Copyright

DataDirect Connect ODBC for Text

© 2002 DataDirect Technologies. All rights reserved.

DataDirect, DataDirect Connect, and SequeLink are registered trademarks, and Client/Server MiddleWare, DataDirect Connect ADO, DataDirect Connect Integrator, DataDirect Connect JDBC, DataDirect Connect ODBC, DataDirect Connect OLE DB, DataDirect Connect Premium, DataDirect Reflector, and DataDirect SequeLink Integrator are trademarks of DataDirect Technologies. All other trademarks are the property of their respective owners.


About Connect ODBC for Text

Connect ODBC for Text (the "Text driver") supports ASCII text. These files can be printed directly or edited with text editors or word processors, because none of the data is stored in a binary format.

The Text driver is supported in the Windows and UNIX environments.

See the README file shipped with your DataDirect product for the file name of the Text driver.

The Text driver executes SQL statements directly on the text files. The driver supports Insert statements and inserts the record at the end of the file. You can execute Update and Delete statements conditionally.


Driver Requirements

There are no client requirements for the Text driver.


Common Text File Formats

Some common formats for text files are listed in the following table:

Format	Description
Comma-separated values	Commas separate column values, and each line is a separate record. Column values can vary in length. These files often have the .CSV extension.
Tab-separated values	Tabs separate column values, and each line is a separate record. Column values can vary in length.
Character- separated values	Any printable character except single or double quotation marks can separate column values, and each line is a separate record. Column values can vary in length.
Fixed	No character separates column values. Instead, values start at the same position and have the same length in each line. The values appear in fixed columns if you display the file. Each line is a separate record.
Stream	No character separates column values nor records. The table is one long stream of bytes.
Comma-, tab-, and character-separated files are called character-delimited files, since values are separated by a special character.


Configuring Text Data Sources
Configuring Data Sources

On Windows, data sources are configured and modified through the ODBC Administrator. To configure a Text data source:

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 Text Driver Setup dialog box.

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

3	Specify a data source name, a database directory, a default table type, a delimiter character, whether to use column names in the first line, and optionally, a description. Click Apply.

4	Click the Advanced tab to configure optional data source settings, such as the action to be taken if an undefined table is used. Click Apply.

5	Click Define to define the structure of your text files. Defining Table Structure discusses how to define the column names and data types in a table.

6	Click Translate to display the Select Translator dialog box, where you can select a translator to translate your data from one character set to another. DataDirect provides a translator named "OEM to ANSI" that translates your data from the IBM PC character set to the ANSI character set. Click OK to close this dialog box and perform the translation.

The translators that are listed in this dialog box are determined by the values listed in the ODBC Translators section of the system information.

7	Click Test Connect to attempt to connect to the data source using the connection properties specified in the Driver Setup dialog box.

8	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.


Test Connection

At any point during the configuration process, you can click Test Connect to attempt to connect to the data source using the connection properties specified in the Driver Setup dialog box.

•	If the driver can connect, it releases the connection and displays a "connection established" message. Click OK.

•	If the driver cannot connect because of an improper environment or incorrect connection value, it will display an appropriate error message.

Click OK.


Defining Table Structure

Because text files do not all have the same structure, the driver provides the option of defining the structure of an existing file. Although defining the structure is not mandatory (the driver can attempt to guess the names and types of the columns), this feature is extremely useful.

Define the structure of a file as follows:

1	Display the ODBC Text Driver Setup dialog box through the ODBC Administrator. Click the Advanced tab; then, click Define to display the Define File dialog box.

2	Select the correct file and click Open to display the Define Table dialog box.

Database Name: This field displays the name of the database directory that you selected in the Define File dialog box.

File: This field displays the name of the file that you selected in the Define File dialog box.

Table: Type a table name in the Table field. The name may be up to 32 characters in length and must be unique. This name is returned by SQLTables. By default, it is the filename without its extension (for example, Trc_read).

Column Names in First Line: Select this check box if the first line of the file contains column names; otherwise, do not select this box.

Table Type: Select the type of text file, either comma, tab, fixed, character, or stream.

Delimiter Character: If the table type is Character, type the delimiter used in character-separated files. The value can be any printable character except single and double quotes.

