About this book

Audience

This book is for anyone who uses PowerBuilder® to connect to a database. It assumes that you are familiar with the database you are using and have installed the server and client software required to access the data.

How to use this book

This book describes how to connect to a database in PowerBuilder by using a standard or native database interface. It gives procedures for preparing, defining, establishing, maintaining, and troubleshooting your database connections. For an overview of the steps you need to take, see “Basic connection procedure”.

Related documents

For detailed information about supported database interfaces, DBParm parameters, and database preferences, see the Database Connectivity section in the online Help. For a complete list of PowerBuilder documentation, see PowerBuilder Getting Started.

Other sources of information

Use the Sybase® Getting Started CD and the Sybase Product Documentation Web site to learn more about your product:

Conventions

The formatting conventions used in this manual are:

Formatting example

Indicates

Retrieve and Update

When used in descriptive text, this font indicates:

  • Command, function, and method names

  • Keywords such as true, false, and null

  • Datatypes such as integer and char

  • Database column names such as emp_id and f_name

  • User-defined objects such as dw_emp or w_main

variable or file name

When used in descriptive text and syntax descriptions, oblique font indicates:

  • Variables, such as myCounter

  • Parts of input text that must be substituted, such as pblname.pbd

  • File and path names

File>Save

Menu names and menu items are displayed in plain text. The greater than symbol (>) shows you how to navigate menu selections. For example, File>Save indicates “select Save from the File menu.”

dw_1.Update()

Monospace font indicates:

  • Information that you enter in a dialog box or on a command line

  • Sample script fragments

  • Sample output fragments

If you need help

Each Sybase installation that has purchased a support contract has one or more designated people who are authorized to contact Sybase Technical Support. If you cannot resolve a problem using the documentation or online help, please have the designated person contact Sybase Technical Support or the Sybase subsidiary in your area.