ODBC API Functions

The 32-bit and 64-bit ODBC drivers are ODBC Level 1-compliant, supporting all ODBC Core and Level 1 functions. Most Level 2 functions are also supported. Table 2-4 and Table 2-5 list supported functions for ODBC 2.x and ODBC 3.x applications, respectively.

Binding SQL Statements

An ODBC application can prepare a query that contains dynamic parameters. Each parameter in a SQL statement must be associated, or bound, to a variable in the application before the statement is executed. When the application binds a variable to a parameter, it describes that variable and that parameter to the driver. Therefore, the application must supply the following information:

The two data types are identified separately using the SQLBindParameter API.

The SequeLink ODBC driver relies on the binding of parameters to know how to send information to the database system in its native format. If an application furnishes incorrect parameter binding information to the ODBC driver, the results will be unpredictable. For example, the statement might not be executed correctly.

To ensure interoperability, the SequeLink ODBC driver uses only the parameter binding information provided by the application. Some DBMSs cannot publish dynamic parameter information information back to an ODBC driver. For example, both the SQL Server and Oracle query processors can determine that a parameter is an integer. However, the Oracle query processor cannot publish this information back to the SequeLink ODBC driver.

NOTES:

Support for Unicode ODBC W (Wide) Function Calls

The ODBC driver fully supports the SQL-W functions.

The ODBC driver automatically determines whether the database is a Unicode database. Table 2-6 summarizes the way that the ODBC driver maps the database data types to the Unicode data types.

Table 2-6. Support for Unicode ODBC W (Wide) Function Calls 
Unicode Data Type
Database Data Type
 
DB2
Oracle
SQL Server
Sybase1
SQL_WCHAR
Graphic
CHAR
nchar
CHAR, UNICHAR
SQL_WLONGVARCHAR
Long, Vargraphic
CLOB,
LONG
ntext
TEXT
SQL_WVARCHAR
Vargraphic
VARCHAR2
nvarchar, sysname
UNIVARCHAR, VARCHAR
1. The Unicode data types are supported if the UTF-8 character set is installed on the Sybase database.

When used with SequeLink Server for ODBC Socket and SequeLink Server for JDBC Socket, the ODBC driver supports the data types of the backend driver used.

When used with SequeLink Server for Informix and SequeLink Server for JDBC Socket, the ODBC driver does not support Unicode data types.