Decimal Symbol: Type the decimal separator used when data is stored. Valid values are a comma or a period. The international decimal symbol (.) must be used in DML statements and parameter buffers.

3	If you specified a comma-separated, tab-separated, or character-separated type in the Table Type field, the Guess button is active and you can click it to have the driver guess at the column names and display them in the list box of the Column Information pane.

If you specified a fixed-length or stream type in the Table Type field, the Parse button is active and you can click it to display the Parse Table dialog box and define the table columns.

The Parse Table dialog box displays the first line of the file. You must mark where each field begins and ends by enclosing it in brackets. These brackets indicate the position and length of each field value in the record. Click OK to close the Parse Table dialog box. The driver will suggest column names in the list box of the Column Information pan

4	If you do not want the driver to guess or parse, enter values in the following fields to define each column. Click Add to add the column name to the Column Information box.

Name: Type the name of the column.

Type: Select the data type of the column. If the field type is Date, you must select a date mask for the field or type one in.

Precision: Type the precision of the column. The precision of numeric data types is defined as the maximum number of digits used by the data type of the column. For character types, this is the length in characters of the data; for binary data types, precision is defined as the length in bytes of the data. For time, timestamp, and all interval data types, precision is the number of characters in the character representation of this data. Note that the precision and scale values determine how numeric data is to be returned.

Scale: Type the scale of the column. The scale of decimal and numeric data types is defined as the maximum number of digits to the right of the decimal point. For approximate floating point number columns, the scale is undefined, since the number of digits to the right of the decimal point is not fixed. For datetime or interval data that contains a seconds component, the scale is defined as the number of digits to the right of the decimal point in the seconds component of the data. Note that the precision and scale values determine how numeric data is to be returned.

Length: If you specified a fixed-length table type, type the length, which is the number of bytes the data takes up in storage.

Offset: If you specified a fixed-length table type, type the offset, which is the number of bytes from the start of the table to the start of the field.

5	To modify an existing column definition, select the column name in the Column Information box. Modify the values for that column name; then, click Modify.

6	To delete an existing column definition, select a column name in the Column Information box and click Remove.

7	Click OK to define the table.


Date Masks

Date masks tell the driver how a date is stored in a text file. When a value is inserted into a text file, the date is formatted so that it matches the mask. When reading a text file, the driver converts the formatted date into a date data type.

The following table lists the symbols to use when specifying the date mask.

Symbol	Description
m	Output the month's number (1-12).
mm	Output a leading zero if the month number is less than 10.
mmm, Mmm, MMM	Output the three-letter abbreviation for the month depending on the case of the Ms (that is, jan, Jan, JAN).
mmmm, Mmmm, MMMM	Output the full month name depending on the case of the Ms (that is, january, January, JANUARY).
d	Output the day number (1-31).
dd	Output a leading zero if the day number is less than 10.
ddd, Ddd, DDD	Output the three-letter day abbreviation depending on the case of the Ds (that is, mon, Mon, MON).
dddd, Dddd, DDDD	Output the day depending on the case of the Ds (that is, monday, Monday, MONDAY).
yy	Output the last two digits of the year.
yyyy	Output the full four digits of the year.
J	Output the Julian value for the date. The Julian value is the number of days since 4712 BC.
\ - .  :  , (space)	Special characters used to separate the parts of a date.
\	Output the next character. For example, if the mask is mm/dd/yyyy \A\D, the value appears as 10/01/1993 AD in the text file.
"string", 'string'	Output the string in the text file.

The following table shows some example date values, masks, and how the date appears in the text file.

Date	Mask	Value
1993-10-01	yyyy-mm-dd	1993-10-01
	m/d/yy	10/1/93
	Ddd, Mmm dd, yyyy	Fri, Oct 01, 1993


Connecting to a Data Source Using a Connection String

If your application requires a connection string to connect to a data source, you must specify the data source name that tells the driver which section in the system information to use for the default connection information. Optionally, you may specify attribute=value pairs in the connection string to override the default values stored in the system information file (odbc.ini). These values are not written to the system information file.

