What’s New in Advantage Database Server 10 - … and preview query results, ability to verify query syntax, ability to debug SQL scripts, etc. In addition, you ... New in Advantage

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AdvantageDatabaseServer10

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WHITEPAPER

What’sNewinAdvantageDatabaseServer10

December2010 i

Contents:Introduction .....................................................................................................................................................1

DataHandling...................................................................................................................................................1

UnicodeSupport........................................................................................................................................................... 1NestedTransactions..................................................................................................................................................... 1Transaction‐FreeTables............................................................................................................................................... 1TableDataCaching....................................................................................................................................................... 2TemporaryTableCaching ............................................................................................................................................ 2EventIDs ....................................................................................................................................................................... 2

SQLEnhancements ..........................................................................................................................................2

StoredProceduresintheFROMClause...................................................................................................................... 2BooleanSQLExpressions ............................................................................................................................................. 2LimitingQueryResults ................................................................................................................................................. 2ROWNUMSupport ....................................................................................................................................................... 3SQLBitwiseOperators ................................................................................................................................................. 3SQLTimeoutProperty .................................................................................................................................................. 3QueryExecutionPlanImprovements ......................................................................................................................... 3NewExpressionEngineFunctions............................................................................................................................... 3NewISOWeekScalarandExpressionEngineFunction ............................................................................................. 3HexScalarandExpressionEngineFunctions.............................................................................................................. 4

DelphiEnhancements......................................................................................................................................4

AdvancedDelphiPropertyEditors .............................................................................................................................. 4NewDelphiMethods ................................................................................................................................................... 4NewDelphiComponentforNotifications .................................................................................................................. 4

Indexing ............................................................................................................................................................5

BinaryIndexes .............................................................................................................................................................. 5sp_ReindexProcedure ................................................................................................................................................. 5

PerformanceImprovements...........................................................................................................................5

ExpressQueueSupport................................................................................................................................................ 5TransactionProcessingSystem ................................................................................................................................... 5AdvantageOptimizedFilters(AOFs) ........................................................................................................................... 5RecordCountOperations ............................................................................................................................................ 6EfficientTableCreation................................................................................................................................................ 6Indexing......................................................................................................................................................................... 6ReferentialIntegrityCascadeOperations................................................................................................................... 6AppendingandDeletingRecords................................................................................................................................ 6TemporaryFileHandling.............................................................................................................................................. 6MemoHeaderCaching ................................................................................................................................................ 6TableOpenPerformance............................................................................................................................................. 7CachedFilePool ........................................................................................................................................................... 7RecordLocks ................................................................................................................................................................. 7AdvantageExtendedProcedures(AEPs) .................................................................................................................... 7WorkerThreads............................................................................................................................................................ 7RightsCheckingBehavior............................................................................................................................................. 7MemoryManagement ................................................................................................................................................. 7

What’sNewinAdvantageDatabaseServer10December2010

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AdvantageDataArchitectEnhancements .....................................................................................................7

Reporting..........................................................................................................................................................8

CrystalReportsSettings ............................................................................................................................................... 8R&RReportWorksSupport .......................................................................................................................................... 8

NewClientsandPlatformSupport .................................................................................................................8

More64‐bitClients....................................................................................................................................................... 864‐BitAdvantageADO.NETImprovements................................................................................................................ 8SupportfortheLatestDevelopmentEnvironments.................................................................................................. 9UpdatedPlatformSupport .......................................................................................................................................... 9SupportforVulcan.NET................................................................................................................................................ 9NoDelphi3,Delphi4,C++Builder3,orC++Builder4Components ......................................................................... 9

InstallationandConfiguration ........................................................................................................................9

AutomaticallyConfiguredWorkerThreadCount ...................................................................................................... 9Side‐By‐SideServerInstallations ................................................................................................................................. 9NewHelpFileFormat................................................................................................................................................... 9ServerDiscovery ......................................................................................................................................................... 10

Miscellaneous ................................................................................................................................................10

NewSystemVariables................................................................................................................................................ 10SupportCaptureUtility .............................................................................................................................................. 10

Advantage10.1 ..............................................................................................................................................11

SupportforLatestDevelopmentEnvironments ...................................................................................................... 11UnicodeFullTextSearchSupport ............................................................................................................................. 11AdvantageDataArchitectCopy/PasteSupportforRows ....................................................................................... 11StrongEncryptionandFIPSCompliance................................................................................................................... 11


