unix files and access 2000??? 1

[Waynest]

This is a long shot I know, but has anyone ever heard of an odbc driver or similarly fiendish contraption which would let you read C-ISAM files on a unix box thru access 2000?  I'll be your best friend forever if you can tell me such a thing is possible...

 

[Amiel]

<br>Sure, there is, unix really wouldn't be of much use at all if there weren't a good ODBC driver for it, &quot;haaaa, ha, ha, ha&quot;! I've used one from 'OpenRDA'. It worked fine however I never touched any of the server side configuration so I don't know much about that side of it. Another name is 'EasySoft'. <p>Amiel<br><a href=mailto:amielzz@netscape.net>amielzz@netscape.net</a><br><a href= > </a><br>

 

[Waynest]

Thanks a lot!&nbsp;&nbsp;If I can get this thing off the ground it could save me weeks, months, years...

 

[Waynest]

Amiel<br><br>One of the above companies has quoted me £30,000+ for software to allow 50 clients to acces the files on the unix server !<br><br>Were you accessing an ODBC compilant unix database (there seem to be 'off the shelf' type solutions for this) or, like me, a series of stand alone ISAM files?

 

[Amiel]

<br>Wayne, I was using the ODBC driver to access a canned UNIX application (accounting program). I was in a Corporate environment. The application used ISAM files to store it's data. The&nbsp;&nbsp;driver provided ODBC access to those files.<br><br>I think, Wayne,&nbsp;&nbsp;that what we are saying here is that if the driver itself will allow (ODBC) accesss to ISAM files then it will allow (ODBC) access to ISAM files ... We are talking about Sequential Text Files that must be ODBC compliant. Are you in control of whether they are ODBC compliant?<br><br>Let me know. <p>Amiel<br><a href=mailto:amielzz@netscape.net>amielzz@netscape.net</a><br><a href= > </a><br>

 

[cmmrfrds]

Wayne, I worked on converting a database to C-ISAM on a HP/UX system last year. We had 4 products/languages that manipulated the data in the C-ISAM files. They were Cobol, Fortran, PowerHouse, and SuperTool. One thing to be aware of is the data in the file (simple text structure) is controlled by the product/language adding/updating the data -- C-ISAM is not a database management system. So, there may be an issue with the data itself depending on what product/language stored the data. This may be difficult for an ODBC driver to handle but I don't know. It is very common to pack numeric fields in Cobol and this could be a problem to interrupt in another product.<br><br>PowerHouse, a product of Cognos, is a user friendly reporting tool that has a data dictionary and if you don't find an ODBC driver this may be a good alternative. <br><br>Jerry

 

[Waynest]

I'm starting to get the feeling that I'm not backing a winner here.&nbsp;&nbsp;I'll throw in a bit more detail...<br><br>The files are created and maintained by Micro Focus Cobol/2 (I used version 4.0 in a previous life so this isn't current by any stretch of the imagination).&nbsp;&nbsp;I would imagine ODBC was but a twinkle in some geek's eye when this thing was current.&nbsp;&nbsp;To make matters worse the operating system is ICL's DRS/NX which isn't high on anyone's list of favourites.<br><br>If the ODBC driver lets you connect to stand alone files and not just query files/tables which are 'managed', does it also update the file's index if you change the data?.&nbsp;&nbsp;I cant afford to take any risks with the files in question.&nbsp;&nbsp;Sob, its all so complicated...

 

[Amiel]

<br>Your application is not an out of the box app. If the programmers used standard C-ISAM function Libraries, which you will likely find to be the case, then there are some connectivity solutions using JAVA and JDBC that will likely work for you, also;<br><br>I was scrolling through active-x controls on my machine and came across one called 'ISGnavigator'. I recall reading (some of) the documentation that came with the thing a year or so ago. I was impressed with how flexable and extensible it was. It's definitely a good one. I don't know if it will work for you. It may. Take a look. <br><br>Look at a java platform for your Operating System, find out if the files are standard C-ISAM, and perhaps look to JDBC vs ODBC.<br><br>This is not the complete answer that you are looking for; It might be a helpfull start however. <p>Amiel<br><a href=mailto:amielzz@netscape.net>amielzz@netscape.net</a><br><a href= > </a><br>