Copyright: , 1998 INTERSOLV


Contents, FileMaker Driver Help
DataDirect ODBC FileMaker Driver

About the FileMaker Driver

System Requirements

Configuring Data Sources

Connecting to a Data Source Using a Connection String

Data Types

ODBC Conformance Level

Number of Connections and Statements Supported

ODBC FileMaker Driver Setup Dialog Box

Advanced Tab, ODBC FileMaker Driver Setup Dialog Box

Copyright


About the FileMaker Driver

The FileMaker driver supports FileMaker Pro 5  for Windows.

The driver file name is FMFMP50.DLL.


Copyright
Portions of this help text are copyrighted by MERANT 1991-98. Other company or product names mentioned herein may be trademarks or registered trademarks of their respective companies.


FileMaker System Requirements
System Requirements

To access a FileMaker database, you must install the FileMaker Pro 5 software, and open a database with ODBC sharing enabled.

If you attempt to configure a data source and you do not have the FileMaker client libraries on your path or in your Windows NT \SYSTEM32 or Windows 95 \SYSTEM directory, the following message appears:

The setup routines for the INTERSOLV 3.00 32-bit FILEMAKER ODBC driver could not be loaded due to system error code 126.

When you click OK, the following message appears:

Could not load the setup or translator library.


Configuring FileMaker Data Sources
Configuring Data Sources

To configure a FileMaker data source, do the following:

1	Start the ODBC Administrator to display a list of data sources.

2	If you are configuring an existing data source, select the data source name and click Configure to display the ODBC FileMaker Driver Setup dialog box.

If you are configuring a new data source, click Add to display a list of installed drivers. Select FileMaker Pro and click Finish to display the ODBC FileMaker Driver Setup dialog box.

3	Specify a data source name, and, optionally, a database description. For a remote connection check the"Use Remote Connection" box and specify the server address of a remote FileMaker Pro database. The server address can be specified either as a host name or as a dotted decimal IP address. Click Apply.

4	Click Translate to display the Select Translator dialog box, which lists the translators specified in the ODBC Translators section of the system information. INTERSOLV provides a translator named INTERSOLV OEM ANSI that translates your data from the IBM PC character set to the ANSI character set.

Select a translator, then click OK to close this dialog box and perform the translation.

5	Click OK or Cancel. If you click OK, the values you have specified become the defaults when you connect to the data source. You can change these defaults by using this procedure to reconfigure your data source. You can override these defaults by connecting to the data source using a connection string with alternate values.


Connecting to FileMaker Using a Connection String
Connecting to a Data Source Using File DSN

If your application requires a File DSN to connect to a data source, you may specify attribute=value pairs in the Advanced File DSN Creation Settings to override the default values stored in the system information. These values are not written to the system information.

The paragraphs that follow list the long and short names for each attribute, as well as a description. The defaults listed are initial defaults that apply when no value is specified in either the connection string or in the data source definition in the system information. If you specified a value for the attribute when configuring the data source, that value is your default.

Attribute	Description
ApplicationUsing Threads (AUT)	ApplicationUsingThreads={0 | 1}. Ensures that the driver works with multi-threaded applications. The default is 1, which makes the driver thread-safe. When using the driver with single-threaded applications, you may set this option to 0 to avoid additional processing required for ODBC thread safety standards.
DataSourceName (DSN)	A string that identifies the data source in the ODBC Registry entry.
FileChunkSize (FCS)	An integer value that specifies the number of rows that each fetch request to the FileMaker API uses whenever the driver scrolls forward through a rowset.  A larger Fetch Chunk Size can reduce the number of interprocess calls between the driver process and the FileMaker process.  If the number is too large, then each request will take longer and more memory may be required.
FileOpenCache (FOC)	An integer value representing the maximum number of used file handles to cache. For example, when FileOpenCache=4, and a user opens and closes four files, the files are not actually closed. The driver keeps them open so that if another query uses one of these files, the driver does not have to perform another open, which is expensive. The advantage of using file open caching is increased performance. The disadvantage is that a user who tries to open the file exclusively may get a locking conflict even though no one appears to have the file open. The initial default is 0.
IntlSort (IS)	IntlSort={0 | 1}. This attribute determines the order that records are retrieved when you issue a Select statement with an Order By clause. If IntlSort=0 (the initial default), the driver uses the ASCII sort order. This order sorts items alphabetically with uppercase letters preceding lowercase letters. For example, “A, b, C” would be sorted as “A, C, b.” If IntlSort=1, the driver uses the international sort order as defined by your operating system. This order is always alphabetic, regardless of case; the letters from the previous example would be sorted as “A, b, C.” See your operating system documentation concerning the sorting of accented characters.
MaxTextLength (MTL)	An integer value representing the maximum text length of all text columns used under the data source. This information can be used by the driver to increase performance. Limiting the text size allows the driver to avoid using unnecessary processing and resource allocations.
NumberDateTime AsText (NTDAT)	NumberDateTimeAsText={0 | 1}. Using the value 1 specifies that the driver will treat Number, Date and Time values as text rather than numeric data. Choosing this option will slow driver performance. The default value is 0.
ServerAddress (SA)	A string that identifies the server adddress of the remote FileMaker Pro database. The server address can be specified either as a host name or as a dotted decimal IP address.
TextCollation Matches (TCM)	TextCollationMatches={0 | 1}. Text Collation Matches is used to define the relationship between the driver’s sort order and the sort order used by FileMaker. When TextCollationMatches=1, the sort order used by FileMaker is the same as the sort order used by the driver, and driver performance is generally much faster. The driver will use FileMaker for equality, inequality, LIKE, and sorting. When TextCollationMatches=0, the sort order used by the driver is not the same as FileMaker, and the driver will only employ FileMaker for equality searches on Text fields.
UseRemote Connection (URC)	UseRemoteConnection={0 | 1}. Using the value 1 specifies that the FileMaker Pro database resides remotely. Using the value 0 specifies a local FileMaker Pro database.