December2010 1

Introduction

Overthepast15years,AdvantageDatabaseServerhasbecometheheartofmanydatabaseapplicationswithmillionsofdeploymentsworldwide.Weinviteyoutotakealookatthenext‐generationreleaseofAdvantage,version10.Advantage10bringsdevelopersnewfeaturesandusabilityenhancementssuchassupportforUnicodeandVisualStudio2010,64‐bitclientsandlocalserver,eventswithuser‐defineddataandmore.Checkitout,wethinkyou'llbeimpressedwiththeperformanceenhancementstoo.

Thisnewreleaseofferssomeattractivereasonsforupgrading‐including:

• Increasedapplicationperformance–especiallyincreasedperformancethatdoesn’trequireclientsidechanges.

• Supportforcurrenttechnologiesallowingyoutostayaheadinthemarket.

• IncreaseddeveloperproductivitywithpopularproductivityandfeatureenhancementstotheAdvantagetechnologyyouhavegrowntolove.

Whilethiswhitepaperisorganizedasa“laundry”list,itdoesnotimplythatitem5inthelistismoreimportantthanitem8anditem1isthemostimportantofall.Howimportanteachitemistoyouwilldependontherelevancetoyourcurrentproject–andcouldquiteeasilychangewiththenext.

Enjoy.

DataHandling

UnicodeSupportProcessingofUnicodecharactertextissupportedbytheAdvantageWindowsandLinuxserversandallAdvantageclients.Unicodecharacterdatacanbestoredinthreenewfieldtypes,NCHAR,NVARCHARandNMEMO.ThesenewfieldtypesareavailableinalltabletypessupportedbyAdvantage.Advantage10includesnewAPIswithintheAdvantageClientEngine.WithUTF16encoding,theseAPIsreadandwriteUnicodetextdirectly.UnicodecharacterscanalsobesupplieddirectlyinSQLstatementsandfilterexpressions.Unicodecolumnsmaybesortedorindexedusingvariouscollationlocales.SeeUnicodeSupportintheHelpFilefordetails.

NestedTransactionsTransactionscannowbenestedwithinothertransactions.Normally,thistransactionnestingoccursasstoredproceduresortriggersthatcontainbegin/commitpairscalleachother.SeeNestingTransactionsintheHelpFilefordetails.

Transaction‐FreeTablesTherearesomecaseswhereitmaybedesirabletoupdateatablewithinatransaction,yethavethoseupdatesremainoutsideofthetransaction(audittables,debuglogtables,key‐generationtables,etc).Whilethisispossibleusingasecondaryconnectionforsuchupdates,thisisnotalwaysfeasible(forexample,whenthetableismodifiedinastoredprocedureortrigger).Advantagenowprovidesamechanismtospecifyatableasatransaction‐freetable.SeeTransaction‐FreeTablesintheHelpFilefordetails.


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TableDataCachingTableDataCachingisafeaturethatenablesthecachingoftabledataintheAdvantagecachingsystem.Thisfeatureisintendedforusewithtablesthatcontainstaticdatathatisusedoftenandsharedamongmultipleusers.Thisfeaturecanbeusedwithtablesthatarebackeduponaregularbasis,ortablesthatcontainstaticorread‐onlydatasuchaszipcodelookuptables,insurancecodelookuptables,etc.SeeTableDataCachingintheHelpFilefordetails.

TemporaryTableCachingAdvantagenowfullycachestemporarytablesinmemorywhenpossible.OnlywhenAdvantagecannotfittemporarytabledatainitscache(orwhenitisconfiguredtonotcacheanydata)willitcreateaphysicalfileorwritetabledatatodisk.SeeTemporaryTablesintheHelpFilefordetails.

EventIDsEventscannowbesignaledwithauser‐defineddatastringthatwillbereturnedwhenthesignalisreceived.Thetypicaluseofthisstringdataistoprovideamethodoflocatingtherecordortableforwhichasignalissent,howeveranystringdatacanbeused,providingaflexiblemechanismtodeliverper‐eventcontexttothreadsreceivingthesignals.SeeEvents(Notifications)intheHelpFilefordetails.

