess –a)

Use the -a command line option to stop the process directly after the first error is encountered. Stopping a process from continuing after the first error can ensure greater database consistency. The following is an example:

dbaccess -a - test.sql > test.out 2>&1



cat test.sql

connect to ‘testdb’ user ‘informix’ using ‘new.pass’;

create table tab1 (cola int);

-- No exit on no rows found
select * from tab1;

insert into tab1 values(100);

-- Display rows from tab1
select * from tab1;

-- should exit out as tab3 does not exist
select * from tab3;

-- should not execute. should have already exited
-- as previous statement resulted  in an error
create table tab4(col1 int);

close database;

cat test.out

Connected.

Table created.

       cola

No rows found.

1 row(s) inserted.

       cola

        100

1 row(s) retrieved.

  206: The specified table (tab3) is not in the database.

  111: ISAM error:  no record found.
Error in line 14
Near character position 18

Disconnected.

[1] + Done(134) dbaccess -a - new.sql > new.out 2>&1
  444   Abort   dbaccess

In order to test the above example, you need to set certain environment variables, as follows:

1. Install the database server.
2. Open a command prompt window, and set the following environment variable:
   • SET INFORMIXDIR=C:\Informix
   • SET INFORMIXSERVER=myserver
   • SET DBLANG=EN_US.CP1252 (Set this if the server is not on a Windows platform.)
3. Set up the Global Language Support (GLS) locale, where language localization requires it (such as DB_LOCALE and CLIENT_LOCALE)
4. Execute as follows:

   -a - test.sql > test.out 2>&1

   Make sure that there is a >space< after the '-' where the filename is specified.

Environment variables

You must have %INFORMIXDIR%\bin in your path if you use DB-Access on a Windows platform. Your operating system uses the path to locate the initialization script and the dbaccess executable.

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Minimum System Requirements

• CSDK 2.81 TC2 and higher
• Win2K SP2 or higher
• This release has also been certified for Windows XP and Windows .NET Server

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Installation Instructions

1. Click the code icon at the top or bottom of the page to download the .zip file.
2. Open a command prompt to the directory where the installer resides.
3. If the environment variable INFORMIXDIR is set to the location of IBM Informix CSDK, run setup.bat. Otherwise, run setup.bat with the argument of the directory where IBM Informix CSDK or I-Connect is installed (for example, setup.bat C:\Informix)

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Support

• This utility is available as-is. No additional support is provided.

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Download

Name	Size	Download method
dbacc_2_psoft.zip	1.5MB	FTP | HTTP

Information about download methods

Resources

Learn

• Read the DB-Access Manual online.
  
  
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Table of contents

• Introduction
• Enhancement to DB-Access
• Minimum System Requirements
• Installation Instructions
• Support
• Download
• Resources
• About the author
• Comments

Next steps from IBM

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• Demo: Use DB2 First Steps and the DB2 Control Center
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• Buy: Informix Dynamic Server Enterprise Edition

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