The SQL Answer Cowboy

by Andy Stapleton

Published 1999-08-17    Printer-friendly version

Andy "Cowboy" Stapleton is the acknowledged Clarion SQL guru and a regular presenter at Clarion conferences around the world. His company, Cowboy Computing Solutions, produces SQL templates and classes for Clarion.

Jim Kane:Contrary to your [recent] column MSSQL 7.0 does run on Windows 95. I have it installed on my notebook. I can connect other Windows 95 or NT clients to my notebook and frequently do for load testing.

Cowboy: I appreciate your feedback, and you are correct, at least under these conditions: MS-SQL 7.0 will run on Windows 95 if DCOM is loaded or you have the patch that upgrades the Internet Explorer to 4.01. Without those, MS-SQL will not run on Windows 95. In effect you are upgrading to Windows 98 components. I have also loaded MS-SQL 7.0 to my 95 machine by doing the same thing.

Patrick O'Brien: Can a Clarion application using Microsoft Data Engine (MSDE) be run successfully on a Macintosh network using SoftWindows 95? There won't be more than two or three concurrent users. (You didn't say they had to be easy questions, did you?)

Cowboy: The questions you have to answer first are:

1. Does any Clarion program run on SoftWindows 95?
2. Can I load and operate MSDE on the same platform?

What I would do is use a standalone Clarion program and try to run it under SoftWindows. If that runs then you have answered the first question.

Now run MSDE on the Mac and see if you can access the data in Northwind or Public. The last thing on your To Do list is to run a small standalone Clarion program that accesses one of the databases.

Rick Smith: I read your recent SQL comparisons and answers. It seems that you favor Sybase quite a bit. In fact, that's the engine we're planning to use for our upcoming upgrade. However someone was telling me that there may be cause for concern with respect to the financial stability of the company. Can you speak to this issue?

Cowboy: Currently Sybase is up 19% over last quarter. 1998 was a year of concern, but with the restructuring and demand for some of the products, I don't believe it will go away anytime soon. Here is a link that gives you the Wall street press release for Sybase for Q1 99.

http://dynamic.sybase.com/press_releases/

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Clarion Magazine ISSN 1718-9942