You can specify either long or short names in the connection string. The connection string has the form:

DSN=data_source_name[;attribute=value[;attribute=value]...]

An example of a connection string for text files is:

DSN=TEXT FILES;TT=CHARACTER;DC=&

The paragraphs that follow give 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 the default.

AllowUpdateAndDelete (AUD): AllowUpdateAndDelete={0 | 1}. Determines whether a data source allows Update and Delete statements. Because Update and Delete statements cause immediate changes to a table, only one connection at a time can operate on a table.

When set to 1, tables are opened exclusively by the current connection. Each update and delete on a text file can cause significant changes to the file, and performance may be poor. Consider a more appropriate database form if performance is a significant factor.

The initial default is 0.

ApplicationUsingThreads (AUT): ApplicationUsingThreads={0 | 1}. Ensures that the driver works with multi-threaded applications.

When set to 1 (the initial default), the driver is 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.

CacheSize (CSZ): The number of 64 KB blocks the driver uses to cache database records. The greater the number of blocks, the better the performance. The maximum number of blocks you can set depends on the system memory available. If the cache size is greater than 0, when browsing backwards, you will not be able to see updates made by other users until you run the Select statement again.

The initial default is 4.

CenturyBoundary (CB): CenturyBoundary=20. Specifies the cutoff year for century inference when converting two-digit dates to four-digit dates. Two-digit dates that are less than the specified year number will be converted to 20xx. Two-digit dates greater than or equal to the number will be converted to 19xx. The default value is 20. For example, using the default value, a date of 19 will be interpreted as 2019 and a date of 21 will be interpreted as 1921.

Database (DB): The directory in which the text files are stored.

DataFileExtension (DFE): The file extension to use for data files. The Data File Extension setting cannot be greater than three characters. The Data File Extension setting is used for all Create Table statements. Sending a Create Table using an extension other than the Data File Extension setting causes an error.

In other SQL statements, such as Select or Insert, users can specify an extension other than the Data File Extension setting. The Data File Extension setting is used when no extension is specified.

The initial default is TXT.

DataSourceName (DSN): A string that identifies a Text data source configuration in the system information. Examples include "Accounting" or "Text Files."

DecimalSymbol (DS): DecimalSymbol={. | ,}. Specifies the decimal separator used when data is stored. The international decimal symbol (.), which is the initial default, must be used in DML statements and parameter buffers.

Delimiter (DC): The character used as a delimiter for character-separated files. It can be any printable character except single quotes, double quotes, or semicolons. Note that it is possible to specify a semicolon if you configure the data source using the ODBC Administrator (Windows only).

The initial default is a comma (,).

ExtraExtensions (EE): A list of additional filename extensions to be recognized as text tables. When an application requests a list of tables, only files that have been defined are returned. To have the driver also return names of undefined files, specify a comma-separated list of file extensions. To specify files with no extension, use the keyword None.

FileOpenCache (FOC): The maximum number of unused file opens 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.

FirstLineNames (FLN): FirstLineNames={0 | 1}. Determines whether the driver looks for column names in the first line of the file.

When set to 0 (the initial default), the first line is interpreted as the first record in the file.

When set to 1, the driver looks for column names in the first line of the file.

IntlSort (IS): IntlSort={0 | 1}. Determines the order in which records are retrieved when you issue a Select statement with an Order By clause.

When set to 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."

When set to 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.

ScanRows (SR): The number of rows in a text file that the driver scans to determine the column types in the file. If the value is 0, all rows in the file are scanned.

The initial default is 25.

TableType (TT): TableType={Comma | Tab | Character | Fixed | Stream}. The Text driver supports five table types: comma-separated, tab-separated, character-separated, fixed length, and stream. Setting this value tells the driver the default type, which is used when creating a new table and opening an undefined table.

UndefinedTable (UT): UndefinedTable={PROMPT | GUESS}. Determines whether the driver should prompt the user when it encounters a table for which it has no structure information.

When set to PROMPT, the driver is told to display a dialog box that allows the user to describe the file’s format.

When set to GUESS (the initial default), the driver is told to guess the file’s format.

UseLongQualifiers (ULQ): UseLongQualifiers={0 | 1}. Determines whether the driver uses long path names as table qualifiers.