SQLEnhancements

StoredProceduresintheFROMClauseTheAdvantagequeryenginenowsupportsusingstoredprocedureresultsinplaceofatableorviewreferenceintheFROMclause.Forexample:

SELECT * FROM (EXECUTE PROCEDURE sp_mgGetConnectedUsers()) connectedUsers

BooleanSQLExpressionsTheSQLenginenowsupportsBooleanvalueexpressions.Forexample,thefollowingstatementisnowvalid:

"SELECT ( flag = FALSE ), (val = 1) FROM table1 WHERE fld1 OR fld2"

LimitingQueryResultsTheAdvantagequeryenginenowsupportstheSTARTATclausewhenusingaSELECTTOPstatement.STARTATcanbeusedtoprovidepagingfunctionality.Thefollowingquerywillreturnthefirst10employees:

SELECT TOP 10 * FROM employees

Toreturnthenext10employeesinthetable,thefollowingsyntaxisnowsupported:

SELECT TOP 10 START AT 11 * FROM employees

SeeLimitingQueryResultsintheHelpFilefordetails.


December2010 3

ROWNUMSupportTheROWNUMscalarfunctionisnowsupported.ROWNUMcanbeusedtogenerateintegernumbersstartingat1foreachrowintheresultofaquery.TheROWNUMfunctionisprimarilyintendedforuseintheselectlistandcanbeusedtoprovideanumberingofrowsintheresultset.Thenumberassociatedwitharowisdeterminedwhentherowisselectedforinclusionintheresultset.SeeROWNUMintheHelpFilefordetails.

SQLBitwiseOperatorsTheAdvantagequeryenginenowsupportssixbitwiseoperators:&(AND),|(OR),^(XOR),~(NOT),>>(SHIFTRIGHT),<<(SHIFTLEFT).SeeOperatorsinSQLintheHelpFilefordetails.

SQLTimeoutPropertyAddedsupportforanoptionalSQLtimeoutvalueforagivenconnectionorstatementhandle.Thetimeoutsettingwillindependentlyapplytotheinitialqueryexecution,andtoanyoperationthatsupportsAdvantagecallbackfunctionality.ThisnewfunctionalityisexposedviaanewACEAPIAdsSetSQLTimeoutandthenewDelphipropertiesTAdsConnection.SQLTimeoutandTAdsQuery.SQLTimeout.SeeCallbackFunctionalityintheHelpFilefordetails.

QueryExecutionPlanImprovementsTheSQLexecutionplanhasbeenimprovedtoincludemoredetailedinformationabouttheindexesthatareusedtooptimizedeachspecificsegmentoftheWHEREclause.Theinformationincludestheorderinwhichthesegmentsareevaluated,theestimatedkeycountthattheserverusestoselecttheindexfortheoptimizationifapplicable,andtheactualnumberofkeysthatarereturnedforthespecificsegmentifitisevaluated.

NewExpressionEngineFunctionsThefollowingnewexpressionenginefunctionsaresupportedbyAdvantage.ThesenewfunctionscanbeusedtocreateindexesthatAdvantagewillusetooptimizeSQLqueriesthatreferencetheircorrespondingscalarfunctions.SeeIndexeswithExpressionsandIndexesandSQLPerformanceintheHelpFilefordetails.

• WEEK

• QUARTER

• DAYOFYEAR

• DAYOFWEEK

• HOUR

• MINUTE

• SECOND

• DAYNAME

• MONTHNAME

NewISOWeekScalarandExpressionEngineFunctionAnewISOWEEKexpressionengineandscalarenginefunctionhasbeencreatedthatreturnstheISO8601weeknumberofagivendatevalue.SeeISOWEEKfordetailsontheexpressionenginefunction(whichcan


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beusedtocreateanindexforfilterandqueryoptimization).SeesupportedDATE/TIMEscalarfunctionsintheHelpFilefordetails.

HexScalarandExpressionEngineFunctionsCHAR2HEXandHEX2CHARhavebeenaddedtofacilitatehexadecimalconversions.ThefunctionCHAR2HEXcanbeusedtoconvertcharacterdatacontaininghexadecimalcharacterstoabinaryvalue.Twohexadecimalcharacterswillbeconvertedtoonebyte.ThefunctionHEX2CHARconvertsabinaryvaluetoacharactervalue.Eachbyteofthebinaryvalueisrepresentedastwohexadecimalcharacters.SeeFunctionstoConvertHexadecimalValuesintheHelpFilefordetails.

