Once the program has been successfully preprocessed and compiled, it is linked with the import library for the SQL Anywhere interface library to form an executable file. When the database server is running, this executable file uses the SQL Anywhere DLL to interact with the database server. The database server does not have to be running when the program is preprocessed.

For Windows, there are separate import libraries for Watcom C/C++, for Microsoft Visual C++, and for Borland C++.

Using import libraries is the standard development method for applications that call functions in DLLs. SQL Anywhere also provides an alternative, and recommended method which avoids the use of import libraries. For more information, see Loading the interface library dynamically.