When set to 0 (the initial default), the driver does not use long path names (the maximum path name length is 128 characters).

When set to 1, the driver uses long path names (the maximum path name length is 255 characters).

NOTE: The ScanRows, TableType, Delimiter, and FirstLineNames attributes apply to tables that have not been defined. These attributes also determine the characteristics of new tables created with the Create Table statement.


Data Types

The text file data types are mapped to the standard ODBC data types as follows:

Text	ODBC
Numeric	SQL_NUMERIC
Date	SQL_TYPE_DATE
Varchar	SQL_VARCHAR


Select Statement

You use the SQL Select statement to specify the columns and records to be read. The driver supports all Select statement clauses as described in SQL for Flat-File Drivers in the General Help section of Connect ODBC Help.


Alter Table Statement

The Text driver supports the Alter Table statement to add one or more columns to a table or to delete (drop) a single column.

The Alter Table statement has the form:

ALTER TABLE table_name {ADD column_name data_type |

ADD(column_name data_type [, column_name data_type]... ) |

DROP[COLUMN] column_name}

table_name is the name of the table to which you are adding or dropping columns.

column_name assigns a name to the column you are adding or specifies the column you are dropping.

data_type specifies the native data type of each column you add. See Data Types for more information.

For example, to add two columns to the emp table:

ALTER TABLE emp (ADD startdate date, dept varchar(10))

You cannot add columns and drop columns in a single statement, and you can drop only one column at a time. For example, to drop a column:

ALTER TABLE emp DROP startdate

The Alter Table statement fails when you attempt to drop a column upon which other objects, such as indexes or views, are dependent.


Conformance Level
ODBC Conformance Level

The API functions supported are listed in Supported ODBC Functions, found in the General Help section of Connect ODBC Help. In addition, the following function is supported: SQLSetPos.

The Text driver also supports backward and random fetching in SQLExtendedFetch and SQLFetchScroll. The driver supports the minimum SQL grammar.


Number of Connections and Statements Supported

Text files support multiple connections and multiple statements per connection.


Text Tab, ODBC Text Driver Setup
General Tab, ODBC Text Driver Setup

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

Data Source Name: Type a string that identifies this Text data source configuration in the system information. Examples include "Accounting" or "Text Files."

Description: Type an optional long description of a data source name. For example, "My Accounting Files" or "My Text Files in the Accounting Directory."

Database Directory: Type the directory in which the text files are stored. If none is specified, the current working directory is used.

Default Table Type: Select the type of text file: comma-separated, tab-separated, character-separated, fixed length, or stream. This value tells the driver the default type, which is used when creating a new table and opening an undefined table.

Delimiter Character: Type the character used as a delimiter for character-separated files. It can be any printable character except for single and double quotes. The default is a comma (,).

Column Names in First Line: Select this check box to tell the driver to look for column names in the first line of the file.

NOTE: The Default Table Type, Delimiter Character, and Column Names in First Line settings apply only to tables not previously defined. These fields also determine the attributes of new tables created with the Create Table statement.

Advanced Tab

Displays the Advanced tab, where you can configure optional data source settings, such as the action to be taken if an undefined table is used.

OK

Cancel

Apply

Test Connect


Advanced Tab, ODBC PROGRESS Driver Setup
Advanced Tab, ODBC Text Driver Setup

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

Rows to Scan: Type the number of rows in a text file that the driver scans to determine the data types in the file. If the value is 0, all rows in the file are scanned. The default is 25.

Action for Undefined Tables: Select one of the two options in this group to indicate which action the driver should take when it encounters a file that has not been defined. Select the Prompt for Definition option if you want the driver to prompt the user when it encounters a file whose format is not defined. Otherwise, select the Guess Definition option; in this case, the driver guesses the file’s format.

Include Files with Matching Extensions: Select this check box to tell the driver to return files with a given extension in addition to the files specified in the Data File Extension field.

Extension List: If you selected the Include Files with Matching Extensions check box, type a comma-separated list of extensions of files you want returned. To have files with no extensions returned, specify NONE. For example, if some of your files have the extensions TXT and CSV and others have no extension, specify TXT,CSV,NONE.