FileMaker Data Types
Data Types

The following table shows how the FileMaker data types map to the standard ODBC data types.

FileMaker	ODBC
Text	SQL_VARCHAR
Number	SQL_DOUBLE*
Date	SQL_DATE*
Time	SQL_TIME*
Container (Blob)	SQL_LONGVARBINARY
* FileMaker Number, Time, and Date values can be mapped to SQL_VARCHAR by specifying Number, Time, and Date as Text in the driver setup.


FileMaker ODBC Conformance Level
ODBC Conformance Level

For more information on this topic, access the ODBC sections in the FileMaker Pro application Help system.


Number of Connections and Statements Supported by FileMaker
Number of Connections and Statements Supported

FileMaker files support a single connection and multiple statements per connection.


FileMaker ODBC Setup Dialog Box
ODBC FileMaker Driver Setup Dialog Box

Use the ODBC FileMaker Driver Setup dialog box to create new FileMaker data sources or configure existing data sources.

Data Source Name: The name that identifies the data source in the ODBC Registry entry.

Description: A textual description of the data source.

Use Remote Connection: Select this box to specify that the FileMaker Pro database resides remotely. Clear the box to specify a local FileMaker Pro database.

Server Address: The server adddress of the remote FileMaker Pro database. The server address can be specified either as a host name or as a dotted decimal IP address.

Advanced tab

Displays the Advanced Tab, where you can configure additional options for this data source.

OK

Cancel

Apply


Advanced tab
Advanced Tab, ODBC FileMaker Driver Setup Dialog Box

Use the Advanced Tab on the ODBC FileMaker Driver Setup dialog box to specify optional settings when you create new FileMaker data sources or configure existing data sources.

Max Tex Length: The maximum text length of all text columns used under the data source. This information can be used by the driver to increase performance. Limiting the text size allows the driver to avoid using unnecessary processing and resource allocations.

File Open Cache: An integer value to specify the maximum number of used file handles to cache. For example, the value 4 specifies that when a user opens and closes four tables, the tables are not actually closed. The driver keeps them open so that if another query uses one of these tables, the driver does not have to perform another open, which is expensive. The advantage of file open caching is increased performance. The disadvantage is that a user who specifies file locking on open may get a locking conflict even though no one appears to have the file open. The default is 0, which means no file open caching.

Fetch Chunk Size: An integer value that specifies the number of rows that each fetch request to the FileMaker API uses whenever the driver scrolls forward through a rowset.  A larger Fetch Chunk Size can reduce the number of interprocess calls between the driver process and the FileMaker process.  If the number is too large, then each request will take longer and more memory may be required.

International Sort: A setting to indicate the order in which records are retrieved when you issue a Select statement with an Order By clause. Clear this box to use ASCII sort order (the default setting). This order sorts items alphabetically with uppercase letters preceding lowercase letters. For example, “A, b, C” would be sorted as “A, C, b.”

Select this box to use international sort order as defined by your operating system. This order is always alphabetic, regardless of case; the letters from the previous example would be sorted as “A, b, C.” See your operating system documentation concerning the sorting of accented characters.

Number, Time and Date as Text: Selecting this box specifies that the driver will treat Number, Date and Time values as text rather than numeric data. Choosing this option will slow driver performance.

Applications Using Threads: Selecting this box ensures that the driver works with multi-threaded applications (the default setting). You can clear this check box when using the driver with single-threaded applications. Turning off this setting avoids additional processing required for ODBC thread-safety standards.

Translate Button

Displays the Select Translator dialog box, where you can translate your data from one character set to another. Choose the INTERSOLV OEM ANSI translator to translate your data from the IBM PC character set to the ANSI character set.

OK

Cancel

Apply


Apply Button

Writes the settings you have specified to the system information. These settings remain in effect until you change them in this dialog box. Clicking Cancel does not affect settings that have been applied.


OK Button

Writes the settings you have specified to the system information and closes the dialog box.


Cancel Button

Closes the dialog box without saving settings that have not been applied.