---------------------------------------------------------

Microsoft Data Access SDK version 2.0 Readme File

---------------------------------------------------------

(c) 1998 Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved.

This document provides late-breaking or other information that supplements the

Microsoft Data Access SDK documentation.

Section 1 gives information about the Data Access SDK as a whole.

Section 2 is about the OLE DB Provider for ODBC.
Section 3 is about OLE DB Conformance Test.
Section 4 is about OLE DB version 2.0.
Section 5 is about the ODBC version 3.51.
Section 6 is about the OLE DB Simple Provider (OSP) Toolkit.
Section 7 is about OLE DB for OLAP version 2.0.

-----------------------------------------------------------
SECTION 1: MICROSOFT DATA ACCESS SDK
-----------------------------------------------------------

--------
CONTENTS
--------

1. PRODUCT DESCRIPTION

2. NEW FEATURES

3. TECHNICAL NOTES

4. KNOWN BUGS, LIMITATIONS, AND WORKAROUNDS

----------------------
1. PRODUCT DESCRIPTION
----------------------
The Microsoft Data Access SDK is a one-stop shop for all the developer's needs to
develop data access applications. The Data Access SDK if focused to address
specific developer activities.

---------------
2. NEW FEATURES
---------------
New combined documentation addresses all the Data Access technologies.

A new sample highlights Data Access technologies.

The Data Access SDK combines OLE DB, ODBC, OSP, and Control Writer Toolkit
documentation.

------------------
3. TECHNICAL NOTES
------------------
Requirements:

The stand-alone SDK requires Internet Explorer 3.02.

For Windows 95: requires OSR2.

-----------------
4. KNOWN BUGS, LIMITATIONS, AND WORKAROUNDS
-----------------

The following is a list of Data Access SDK known bugs.

Installation issues:

The Data Access SDK delivered with Visual Studio requires that the Microsoft Data
Access components be installed prior to installing this SDK. Otherwise, when the
SDK setup is run, you will get the message "Unable to load ODBC Control Panel
(odbccp32.dll)". To resolve this, make sure that you have run the Visual Studio
setup before installing the Data Access SDK.

With Internet Explorer 2.0, the stand-alone SDK fails to register Hhctrl.ocx.
Internet Explorer 3.02 (and OSR2 on Windows 95) are required for successful
installation of the Microsoft Data Access components.

-----------------------------------------------------------
SECTION 2: OLE DB PROVIDER FOR ODBC
-----------------------------------------------------------

OLE DB Provider for ODBC Data Sources Issues:

Please see the Data Access SDK documentation for a full list of known issues and
limitations with the ODBC provider. This section documents only issues not included
in that documentation.

IOpenRowset doesn't quote table names.

The ODBC provider does not quote table names passed through DBIDs; for instance, in
IOpenRowset. Therefore, when trying to open a table against the ODBC provider that
requires quoting the name (for instance, when the table name contains extended
characters), the consumer must add the quotes to the table name manually, or simply
execute SELECT * FROM <quoted table name>.

Boolean parameters are not converted to "True"/"False".

The OLE DB version 1.5 Specification calls for Booleans converted to string data
types to appear as the strings "True" or "False". Using the ODBC provider, if the
underlying ODBC driver does not support SQLDescribeParam, and the OLE DB consumer
does not specify the type of the parameter, the ODBC provider will convert Boolean
parameter values to "-1" and "0" when the data type of the parameter is a string.
In order to ensure proper conversion against ODBC drivers that do not support
describing parameters, the OLE DB consumer should always call SetParameterInfo to
specify the types of parameters.

Do not use DBPROP_INIT_LOCATION with MSDASQL and a Microsoft Access database.

When attempting to initialize MSDASQL (the ODBC Provider), if you set the
initialization property DBPROP_INIT_LOCATION to a valid value and specify that the
DATASOURCE is a Microsoft Access data source, a crash will occur. Do not use the
property DBPROP_INIT_LOCATION with MSDASQL and a Microsoft Access data source.