DelphiEnhancements

AdvancedDelphiPropertyEditorsTheSQLUtilityavailableintheAdvantageDataArchitectisnowusedastheTAdsQuery.SQLpropertyeditorinDelphiandC++Builder.Thiseditorprovidesmanyadditionalfeaturesincludingsyntaxhighlighting,codetemplates,find/replacefunctionality,abilitytorunandpreviewqueryresults,abilitytoverifyquerysyntax,abilitytodebugSQLscripts,etc.Inaddition,youcannowcreatenewtablesfrominsidetheDelphiIDEbyrightclickingonaTAdsTableorTAdsQueryinstanceandselecting"CreateNewTable".SeeAdvancedPropertyEditorsintheHelpFilefordetails.

NewDelphiMethodsTheexistingsp_SetApplicationIDandsp_GetApplicationIDcannedprocedureshavebeenexposedintheAdvantageTDataSetDescendantviathenewTAdsConnection.ApplicationIDpropertyandTAdsConnection.GetApplicationIDmethod.SeeApplicationIDintheHelpFilefordetails.

TheTAdsConnectioncomponenthasanewconstructorcalledCreateFromHandlewhichcanbeusedtocloneaconnectionusinganexistingAdvantageClientEngine(ACE)handle.SeeCreateFromHandleintheHelpFilefordetails.

NewDelphiComponentforNotificationsAnewDelphi/C++BuildercomponentcalledTAdsEventcanbeusedtolistenforandhandlenotifications.ThiscomponentautomaticallyhandlesthecreationofabackgroundthreadandanAdvantageconnection,allowingthedevelopertohandleasynchronouseventswithease.


December2010 5

Indexing

BinaryIndexesAdvantagenowsupportsbinaryindexesforlogicalexpressions.Theseareespeciallyusefulforbuildingindexesofdeletedrecordsforfasterfilteringandtraversalofrecordsontableswithlargenumbersofdeletedrecords.WhenabinaryindexwiththeDELETED()expressionexists,AdvantagecanuseitforoptimizingthefilteringofdeletedrecordswhentraversingrecorddatainnaturalrecordorderandwhencreatingAdvantageOptimizedFilters(AOFs).ThisoptimizationhelpswithbothDBFtables(whenfilteringdeletedrecords)andwithADTtables.SeeBinaryIndexesintheHelpFilefordetails.

sp_ReindexProcedureAddedanewsystemprocedurecalledsp_ReindextoprovidereindexingfunctionalityinSQL.

PerformanceImprovements

ExpressQueueSupportAdvantageDatabaseServernowsupportsadynamicqueuingofclientrequestsbasedonthehistoricalcostofaconnection'srequests.Connectionsthatarepredictedtobeunderadynamicallycomputedthresholdmaybegivenpreferenceintherequestqueuewhenthesystemisbusy.Thiscanmakeinteractiveapplicationsthataremakinginexpensiverequestsmoreresponsivewhenusedinabusysystem.Thedevelopercanalsochangeaconnection'srequestprioritywiththenewsystemproceduresp_SetRequestPriority.Itisnotnecessaryforthedevelopertomakeanyapplicationchangesinordertotakeadvantageofthisfunctionality.SeeExpressQueueintheHelpFilefordetails.

TransactionProcessingSystemAnumberofimprovementshavebeenmadetotheAdvantageTransactionProcessingSystemresultinginsignificantperformanceimprovements.Manyinternaloptimizationstolocklistsandvisibilitylistshaveincreasedtheperformanceoftransactionswithalargenumberofoperations.Inaddition,theperformanceofshorterrepeatedtransactionshasalsobeenimprovedviaanewtemporaryfilehandlepoolthatisnowusedinsteadofdynamicallycreatinganddeletingTPSlogfileswitheverytransaction.

AdvantageOptimizedFilters(AOFs)ImprovedtheAdvantageOptimizedFilter(AOF)multi‐segmentindexalgorithmtoconsidermoreindextagswhenoptimizinganAOF,notjustthefirstindexfound.Thismodificationincreasesthepossibilityoffullyoptimizingamulti‐segmentedAOF.Inaddition,itmayreducethenumberofindexscansrequiredtoresolvethefilter.

