Migrating from the MSS or OLE DB database interfaces

In earlier releases of PowerBuilder, the MSS native interface was provided for connection to Microsoft SQL Server. This native interface was based on Microsoft DB-LIB functionality, which is no longer supported by Microsoft and is not Unicode-enabled. The MSS interface was removed in PowerBuilder 10.0.

Prior to the introduction of SQL Server 2005 and SQL Native Client, Microsoft recommended using the OLE DB database interface and MDAC to connect to SQL Server. You can continue to use this solution if you do not need to take advantage of new features in SQL Server 2005 or SQL Server 2008.

This section provides a comparison between database parameters you might have used in existing applications with the parameters you can use with the SNC database interface.

MSS database parameters supported by SNC

Table 9-2 shows the database parameters and preferences that could be set in the Database Profile Setup dialog box for the discontinued MSS native database interface for Microsoft SQL Server, and indicates whether they are supported by the SNC interface.

The column on the left shows the tab page in the Database Profile Setup dialog box for MSS. The parameters and preferences may be on different tab pages in the SNC profile.

**Table 9-2: MSS parameters supported by SNC**
MSS	SNC
Connection tab:
Language	Not supported
Lock	Supported (Transaction tab)
AutoCommit	Supported
CommitOnDisconnect	Supported
System tab:
Log	Not supported
SystemProcs	Not supported
PBCatalogOwner	Supported
Transaction tab:
Async	Not supported
DBGetTime	Not supported
CursorLock	Not supported
CursorScroll	Not supported
StaticBind	Supported
MaxConnect	Not supported
Syntax tab:
DBTextLimit	Supported (as PBMaxTextSize on Transaction tab)
DateTimeAllowed	Not supported
OptSelectBlob	Not supported
Network tab:
AppName	Supported (System tab)
Host	Supported (System tab)
PacketSize	Supported (System tab)
Secure	Supported (as TrustedConnection on General tab)

OLE DB database parameters supported by SNC

Table 9-3 shows the database parameters and preferences that can be set in the Database Profile Setup dialog box for the OLE DB standard interface for Microsoft SQL Server, and indicates whether they are supported by the SNC interface.

The column on the left shows the tab page in the Database Profile Setup dialog box for OLE DB. The parameters and preferences may be on different tab pages in the SNC profile.

**Table 9-3: OLE DB parameters supported by SNC**
OLE DB	SNC
Connection tab:
Provider	Not supported
DataSource	Supported at runtime (as SQLCA.ServerName)
DataLink	Supported
Location	Not supported
ProviderString	Supported
System tab:
PBCatalogOwner	Supported
ServiceComponents	Not supported
AutoCommit	Supported (General tab)
CommitOnDisconnect	Supported (General tab)
StaticBind	Supported (Transaction tab)
DisableBind	Supported (Transaction tab)
Init_Prompt	Not supported
TimeOut	Supported
LCID	Not supported
Transaction tab:
Block	Supported
PBMaxBlobSize	Supported
Mode	Not supported
Lock	Supported
Syntax tab:
DelimitIdentifier	Supported
IdentifierQuoteChar	Not supported
DateFormat	Supported
TimeFormat	Supported
DecimalSeparator	Supported
OJSyntax	Supported
Security tab:
EncryptPassword	Not supported
CacheAuthentication	Not supported
PersistSensitive	Not supported
MaskPassword	Not supported
PersistEncrypted	Not supported
IntegratedSecurity	Supported (TrustedConnection on General tab)
ImpersonationLevel	Not supported
ProtectionLevel	Not supported

Additional database parameters

The SNC interface also supports the ReCheckRows and BinTxtBlob runtime-only parameters, the Encrypt, TrustServerCertificate, and SPCache parameters (on the System tab page), and the Identity parameter (on the Syntax tab page).

SPCache database parameter

You can control how many stored procedures are cached with parameter information by modifying the setting of the SPCache database parameter. The default is 100 procedures. To turn off caching of stored procedures, set SPCache to 0.

For more information about database parameters supported by the SNC interface, see the Connection Reference in the online Help.