The following data types are in the OLE DB 2.0 headers but not yet supported by the
conversion library, Msdadc.dll:

DBTYPE_ARRAY = 0x2000**,
DBTYPE_VECTOR = 0x1000**,
DBTYPE_RESERVED = 0x8000**,
DBTYPE_UDT = 132**,
 DBTYPE_HCHAPTER = 136**

-----------------------------------------------------------
SECTION 3: OLE DB CONFORMANCE TEST
-----------------------------------------------------------

OLE DB Conformance Test Issues:

Several ADO conformance tests have problems with read-only providers. Specifically,
Requery, Editmode, and Originalvalue tests attempt to modify the recordset without
checking for read-only.

ADO conformance tests currently require the PROGID. The ADO conformance tests
currently require a provider to put its PROGID in the default string entry for the
provider's CLSID registry key.

Currently the SDK installs Win32 and Alpha versions of the libs for a Win32
install. In future releases, only the platform-appropriate libs will be installed.

ICommand is one of the "Unsupported" tests. The .dsp and .rc files for ICommand are
not included in this build of the SDK.

-----------------------------------------------------------
SECTION 4: MICROSOFT OLE DB VERSION 2.0
-----------------------------------------------------------

------------------
TECHNICAL NOTES
------------------

OLE DB Test Tools

ITest Spy (ITestSpy.exe) requires HookOle to be successfully installed in order to
spy on applications. In addition, ITest Spy requires the file Hkcfg.dll to be in
its PATH.

-----------------------------------------------------------
SECTION 5: MICROSOFT ODBC VERSION 3.51
-----------------------------------------------------------

--------
CONTENTS
--------

1. PRODUCT DESCRIPTION

2. NEW FEATURES

----------------------
1. PRODUCT DESCRIPTION
----------------------
ODBC version 3.51 is a minor update to ODBC 3.5. This release of the ODBC is
supported on Windows 95, and on Windows NT 3.51 and Windows NT 4.0 Intel and Alpha
platforms. ODBC 3.51 is available with 32-bit components only. Windows 16-bit
applications are supported against 32-bit drivers as long as the 16-bit ODBC
components provided by the ODBC 2.10c SDK (available on MSDN Level 2 and Level 3
subscriptions) or Visual C++ 1.52 are installed.
---------------
2. NEW FEATURES
---------------
ODBC version 3.51 is a minor update to ODBC 3.5 that includes the following
additions:

- Support for Visual C++ Vista debugging.

- A driver's connection pooling settings are configurable from the ODBC Control
Panel. You can now set the driver timeouts directly from the Control Panel.
- The connection pooling Retry Wait Time value can be configured from the ODBC
Control Panel.
- Performance Monitor counters. Several connection pooling counters have been
exposed in the Performance Monitor. This can be turned on and off through the ODBC
Control Panel.
- The Tracing tab in the Control Panel has been redesigned to reduce confusion and
turn on Vista tracing.

-----------------------------------------------------------
SECTION 6: OLE DB SIMPLE PROVIDER (OSP) TOOLKIT
-----------------------------------------------------------

The Java sample was developed using the Microsoft SDK for Java 2.01 Release. This
SDK is available for download at http:\\www.microsoft.com\java\download.htm.

--------
CONTENTS
--------

1. PRODUCT DESCRIPTION

2. NEW FEATURES

3. TECHNICAL NOTES

4. KNOWN BUGS, LIMITATIONS, AND WORKAROUNDS

----------------------
1. PRODUCT DESCRIPTION
----------------------

The Microsoft OLE DB Simple Provider (OSP) Toolkit simplifies the development of
OLE DB providers for simple, tabular data (for example, text files or in-memory
arrays). A developer can code to a simple interface, IOLEDBSimpleProvider, and the
OSP mapping layer DLL, MSDAOSP.DLL, included with the Data Access core components
provides a layer on top of this simpler interface that serves a Level-0-conformant
provider to OLE DB consumers.

---------------
2. NEW FEATURES
---------------

The OLE DB Simple Provider Toolkit for this release includes:

An updated sample for Visual Basic, which uses new data binding features of Visual
Basic 6.0.