EnhancedAdvantageOptimizedFilter(AOF)costestimationsforimprovedorderingoffiltersegmentscombinedwithANDoperators.ThisenhancementcanimproveperformanceforbothnavigationaloperationsthatsetAOFsdirectlyandforSQLstatements,whichautomaticallyuseAOFsforoptimization.


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Advantageisnowabletomoreaccuratelyestimatethecostofevaluatingeachsegmentandcanorderthemappropriatelyandcanmakebetterdecisionsonwhentoshort‐circuittheindexscans.

ImprovedAdvantageOptimizedFilter(AOF)optimizationandrecordtraversalwhenabinaryDELETED()indexexists.Thisenhancementprovidesafixforanissuewherelargenumbersofdeletedrecordsatthebeginningofatablehadtobetraversedattheserverinordertoreadthefirstrecordinthetable.SeeBinaryIndexesintheHelpFilefordetails.

RecordCountOperationsImprovedrecordcountoperationsonDBFtableswhenabinaryDELETED()indexexists.SeeBinaryIndexesintheHelpFilefordetails.

EfficientTableCreationImprovedtablecreationefficiency.Theparsingoffielddefinitionsisfasterandnowusesfewermemoryallocations.Thisaffectstemporarytablecreation,triggerexecution,storedprocedureparameterpassing,andvariousotheroperationsthateitherexplicitlyorimplicitlyinvolvestablecreation.

IndexingPerformanceimprovementshavebeenmadetoAdvantage'slowlevelindexingcode.Theseimprovementsincreasethespeedofmostindexoperationsincludingupdates,inserts,deletes,andseeks.

ReferentialIntegrityCascadeOperationsImprovedtheperformanceofreferentialintegritycascadeoperations.

AppendingandDeletingRecordsImprovedtheperformanceofappendingrecordsanddeletingrecords.Modificationswheremadetooptimizetableheaderwritesrequiredwitheachupdate.

TemporaryFileHandlingImprovedcacheusagewithintermediatefiles(temporaryfilesusedbytheSQLengine).InpreviousversionsofAdvantage,itwaspossibleforthecachetobeoverrunwithintermediatefiles.Thelazycleanupofintermediatefileswasreplacedbyactivedeletion,whichcanprovidemuchbetterthroughputespeciallyonabusysystem.

Improvedtheperformanceoftemporarytablesbystoringtheirdatainmemorywhenpossible.

Addedfunctionalitytoreusetemporaryfiles.WhenAdvantagedoesnothaveenoughcachememorytoholdaresultfilefromastaticcursor,atemporarytable,orintermediatequeryfiles,itusesaphysicaltemporaryfileondisktostoretheinformation.Inversion10,thesefilesarestoredforashorttimeinatemporaryfilepoolforreuse.Avoidingphysicalfilecreationanddeletioncanimproveperformanceinabusysystem.

MemoHeaderCachingImprovedcachingofADMandFPTmemoheaders.Advantagenolongerwritesthephysicalheadertodiskoneveryupdate.Pagerecycleinformationismaintainedinthecachedheaderwithasafeversionofthe


December2010 7

headerresidingondiskincaseofapoweroutage.Nowonlythefirst4bytesoftherootarewrittenandonlyifthefilelengthchanges(whennewblocksarewrittentothefile).

TableOpenPerformanceRemovedaretryloopforserver‐sidetableopens.Thismodificationmakesattemptstoopenatablethatdoesnotexistmuchfaster.

CachedFilePoolImprovedsearchingofthecachedfilepool.Inaverybusysystem,thenumberofclosedintermediatefilescouldbesomewhatlargeanditisaglobalpool.Reducingthesearchtimerelaxesapotentialglobalbottleneck.

RecordLocksImprovedthestoragealgorithmusedforrecordlocks,increasingperformancewhenAdvantageismanagingalargenumberofrecordlocks(forexample,duringalongtransaction).

AdvantageExtendedProcedures(AEPs)ImprovedperformanceofstoredproceduresandAdvantageExtendedProcedures(AEPs)byusingin‐memorytablesforthevirtual__inputand__outputtables.