By default, when an application requests a list of tables, only files that have been defined are returned.

File Open Cache: Type an integer value that specifies the maximum number of unused file opens 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 degrades performance. 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.

Cache Size: Type the number of 64 KB blocks the driver uses to cache database records. The greater the number of blocks, the better the performance. The maximum number of blocks you can set depends on the system memory available. If the cache size is greater than 0, when browsing backwards, you cannot see updates made by other users until you run the Select statement again. The default is 4.

Data File Extension: Type the file extension to use for data files. The default value is TXT. This setting cannot exceed than three characters. The Data File Extension setting is used for all Create Table statements. Sending a Create Table using an extension other than the Data File Extension setting causes an error.

In other SQL statements, such as Select or Insert, users can specify an extension other than the Data File Extension setting. The Data File Extension setting is used when no extension is specified.

Decimal Symbol: Type the decimal separator used when data is stored. Valid values are a comma or a period. The international decimal symbol (.), which is the default, must be used in DML statements and parameter buffers.

Century Boundary: Type the cutoff year for century inference when converting two-digit dates to four-digit dates. Two-digit dates that are less than the specified year number will be converted to 20xx. Two-digit dates greater than or equal to the number are converted to 19xx. The default value is 20. For example, using the default value, a date of 19 will be interpreted as 2019 and a date of 21 is interpreted as 1921.

International Sort: Select this check box to indicate the order in which records are retrieved when you issue a Select statement with an Order By clause. Do not select this check box if you want 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 check 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.

Use Long Qualifiers: Select this check box to use long path names as table qualifiers. When you select this check box, path names can be up to 255 characters. The default length for path names is 128 characters.

Allow Update and Delete: Select this check box to allow Update and Delete statements. Because Update and Delete statements cause immediate changes to a table, only one connection at a time can operate on a table. When this check box is selected, tables are opened exclusively by the current connection. Each update and delete on a text file can cause significant changes to the file, and performance may be degraded. Consider a more appropriate database form if performance is a significant factor.

Application Using Threads: Select this check box to ensure that the driver works with multi-threaded applications. Do not select this check box when you are using the driver with single-threaded applications. Turning off this setting avoids additional processing required for ODBC thread-safety standards.

Define Button

Displays the Define File dialog box, where you can select a file to define in the Define Table dialog box.

Translate Button

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

OK

Cancel

Apply

Test Connect


Define Table Dialog
Define Table Dialog Box

Use the Define Table dialog box to define the structure of a text file by specifying values as follows:

Table Information pane

Database Name: This field displays the name of the database directory that you selected in the Define File dialog box.

File: This field displays the name of the file that you selected in the Define File dialog box.

Table: Type a table name in the Table field. The name may be up to 32 characters in length and must be unique. This name is returned by SQLTables. By default, it is the filename without its extension (for example, Trc_read).

Column Names in First Line: Select this check box if the first line of the file contains column names; otherwise, do not select this box.

Table Type: Select the type of text file, either comma, tab, fixed, character, or stream.

Delimiter Character: If the table type is Character, type the delimiter used in character-separated files. The value can be any printable character except single and double quotes.

Decimal Symbol: Type the decimal separator used when data is stored. Valid values are a comma or a period. The international decimal symbol (.) must be used in DML statements and parameter buffers.

Column Information pane

Name: Type the name of the column.

Type: Select the data type of the column. If the field type is Date, you must select a date mask for the field or type one in.

Precision: Type the precision of the column. The precision of numeric data types is defined as the maximum number of digits used by the data type of the column. For character types, this is the length in characters of the data; for binary data types, precision is defined as the length in bytes of the data. For time, timestamp, and all interval data types, precision is the number of characters in the character representation of this data. Note that the precision and scale values determine how numeric data is to be returned.

Scale: Type the scale of the column. The scale of decimal and numeric data types is defined as the maximum number of digits to the right of the decimal point. For approximate floating point number columns, the scale is undefined, since the number of digits to the right of the decimal point is not fixed. For datetime or interval data that contains a seconds component, the scale is defined as the number of digits to the right of the decimal point in the seconds component of the data. Note that the precision and scale values determine how numeric data is to be returned.