Bug fixes to the OSP mapping layer (MSDAOSP.DLL) to achieve OLE DB level 0
conformance.
------------------
3. TECHNICAL NOTES
------------------

3.1 OSP INTERFACE IN MICROSOFT INTERNET EXPLORER 4.0

3.1.1 SIMPDATA.H

The OSP interface, described in SIMPDATA.H, was previously released with Microsoft
Internet Explorer 4.0. The OSP interface released with the OLE DB Simple Provider
Toolkit includes a modification of the OSPFIND enumeration. It adds enumeration
value OSPFIND_UPCASESENSITIVE. Providers written with this value will not compile
using the previous version of SIMPDATA.H.

3.2 COM AND OLE DB CONFORMANCE

The OLE DB Simple Provider DLL functions as a Level 0 OLE DB Provider. However,
the following nuances have been noted during conformance testing:

3.2.1 IConnectionPoint::Advise

IConnectionPoint::Advise() returns the same cookie for different connections, since

it returns the sink pointer as the cookie. According to the OLE specification,
Advise() should return a token that uniquely identifies this connection. Typically
each sink has a different pointer and therefore a different cookie. If the listener
uses the cookie returned by Advise() in a subsequent Unadvise(), it will not
unadvise the correct connection. To avoid this problem, do not register the same
sink for the same notification.

3.2.2 IOpenRowset::OpenRowset

If no data member is specified on OpenRowset -- because no registration settings

have been entered, or because no data source initialization property has been set
-- MSDAOSP.DLL returns error DB_E_NOTABLE, which indicates that the table does not
exist in the current data source.

3.2.3 Properties

3.2.3.1 DBPROP_ROWSET_ASYNCH

MSDAOSP.DLL supports property DBPROPVAL_ASYNCH_SEQUENTIALPOPULATION. The default

value is (DBPROPVAL_ASYNCH_INITIALIZE | DBPROPVAL_ASYNCH_SEQUENTIALPOPULATION |
DBPROPVAL_ASYNCH_RANDOMPOPULATION).

3.2.3.2 DBPROP_COLUMNRESTRICT

When an OSP contains a read-only rowset (that is, getRWStatus() returns

OSP_READONLY for all rows and columns), MSDAOSP.DLL sets properties
DBPROP_ROWRESTRICT and DBPROP_COLUMNRESTRICT to VARIANT_TRUE. This reflects the
possibility that the OSP may still allow new rows to be added, and these new rows
might be updatable. If a new, updatable row is added, then columns may have mixed
write status.

3.3 PROGRAMMING LANGUAGE NOTES

3.3.1 Visual J++

3.3.1.1 isAsync()

IOLEDBSimpleProvider::isAsync() returns type int in Java instead of Boolean because

of how the interface definition is generated. Developers should return 0 for false
and a nonzero integer for true.

3.3.1.2 getVariant()

getVariant is one of the few OSP methods that returns an Object or Variant. Take
care to allocate a fresh Variant that is not used elsewhere to return to the
Microsoft Virtual Machine for Java, which may free the object at its leisure.

3.3.1.3 OSP Methods for Visual J++ and Internet Explorer 4.0

The OSP class package for Java developers, com.ms.osp.*, was released in Internet
Explorer 4.0 with alternative versions of three of the OSP methods:

find()
getVariant()
setVariant()

In package com.ms.osp.*, these three methods are defined with arguments of type
Object, instead of the Variant forms of the methods defined in the OSP interace, as
distributed in this SDK in the type library SIMPDATA.TLB. Internet Explorer 4.0
contains native marshaling code, invoked by the com.ms.osp.* package, which
converts the Object instances to Variants (using variant VT_UNKNOWN as a default).
The OSP to OLE DB mapping layer, MSDAOSP.DLL, released in this SDK does not include
custom marshaling. As a result, simple providers written in Java using the
Internet Explorer com.ms.osp.* package will not work with the OSP DLL released in
this SDK unless Internet Explorer 4.0 is installed to provide the custom
marshaling.

3.3.1.4 CLASSPATH Settings

In order to run the OSP Java sample, ensure that the Java virtual machine can
locate the sample's compiled class files by adding their location to the Java class
path search order. You may use the environment variable CLASSPATH for this purpose.

