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SQL/R ODBC

The SQL/R ODBC driver is an extension to Eloquence which gives you online access to your Eloquence databases from any ODBC compliant application.

This eliminates the need of redundant data and allows the end user to easily and quickly obtain any necessary data from your company database.

Introduction to ODBC

Corporations typically have applications and data residing on diverse platforms and database management systems due to historical, strategic or technological reasons.

The Microsoft® Open Data Base Connectivity (ODBC) is a de facto standard interface for accessing data in a heterogeneous environment of relational and non-relational database management systems.

ODBC is based on a specification, which was developed by a consortium of over 40 companies (members of the SQL Access Group and others), and has broad support from application and database vendors.

ODBC provides an open, vendor-neutral way of accessing data stored in a variety of proprietary personal computers, minicomputers and mainframe databases. With ODBC, an application can concurrently access, view, and modify data from multiple, diverse databases. ODBC provides many significant benefits to developers and end users by providing an open, standard way to access data:

How ODBC works

ODBC defines a data base independent standard how applications can interact with a data base. A Driver Manager sits between the application and the data base specific drivers. In Windows, the Driver Manager and the drivers are implemented as dynamic-link libraries (DLLs).

Application Calls ODBC API functions to submit SQL statements and retrieve results.
← ODBC API
Driver Manager
(ODBC.DLL)		 Loads ODBC driver, passes requests to driver and returns results to application.
DBMS Driver
(DLL)		 Processes ODBC function calls, submits SQL requests to a specific DBMS and returns results to application.
↓↑
Network Layer DBMS may require a network layer to communicate with the data source.
↓↑
Data Source
(DBMS)		 Processes requests from driver and returns results to driver.

The application (e.g. Microsoft Office® or Microsoft Access®) calls ODBC functions to connect to a data source, send and receive data, and disconnect.

The Driver Manager provides information to an application such as a list of available data sources, loads drivers dynamically as they are needed, and provides argument and state transition checking.

The driver, developed separately from the application, sits between the application and the network. The driver processes ODBC function calls, manages all exchanges between an application and a specific DBMS, and may translate the standard SQL syntax into the native SQL of the target data source. All SQL translations are the responsibility of the driver developer.

Applications are not limited to communicating through one driver. A single application can make multiple connections, each through a different driver, or multiple connections to similar sources through a single driver.

To access a new DBMS, a user or an administrator installs a driver for the DBMS. The user does not need a different version of the application to access the new DBMS. This is a tremendous benefit for end users, as well as providing significant savings for IT organizations in support and development costs.

Summary

ODBC defines a standard SQL grammar and set of function calls that are based upon the SAG CLI specification, called the core grammar and core functions, respectively. If an application developer chooses only to use the core functionality, they need not write any additional code to check for specific capabilities of a driver.

With core functionality, an application can:

ODBC also defines an extended SQL grammar and set of extended functions to provide application developers with a standard way to exploit advanced capabilities of a DBMS. Finally, ODBC supports the use of DBMS-specific SQL grammar, allowing applications to exploit the capabilities of a particular DBMS.

Download

The SQL/R software is available for download. The SQL/R ODBC driver is included in the SQL/R product installation. Please refer to the SQL/R download page for details.

Evaluation

For evaluation purposes you can request a temporary license key. It expires after four weeks.

Support options

Software Update Subscription (SUS)

We continually improve our products and release new versions periodically. We also release maintenance versions and patches for previously released versions, fixing issues, adding enhancements or adapting it to newer operating system versions.

This allows you to benefit from product improvements while protecting your investment in the product and your application.

Base Line Support (BLS)

SQL/R Base Line Support provides a foundation of support services for the SQL/R product. It covers questions on installing, configuring or using the product and includes software updates.

Your SQL/R BLS Agreement gives you a qualified response by a Marxmeier software expert. It includes any questions on installing, configuring or using the product. Support requests which are subject to a fair use policy may be submitted by email or through the Marxmeier Software web site. While we will make every effort to respond as quickly as possible, the guaranteed response time is next business day (German public holidays excluded). This service does not cover any consulting or training.

If you are working with a Marxmeier partner, they will typically be your primary contact who will qualify your request and propose the best solution. As your Marxmeier Partner is familiar with your environment and your application(s) they are in a unique position to work with you. If and as necessary, the SQL/R lab team at Marxmeier Software will get involved in resolving the issue.

Please feel free to contact us if you have any questions on our products. We will be glad to help you.