WorkerThreadsImprovedtheefficiencyofsignalingworkerthreadswhenclientrequestsareready.Aninefficientpatternwasidentifiedthatpotentiallyrequiredworkerthreadstoimmediatelystopandwaitforasyncobjectafterbeingsignaledtorun.Thismodificationcanimproveabusysystemthatishandlingalargenumberofsmallrequests.

RightsCheckingBehaviorThedefaultbehaviorforrightscheckinghasbeenchanged.Thenewdefaultbehavioristoignoretherightscheckingsettingfortableopensandcreationsandalwaysignoretheclientrightscheck.Freetableopensinmostclientswouldpreviouslydefaulttodorightschecking;theclientwoulddoanexistencecheckforatablebeforeattemptingtoopenit.Formostapplications,thisunnecessaryandpotentiallyexpensivecheckcouldresultinlongtimeoutsontheclient.SeeEffectsofUpgradingtoVersion10intheHelpFilefordetails.

MemoryManagementOptimizedACEobjectstoavoidallocatingalargenumberofrelativelysmallportionsoftheheap.Thismodificationavoidsheapfragmentationandincreasesperformance.

AdvantageDataArchitectEnhancements

AddedsupportforUnicodefilesintheSQLUtility.


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AddedanewCollationpropertytoconnectionsinordertofacilitatespecifyingaUnicodecollation.

AddedanARCsettingtocontrolthefontsizeindatagrids.

ARCnowhighlightsDBFdeletedrecordsindatagridswhenusingtheSHOWDELETEDsetting.

AddedaprotocoltypesettingtotheremotemanagementutilitywhichallowsuserstotestbothUDPandTCPsettings.

Reporting

CrystalReportsSettingsAddedper‐aliasCrystalReportssettingsinsteadofonlyprovidingglobalsettings(foroptionslikeCollation,LockingMode,ShowDeleted,etc).

R&RReportWorksSupportManyAdvantageusershavearepositoryofreportsthatwherebuiltwiththeR&RReportWorksXBaseeditionfromLivewarePublishing.TraditionallythesereportsuseddirectfileaccessandcouldnotutilizethesecurityandperformancefeaturesoftheAdvantageDatabaseServer.StartingwithAdvantageversion10,R&RReportWorksfilesusingDBF/CDXtablescannowbeaccessedviatheAdvantageClientEngine.SeeAdvantagewithR&RReportWorksintheHelpFilefordetails.

NewClientsandPlatformSupport

More64‐bitClients64‐bitversionsofthefollowingclientshavebeenaddedinAdvantageversion10:

• ODBC

• OLEDB

• LinuxPHPDriver

• adsbackuputilityforWindowsandLinux

• AdvantageLocalServer

tocomplimenttheseexistingAdvantage964‐bitclients:

• AdvantageClientEngine(ACE)forWindowsandLinux

• AdvantageADO.NETProvider

64‐BitAdvantageADO.NETImprovementsTheAdvantageADO.NETprovidercannowdetecttheplatformtypeatruntimeandcorrectlyloadeitherACE32.DLLorACE64.DLLasappropriate.Thismeans.NETapplicationsusingtheAdvantageADO.NETprovidernolongerneedtospecifyaplatformtargetofx86inordertoworkon64‐bitoperatingsystems.Theplatformtargetcannowremainatitsdefaultsetting(AnyCPU).


December2010 9

SupportfortheLatestDevelopmentEnvironments• RADStudio/Delphi2009

• RADStudio/Delphi2010

• VisualStudio2008,.NET3.5,Entity.NETFrameworkandLINQtoEntities

• VisualStudio2010,.NET4.0,Entity.NETFrameworkandLINQtoEntities

UpdatedPlatformSupport• Windows7

• WindowsServer2008SP2

• WindowsServer2008R2

SupportforVulcan.NETOfficialreleaseoftheAdvantagedriverforVulcan.NET.Vulcan.NETisthenextgenerationofthexBasefamilyoflanguages.

NoDelphi3,Delphi4,C++Builder3,orC++Builder4ComponentsSupportwasdroppedforthesedevelopmentenvironmentsinAdvantageversion9,butwecontinuedtoshipthecomponentsasacourtesy.Theynolongerbuildwithsomeproductimprovementswehavemade,andthereforewillnotbeprovidedinAdvantageversion10.

