Introduction

dW DB2: One of the common requirements most development shops have is the ability to debug their stored procedures. What are some of the enhancements made in the DB2 V8.2 release to address this customer need?

Abdul: As a developer, I can certainly appreciate the importance of debugging in any application development lifecycle. Support for debugging of stored procedures has been greatly enhanced in the V8.2 release. Some of these enhancements include:

• Extending the DB2 Development Center source level debugger to include enhanced debugging of DB2 for z/OS® v8 SQL stored procedures. This is in addition to existing support for Linux, UNIX®, and Windows® DB2 servers.
• Adding the Microsoft Visual Studio 2002/2003 native debugger IDE to the growing list of IDEs that now support our SQL stored procedures debugging. This is in addition to the existing support in the Development Center, WebSphere® Studio, and Embarcadero’s Rapid SQL and DB Artisan IDEs.
• Using the WebSphere Studio debugger to debug both Java™ and SQL stored procedures on LINUX, UNIX, and Windows DB2 servers.

dW DB2: What should we expect in terms of future DB2 debugging enhancements?

Abdul: We are currently investigating a number of new potential enhancements to our existing debugging support. Some of the enhancements we are looing at are:

• Extending the DB2 server support to include DB2 for iSeries™.
• Enhancing our debugger IDEs to support the entire family of DB2 servers.
• Full multi-threaded application debugging where the same debugger IDE may be used to step into the client application source code and into any nested stored procedure calls.
• Cross-language debugging support in the same call stack, such as mixing of Java and SQL nested stored procedure calls.

dW DB2: With the ever increasing popularity of Web services, what should we expect in terms of tooling support for Web services as part of the DB2 V8.2 release?

Abdul: DB2 V8.2 delivers enhanced capabilities for database Web Services both as a consumer and a provider. DB2 continues to offer best-of-breed integration for both Java and .NET Web services. DB2 now contains dynamic query capability, and the Web service client can determine at invocation which query should be executed, in addition to the fixed transactions/queries in DADXes. A tracing component has also been added to make it easier to diagnose errors in the provider. Another important feature is the support for Web service inspection language (WSIL), so that users can easily explore the Web services that are offered in the DB2 Web services provider.

The ability to consume Web services from DB2 using SQL user-defined function (UDF) technology was part of WebSphere Studio Application Developer V5.1.1. This support has been enhanced further with the ability to create and deploy Web services for SQL statements and stored procedures in WebSphere Studio v5.1.2 using DADX documents.

dW DB2: What about Visual Studio Web services support?

Abdul: In terms of Visual Studio support, you can certainly consume any WebSphere Web service in your .NET applications. Additionally, we have introduced a new concept of re-usable ADO.NET data adapters that are shown in the IBM Explorer view of the Visual Studio IDE. These re-usable data adapters can have select, update, insert, and delete commands that are either SQL statements or stored procedure calls. These commands can now be exposed as either Microsoft IIS Web methods or DB2 embedded application server Web services using the DB2 WORF technology, without having to write a single line of code! In addition to this, the Web Services Description Language (WSDL) for the Web service and a test Web client are automatically generated.

dW DB2: With all the hype from Microsoft about Yukon’s (SQL Server 2005) support for common language runtime (CLR) in the database engine, what does DB2 V8.2 have in store for us?

Abdul: As you may know, Yukon is scheduled for release sometime next year. With the DB2 V8.2 release, we are now the first database server to offer support for CLR stored procedures and functions. With our Visual Studio add-in, you can create CLR assemblies using either our Visual C# or Visual Basic DB2 Class Library project templates. You can then deploy your assemblies and stored procedure definitions to the DB2 Windows server using our CLR Procedure wizard. Based on the security mode for your CLR assembly, you can execute SQL using ADO.NET, send e-mail, log events, and perform any other action that is available to you through the .NET framework.

dW DB2: Is this the full extent of the new features added to the DB2 add-in for Visual Studio?

Abdul: I have barely begun to scratch the surface! In addition to the numerous usability enhancements made to the IBM Explorer and the DB2 database project, some of the key integration features include:

• Support extended to include DB2 for iSeries v5r1 and v5r2, DB2 for z/OS v6, v7, and v8, as well as DB2 for LINUX, UNIX, and Windows v8.
• A new set of scripting wizards which greatly simplify the task of creating new server objects.
• Re-usable data adapters, a powerful new usability tool, to expedite your ADO.NET application development, promoting code sharing and reuse.
• Automatic generation of Web methods and Web services. You can deploy your DB2 database logic and schema to the Web without having to write a single line of code.
• Common Language Run-Time (CLR) procedure development.
• Intellisense in the editor as well as in the SQL editor controls hosted in our wizards and dialogs.
• Extending the Visual Studio cross-language debugger to support debugging of nested DB2 SQL stored procedures.

dW DB2: Our Visual Studio developers will certainly be delighted to hear about all of these new and exciting features. What about the DB2 Development Center and WebSphere Studio?

Abdul: The DB2 Stinger release of the Development Center was also enhanced greatly to incorporate a number of key usability enhancements. In addition, the following key features were added:

• iSeries v5r3 support for building and running Java stored procedures and running any language stored procedures.
• Support for DB2 universal JCC driver, type 2 and type 4 connections.
• Support for new DB2 64-bit servers.
• Used the Development Center table filter in SQL Assist.
• Support for z/OS LOB parameters in stored procedures.

As for WebSphere Studio, the next release is scheduled for later this year. Expect to see more information when the product becomes available.

dW DB2: Where can our readers get more information?

Abdul: Quite a number of articles and tutorials have been published on this topic. Here are some that you will find helpful:

• Totally RAD, Paul Zikopoulos and Abul Al-Azzawe, DB2 Magazine, Quarter 3, 2004
• Will Stinger Steal Yukon's Glory?, Brian Moran, Windows IT Pro
• Meet the Experts: Connie Nelin on DB2 Application Development Tools, developerWorks, July, 2003
• Developing DB2 CLR Procedures in VS.NET, developerWorks, November, 2003
• Developing DB2 schema using IBM Explorer in VS.NET,November, 2003
• Developing Re-usable Data Adapters in VS.NET,November, 2003
• Using the IBM DB2 Development Add-in for Microsoft Visual Studio .NET, part 1, developerWorks, May, 2004
• Create Views and Triggers with IBM DB2 Development Add-In for.NET, developerWorks, August, 2004
• ADO.NET data adapters using DB2 UDB V8.2 proceduresdeveloperWorks, September, 2004

dW DB2: Abdul, thanks for speaking with us.

About the author

Abdul Al-Azzawe is the DB2 Tools architect for Visual Studio .NET. He joined IBM in 1990 and worked in the Toronto lab for ten years as part of the DB2 engine development team with special focus on the Windows platform. In 2000, Abdul joined the IBM Silicon Valley Lab to architect the release of the DB2 integrated SQL debugger, the DB2 Development Center, and the DB2 Development Add-Ins for Visual Studio 6.0. In 2002, Abdul joined the IBM San Francisco team to architect the integration with Visual Studio .NET.

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