3.3.2 Visual Basic

The sample simple provider found in project SampleOSP_VB.vbp has been updated to
work with new data binding functions of Visual Basic version 6.0. It no longer
compiles with Visual Basic 5.0. Refer to the Simple provider Toolkit Help for
instructions on building a simple provider using Visual Basic 5.0

-----------------
4. KNOWN BUGS, LIMITATIONS, AND WORKAROUNDS
-----------------

The following is a list of OLE DB Simple Provider Toolkit 2.0 known bugs and
limitations:

On CanConvert, MSDAOSP.DLL returns E_INVALIDARG instead of S_FALSE for new data

types added to the OLE DB 2.0 specification.

IRowsetFind does not yet support new compare operators NOTBEGINSWITH and
NOTCONTAINS, added to the OLE DB 2.0 specification.

MSDAOSP.DLL does not support DBPROP_PROVIDERFRIENDLYNAME.

On CanConvert with dwConvertFlags != DBCONVERTFLAGS_COLUMN, MSDAOSP.DLL returns
S_FALSE instead of DB_E_BADCONVERTFLAG.

Asynchronous Population

Unless the underlying OSP is asynchronous, setting property DBPROP_ROWSET_ASYNCH

will have no effect. MSDAOSP.DLL will not return until the rowset is populated.

In its asynchronous polling loop, MSDAOSP.DLL does not check the transferComplete()
event fired by the underlying OSP.

Property DBPROP_INIT_ASYNCH is supported as READWRITE, but initialization of the

Data Source object is always synchronous and immediate.

Property DBPROP_ROWSET_ASYNCH is supported as READONLY, but population of the

Rowset is determined by the underlying OSP via the isAsync() method.

MSDAOSP.DLL is using the Data Source property instead of the Rowset property to
determine the consumer's preference for synchronous or asynchronous behavior.

-----------------------------------------------------------
SECTION 7: OLE DB FOR OLAP
-----------------------------------------------------------

--------
CONTENTS
--------

1. PRODUCT DESCRIPTION

2. INSTALLATION AND SYSTEM REQUIREMENTS

3. OLE DB FOR OLAP SAMPLE APPLICATIONS

4. KNOWN BUGS, LIMITATIONS, AND WORKAROUNDS

----------------------
1. PRODUCT DESCRIPTION
----------------------
The Microsoft OLE DB for OLAP Toolkit provides an opportunity to learn about OLE DB
for OLAP as well as the tools available for writing OLE DB providers and in
particular writing an OLE DB for OLAP provider. Information about OLE DB for OLAP
support in Microsoft products and how ADO MD will consume data from your provider
is also included. This information is geared toward the developer who writes tools
and/or applications that consume multidimensional data and developers who write
multidimensional data stores.

------------------
2. INSTALLATION AND SYSTEM REQUIREMENTS
------------------
SOFTWARE REQUIREMENTS FOR OLAP TOOLKIT

* Windows NT Workstation 4.0, or Windows NT Server 4.0 with Service Pack 3.

INSTALLATION INSTRUCTIONS

From your CD-ROM drive:

* Run Dasdk/setup.exe to install the DA SDK OLAP Toolkit.

----------------------
3. MICROSOFT OLE DB FOR OLAP SAMPLE APPLICATIONS
----------------------

The sample OLAP applications included with the OLE DB for OLAP Toolkit in the
Microsoft DA SDK are client applications. These samples should work with any
multidimensional data provider exposing OLE DB for OLAP interfaces.

A sample OLAP multidimensional database (BobsVideo.cub) is included with these

samples and accessed via the Microsoft OLE DB for OLAP provider installed with the
DA SDK components.

Documentation for the Microsoft OLE DB for OLAP samples and provider is also
provided.

-----------------
4. KNOWN BUGS, LIMITATIONS, AND WORKAROUNDS
-----------------

The MDXsample application is provided as an uncompiled Visual Basic 5.0 project

with source. This sample requires Visual Basic 5.0 with Service Pack 2 installed to
compile and run successfully.

The Microsoft OLE DB for OLAP provider does not support Windows 95 at this time.