Rational Developer for System z
PL/I for Windows, Version 8.0, Programming Guide

Open Database Connectivity

Introducing ODBC
Background
ODBC Driver Manager
Choosing embedded SQL or ODBC
Using the ODBC drivers
Online help
Environment-specific information
Driver names
Configuring data sources
Connecting to a data source
Using a logon dialog box
Using a connection string
Error messages
ODBC APIs from PL/I
CALL interface convention
Using the supplied include files
Mapping of ODBC C types
Setting licensing information for ODBC Driver Manager/driver
Sample program using supplied include files

This chapter contains information to help you use the Open Database Connectivity (ODBC) interface in your PL/I applications. With ODBC, not only can you access data from a variety of databases and file systems that support the ODBC interface, but you can do so dynamically.

Your PL/I applications that use embedded SQL for database access must be processed by a preprocessor for a particular database and have to be recompiled if the target database changes. Because ODBC is a call interface, there is no compile-time designation of the target database as there is with embedded SQL. Not only can you avoid having multiple versions of your application for multiple databases, but your application can dynamically determine which database to target.

Rational Developer for System z
PL/I for Windows, Version 8.0, Programming Guide