Length: If you specified a fixed-length table type, type the length, which is the number of bytes the data takes up in storage.

Offset: If you specified a fixed-length table type, type the offset, which is the number of bytes from the start of the table to the start of the field.

Guess Button

Available for comma-separated, tab-separated, or character-separated table types. Displays the drive’s guess at the field definitions described above.

Parse Button

Available for fixed-length and stream tables. Displays the Parse Table dialog box, where you can define the table columns.

Add Button

Adds a column definition and displays the name in the Columns listbox.

Modify Button

Modifies the definition of the column selected in the Columns listbox with the values you specify.

Remove Button

Removes the column selected in the Columns listbox.

OK

Saves the table definition and closes the Define Table dialog box.

Cancel

Closes the Define Table dialog box without defining a table.


Parse Table Dialog
Parse Table Dialog Box

This dialog box displays the first line of the file. You must mark where each field begins and ends by enclosing it in brackets. These brackets indicate the position and length of each field value in the record. Click OK to close the Parse Table dialog box and save your specifications.


Stream
The stream table type has no delimiter characters between columns nor between records. The table is one long, continuous stream of data.


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.


Contacting Technical Support

DataDirect Technologies provides technical support for all registered users of this product, including limited installation support, for the first 30 days. You can register online for your SupportLink user ID and password, which provide access to the password-protected areas of the SupportLink web site, at http://support.datadirect-technologies.com. Select Register on the left toolbar, complete the information on the Register page, and click Submit. Your user ID and password are issued to you by email upon registration.

For support after 30 days, contact us using one of the following methods or purchase further support by enrolling in the SupportLink program. For more information about SupportLink, contact your sales representative.

The DataDirect Technologies web site provides the latest support information through SupportLink Online, our global service network that provides access to support contact details, tools, and valuable information. Our SupportLink users access information using the web and automatic email notification. SupportLink Online includes a knowledge base that allows you to search on keywords for technical bulletins and other information. You also can download product fixes and upgrades for your DataDirect products.

World Wide Web

http://support.datadirect-technologies.com

E-Mail

USA, Canada, Mexico, Australia, and Asia Pacific (except Japan)	datadirect.answerline@datadirect-technologies.com
Japan	jpn.answerline@datadirect.co.jp (beginning March 2002) dd.answerline@merant.co.jp (until March 2002)
All other countries	int.datadirect.answerline@datadirect-technologies.com
Local Telephone Support

Local phone numbers can be found at:

http://support.datadirect-technologies.com/websupport/supportnet/datadirect/
supportnetanswerline.asp

NOTE: You must have a SupportLink user ID and password to access this web site. You can register online for your SupportLink user ID and password at http://support.datadirect-technologies.com. Select Register on the left toolbar, complete the information on the Register page, and click Submit. Your user ID and password are issued immediately and confirmation is sent to you by email.

Answerline support is available 24 hours a day, seven days a week.

Fax Information

Fax US	1 919 461 4527
Fax Int.	+32 (0) 15 32 09 19

Information to Provide

When you contact us, please include this information:

•	The product serial number or a case number. If you do not have a SupportLink contract, we will ask you to speak with a sales representative.

•	Your name and organization. For a first-time call, you may be asked for full customer information, including location and contact details.

•	The version number of your DataDirect product.

•	The type and version of your operating system.

•	Any third-party software or other environment information required to understand the problem.

•	A brief description of the problem, including any error messages that you have received, and the steps preceding the occurrence of the problem. Depending on the complexity of the problem, you may be asked to submit an example so that we can recreate the problem.

•	An assessment of the severity level of the problem.


Windows

•	Windows 98

•	Windows Me

•	Windows NT with Service Pack 5 and higher

•	Windows 2000 with Service Pack 1 and higher

•	Windows XP Home Edition and Professional


UNIX

•	AIX 4.3.3 and higher with the 5.0.2.0 C++ runtime libraries

•	HP-UX 11 and 11i

•	Sun Solaris 7 and 8

•	Linux (Red Hat Linux 6.2, 7.1, and 7.2; Caldera OpenLinux 2.3 and 3.1; SuSE Linux 6.4 and 7.3)