Chapter 12 -- Exploring the Data Environment

Chapter 12

Within Microsoft Visual InterDev 6.0, you have access to the Microsoft Visual Database Tools for creating and managing your data-driven applications. The Visual Database Tools are available in Visual InterDev 6.0, Microsoft Visual J++ 6.0, Microsoft Visual C++ 6.0, and Microsoft Visual Basic 6.0, Enterprise Editions. To start using the Visual Database Tools, all you need to do is create a Web project or a database project within Visual InterDev and add a data connection to the project.

There are four main components to the Visual Database Tools. They are listed and defined below. This chapter will cover all of them, as well as database projects.

• Data View The Data View allows you to view live connections to the databases in your Web projects and to work with the objects within each database. Objects available include database diagrams, tables, views, stored procedures, and triggers.
• Database Designer The Database Designer allows you to create, edit, or delete database objects. You can also create database diagrams to visualize the structure of your database tables and their relationships.
• Query Designer The Query Designer allows you to create SQL commands using a visual interface and to view and edit the results of your queries.
• Source Code Editor The source code editor allows you to edit stored procedures and triggers. It also allows you to execute, debug, and view stored procedure results.

The combination of these four Visual Database Tools enables you to create and manage your entire database environment within the familiar Visual InterDev IDE. With the Visual Database Tools, you can:

• Connect to and explore any ODBC-compliant database
• Create and modify Microsoft SQL Server databases by using database diagrams
• Design, execute, and save complex queries
• Add, update, and delete data stored in database tables
• Design objects—such as tables, triggers, and stored procedures—in SQL Server and Oracle databases
• Drag database objects onto a design surface—such as an HTML template form—and then drop to bind controls to those objects

An excellent feature of the Visual Database Tools is that they provide a consistent visual interface that allows you to work with all ODBC-compliant databases in the same way. Thus, for the most part you don't need to be aware of any differences from one database to another. There are some special considerations, however, when you are working with SQL Server and Oracle databases. The Visual Database Tools provide extended functionality for these databases, and in some areas you need to be aware of the differences when working with one database or another. Examples include the differences in the data types supported by each database (noticeable when working with Database Designer), and the slight differences in the SQL syntax (noticeable when working with the Query Designer).

Table 12-1 describes the Visual InterDev features that work for different databases. Most Visual Database Tools support any database that is supported by an ODBC 3 driver. The last three features work only with SQL Server 6.5 (or later) or Oracle 7 (or later).

Note

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To work with Visual InterDev's Database Designer on SQL Server 6.5 databases, you need to apply SQL Server Service Pack 1 to the database.

Table 12-1. Visual InterDev features and the databases that support them.

Feature	Supporting Databases
Creating, editing, and executing stored procedures	Any database supported by an ODBC 3 driver. The database must support stored procedures.
Creating and executing views	Any database supported by an ODBC 3 driver. The database must support views or a similar feature.
Creating queries and other Database Manipulation Language (DML) statements, such as Select, Insert, Update, and Delete	Any database supported by an ODBC 3 driver. The database and ODBC driver must support the specific DML features that you are trying to use.
Using the Query Designer	Any database supported by an ODBC 3 driver. The database and ODBC driver must support the specific DML features that you are trying to use.
Data View features	Any database supported by an ODBC 3 driver. The database and ODBC driver must support the specific features that you are trying to use. Features that a database does not support do not show up in Data View menus and toolbars.
Creating and editing triggers	Any database supported by an ODBC 3 driver. The database and ODBC driver must support triggers and the functions you use in them.
Creating database diagrams	SQL Server and Oracle databases only.
Creating and modifying tables in a database	SQL Server and Oracle databases only.
Creating a new database	SQL Server and Oracle databases only.

In Visual InterDev 1.0, extended functionality—such as the ability to create databases, to create and modify tables, and to create database diagrams—was only provided for SQL Server databases. In Visual InterDev 6.0, this functionality is also provided for Oracle databases. This is an important enhancement to Visual InterDev, since many Web-enabled corporate applications are being created with extant Oracle systems for the back-end database.