InstallationandConfiguration

AutomaticallyConfiguredWorkerThreadCountTheserverwillnowautomaticallyconfigurethenumberofworkerthreadswhenitstartsup.Iftheconfiguredworkerthreadcountisnotspecifiedoriszero,AdvantageDatabaseServerwillcalculatethenumberofworkerthreadsbasedonthenumberofprocessorsonthesystem.SeetheworkerthreadconfigurationsettingintheHelpFilefordetails.

Side‐By‐SideServerInstallationsInsomecases,itisusefultoinstallmultipleversionsofAdvantageonasinglephysicalserver.Typically,thisisdonewhenmultipleAdvantage‐enabledapplicationsareusingthesamephysicalserver,butareshippedusingdifferentversionsofAdvantage.StartingwithAdvantageversion10,additionalinstancesofAdvantagecannowbeinstalledonthesamephysicalserver.SeeInstallingMultipleInstancesintheHelpFilefordetailedinstallationinstructionsandadditionaldetails.

NewHelpFileFormatAllAdvantagehelpfileshavebeencombinedintoasingleHTMLHelp1.0(CHM)helpfile.Inaddition,manyoftheAdvantageTechTipsfromtheDeveloper'sZonehavebeenincludedinthehelpfileandwillnowshowupinhelpfilesearchresults.


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ServerDiscoveryAnewAPIAdsFindServershasbeenimplemented.ItcanbeusedtoretrievealistofinstancesofAdvantageDatabaseServeronanetwork.ThisAPIcanbeusedincombinationwithaserver‐sidealiastoeliminatetheneedforenduserstochooseadatabaseserverandconnectionpath.

Miscellaneous

NewSystemVariablesAlltriggermetadatainformationisnowavailableinSQLscripttriggersvianewsystemvariables,seeSystemVariablesintheHelpFilefordetails.

SupportCaptureUtilityTheAdvantageSupportCaptureUtilityisnowinstalledwiththeserver,andcanbeusedtoeasilybundlerelevantfileswhenworkingonissueswiththeAdvantageTechnicalServicesteam.


December2010 11

Advantage10.1

SupportforLatestDevelopmentEnvironmentsTheAdvantageDelphiComponentsnowincludesupportforDelphiXE.

AdvantagenowsupportsLazarus0.9.28.2orgreater(cross‐platformclasslibrariesforFreePascalthatemulateDelphi).TheWindowsinstallermuststillbeusedtogettheLazaruspackagesandsourcecode,whichcanthenbeusedontheWindowsplatform,orcopiedtoaLinuximage(Macintoshisnotsupported,asourcomponentsstillusetheAdvantageClientEngine,whichonlysupportsWindowsandLinux).Fordetails,seeGettingStartedwithLazarusinthehelpfile.

UnicodeFullTextSearchSupportTheAdvantageDatabaseServernowsupportsFullTextSearch(FTS)onUnicodedata.

• TheContains()scalarfunctioncannowbeusedwithUnicodedataasinputinthefilterexpressions,AdvantageOptimizedFilter(AOF)expressionsandSQLengineexpressions.

• TheScore()andScoreDistinct()scalarfunctionsinSQLenginenowsupportsUnicodedataasinput.

• FTSindexesmaybebuiltonNChar,NVarChar,andNMemoFieldtypetospeedupthesearchesusingtheContains()scalarinAOF.TheindexeswillalsoimproveperformanceofevaluatingtheContains(),Score()andScoreDistinct()expressionsintheSQLengine.

• FTSwithUnicodedataisalwayscaseanddiacriticalinsensitive.

AdvantageDataArchitectCopy/PasteSupportforRowsAdvantageDataArchitectnowsupportsCopyandPastingrecordsintoandoutoftheTableBrowserandtheSQLUtility.TheserecordscanbepastedtoanothergridorSQLUtility,intoMicrosoftWord,Excel,ordirectlyintoHTMLemail.

SupportforBLOBfieldsisincluded,copyandpastingfromtableswithdifferentfieldscanalsobeaccomplishedviatheFieldMappingUtility.Toaccessthecopyandpastingfunctionalityanewcontextmenubuttonhasbeenadded.SeeFieldMappingUtilityandTableBrowserinthehelpfileformoreinformation.

