I want to try to access some RB data via M$ Visual Studio and/or SQL Server. Our group is M$-centric, for better or worse and that decision is outta' my hands.
However, I have this "Police Report" in RB that I think is pretty slick. It's for Q/A purposes, to "police" data in a BIG app' we use here (which uses Oracle as a the backend). Anyway, I am trying to do this because: A) My boss has made the decision to go the M$ route B) I really want to see the relative differences between the M$ way and the RB way Since I have one constant already, the Police Report in RB, as well as A & B above, I think it's a good example for comparison. (I think RB will come out on top, by any criteria, but it would be interesting to be able to "prove" it.) So, I figured I'd establish my RB DB as an ODBC data source and then define a report within Visual Studio. However, right now I'm having trouble opening a table within Visual Studio, much less generating a result-set from RB using a query. I can define the data-source and the "Test Connection" button works fine. I can see tables and views, too. But then, when I try to execute any SQL against the RB database, I get an error about with the less-than-informative message, "This command is not supported by this provider." I was able to connect to the Oracle DB from Visual Studio, as I also do regularly via RBase. I just can't seem to make the proper connection from Visual Studio to my RBase database. Anybody got any experience in this area and/or ideas? If I can't make it work this way, I figure that I can re-read the RB doc's on SSQL and maybe figure out how to move a copy of the data in my driver table to a SQL Server table. Apparently, v2005 no longer has DTS, which was formerly SQL Server's functional equivalent of Gateway, more or less, so it's not as easy as it was with the previous version. (Imagine that!) For this comparative assessment, the source/type of the data source is not as important to me as the means and effort required to implement the equivalent report using the M$ tools. Still, it would be cool and easier for me to just connect to my RB database directly. Given my recent, infuriatingly frustrating experience JUST INSTALLING the M$ components (even with an updated and maintained Vista Ultimate), I already have an idea about why today's thread, "3 cheers for RBase", is ALL SO TRUE! Just figuring out all the right parts, their versions, and what appears to be at times their interdependent sequencing, well, it doesn't make M$ look sharp, but more outta' control and therefore passing on crazy complexity to the end-user. This really struck me the other day when I ran the most recent updates of RB, which was "easy as pie". If and when I get an M$-based functional-equivalent of my RB-based Police Report completed, I'd be happy to tell everyone my conclusions about the relative differences. Truth is, I wouldn't be surprised if I were to become a zealot along the way, either anti-M$ and/or pro-RB! Still, despite my RB-bias, any help or advice about this M$ stuff would be appreciated because the M$ decision is a constraint about which I can do little or nothing, at least in the near-term. Thanks, Steve in Memphis J. Stephen Wills Program Manager, Research Informatics Office of the Vice Chancellor for Research University of Tennessee Health Science Center 62 S. Dunlap, Suite 400 Memphis, TN 38163 Office: 901-448-2389 FAX : 901-448-7133