StrongEncryptionandFIPSComplianceAdvantageDatabaseServernowsupportsstrongcryptographicfunctionalitythatcanbeusedinFederalInformationProcessingStandard(FIPS)140‐2compliantproducts.Thecryptographicfunctionalityinversionspriorto10.1isbasedonRC4,whichisnotaFIPS‐compliantencryptionalgorithm.Beginningwithv10.1,newencryptionandcommunicationssupportareavailablethroughlibrariesfromTheOpenSSLproject.

ThenewcryptographicfunctionalityisnotavailablebydefaultinAdvantageproducts.ItmustbepurchasedseparatelywiththeFIPSEncryptionSecurityOptionAdd‐on.PleasecontactyourAdvantagesalesrepresentativeorvisit


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http://www.sybase.com/products/databasemanagement/advantagedatabaseserver/encryptionforadditionallicensinginformation.

NotethatenablingandusingFIPS‐compliantcryptographyinAdvantageDatabaseServerdoesnotmakeanapplicationconformtoFIPS140‐2;allpartsoftheapplicationmustbeexaminedandpossiblyupdatedforFIPS‐compliance.

Thefollowingsummarizesthenewcryptographicfunctionality:

• AddedsupportforTransportLayerSecurity(TLS)v1.0communications.TLSoperatesoverTCP/IPandusesRSAforthekeyexchange,AdvancedEncryptionStandard(AES),128‐bitor256‐bit,forencryptionandSHA‐1(SecureHashAlgorithm)formessageauthentication.TheseciphersuitesarereferredtoasAES128‐SHAandAES256‐SHA.

• Inaddition,theciphersuiteRC4‐MD5,whichusesRSAforthekeyexchange,RC4forencryptionandMD5formessageauthentication,isalsoavailable.ThisciphersuiteisnotFIPS‐compliant.

• Addedsupportfordata(table)encryptionusing128‐bitand256‐bitAES.

• Enhanceddataencryptionusing64‐bitmessagenumbersforeachpieceofencrypteddata(e.g.,record,memo,indexpage,etc.)toensureuniqueinitializationvectors(and,therefore,uniquecipherstreams)acrossadatabase.Eachtimearecordisupdated,anewmessagenumberisgeneratedforit.

• Improvedkeystrengthbysaltingandhashingkeys.Thismakesattacksviapassworddictionaries(rainbowtables)infeasibleandmakesbruteforceattacksmuchmoreexpensive.

• Addedthecapabilitytoencryptthedatadictionaryfiles(.add,.am,.ai)withanexternallyprovidedpassword.

• AddedthecapabilitytorunAdvantageDatabaseServerandtheAdvantageclientinFIPSmode.ThisensuresthatitisnotpossibletouseanycryptographicfunctionalitythatisnotFIPSapproved.Forexample,ifAdvantageDatabaseServerisrunninginFIPSmode,itisnotpossibletoopendatadictionariesthatsupportRC4ortablesencryptedwithRC4.

• Addedsystemproceduressp_DecryptTableandsp_EncryptTablethatcanbeusedtochangetablestructurestosupportAESencryption.

• Addedsystemproceduresp_ChangeDDEncryptionTypetoconvertdatadictionariestosupportAESencryption.

• Addedsystemproceduresp_GetTableEncryptionTypetoretrievethetypeofencryptionusedonatable.

• Addedsystemproceduresp_GetSecurityInfotoretrieveinformationsuchasaconnection'sdefaultencryptiontype,thecommunicationtype,thecommunicationencryptiontype,anddictionaryencryptionstate.

SYBASE,INC.WORLDWIDEHEADQUARTERSONESYBASEDRIVEDUBLIN,CA94568‐7902USATel:18002357576www.sybase.com/advantage

Copyright©2010Sybase,anSAPCompany.Allrightsreserved.UnpublishedrightsreservedunderU.S.copyrightlaws.Sybase,theSybaselogo,andAdvantageDatabaseServeraretrademarksofSybase,Inc.oritssubsidiaries.®indicatesregistrationintheUnitedStatesofAmerica.SAPandtheSAPlogoarethetrademarksorregisteredtrademarksofSAPAGinGermanyandinseveralothercountries.Allothertrademarksarethepropertyoftheirrespectiveowners.12/10

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What’s New in Advantage Database Server 10 - … and preview query results, ability to verify query syntax, ability to debug SQL scripts, etc. In addition, you ... New in Advantage