First Guide to SQL Anywhere Studio
   PART 1. First Steps
     CHAPTER 1. Introducing SQL Anywhere Studio       

Welcome to SQL Anywhere Studio

SQL Anywhere Studio is a complete database management system for mobile, desktop, and workgroup use. It includes the Adaptive Server Anywhere relational database management system, together with a set of tools for designing and managing databases, creating database reports and forms, using databases on the Web, and replicating databases to mobile users.

A database, and the tools to use it 

SQL Anywhere Studio includes the following:

• Adaptive Server Anywhere     The relational database at the core of the product is a transaction-based SQL database designed for single-user and multi-user use. Adaptive Server Anywhere is a cross-platform database; it runs on many flavors of Windows and UNIX, as well as on Novell NetWare and IBM OS/2.

       For a more complete introduction to Adaptive Server Anywhere, see Adaptive Server Anywhere.

• InfoMaker     For querying databases and creating sophisticated and effective custom reports of data. InfoMaker is also a personal data assistant that lets you work with data in many ways.

• jConnect     For connecting to databases using JDBC.

• PowerDynamo     For building and managing Web applications linked to your database. It allows you to store, manage, and access both static HTML and dynamic database data locally or over a corporate Intranet or the Internet.

• Replication Agent     For replicating data from Adaptive Server Anywhere databases to other databases via Sybase Replication Server.

• SQL Modeler     For designing, generating, documenting, and maintaining databases.

• SQL Remote     For two-way message-based replication of data between a central database and many remote databases. With SQL Remote you can replicate data between laptop computers and a central database, using e-mail or dial-up access.

• Sybase Central     The utility for managing Adaptive Server Anywhere databases and PowerDynamo Web sites.

Sybase Central, InfoMaker, SQL Modeler, and the PowerDynamo development tools are available only on the Windows 95 and Windows NT operating system. However, they can be used as clients of a database server running on any supported operating system.

Bringing data and logic together with Java 

In traditional client/server database systems, the database holds the data and the client application holds the logic. Stored procedures do allow logic to be built into databases, but use their own SQL stored procedure language.

With Adaptive Server Anywhere you can store, run, and debug Java classes in the database. In addition, you can store data as Java objects. This brings your data and your logic together, so they can work together as parts of a single information system.

  SQL Anywhere Studio documentation

The documentation for SQL Anywhere Studio includes the following:

• First Guide to SQL Anywhere Studio (this book).

• Documentation for each of the components of the product.

• Supporting documentation for Java

  Finding the documentation

Documentation is provided in several formats, so that you can choose the format that suits you best.

• Online books     You can see a complete set of documentation for SQL Anywhere Studio and all its associated tools by installing the online books.

  The online books use the DynaText online viewer from Inso Corporation.

• Printed books     Depending on the product you purchase, you may have printed versions of some or all of the books.

• Windows Help     The complete documentation for PowerDynamo and Adaptive Server Anywhere (including this book, and documentation for SQL Remote and the Replication Agent) is provided on Windows operating systems as Windows Help files.

  SQL Modeler, InfoMaker, and Sybase Central come with extensive online Help, accessible from their user interfaces.

  Adaptive Server Anywhere documentation

The documentation for Adaptive Server Anywhere describes the Adaptive Server Anywhere database management system. It consists of the following books:

• New Features and Upgrading     Intended for all users of Adaptive Server Anywhere, this book describes the following:

  • New features in Adaptive Server Anywhere 6.0

  • Behavior changes from previous releases

  • Upgrade procedures..

• User's Guide     Intended for all users of Adaptive Server Anywhere, including database administrators and application developers, this book describes in depth all aspects of how to use Adaptive Server Anywhere.

• Programming Interfaces     Intended for application developers writing programs that directly access the ODBC, Embedded SQL, or Open Client interfaces, this book describes how to develop applications for Adaptive Server Anywhere.

  This book is not required for users of Application Development tools with built-in ODBC support, such as Powersoft PowerBuilder or Power++.

• Reference Manual     A full reference to Adaptive Server Anywhere. This book describes the database server, the administration utilities, the SQL language, and error messages.

• Quick Reference     A handy printed booklet with complete SQL syntax and other key reference material in a concise format.

  InfoMaker documentation

InfoMaker is the database reporting tool. Documentation is provided as a set of online books:

• Installation Guide     Provides instructions for installing InfoMaker

• Getting Started     Introduces you to InfoMaker and provides a tutorial you can step through to learn the basics.

• User's Guide     Tells how to use InfoMaker to create reports, work with databases, transfer data between databases, create forms to update data, create queries to automatically retrieve data, and create applications to package reports and forms

• Connecting to Your Database     Tells how to connect to a database from InfoMaker; describes how to set up, define, and manage database connections accessed through the Powersoft ODBC interface or one of the native Powersoft database interfaces

  jConnect documentation

Sybase jConnect is a JDBC driver. The jConnect Installation Guide and Programmer's Guide are provided as online books.

  PowerDynamo documentation

PowerDynamo is a suite of tools for building and managing database-hosted Web sites with dynamic content. The PowerDynamo User's Guide is included in the SQL Anywhere Studio documentation set.

  Replication Agent documentation

The Replication Agent (Log Transfer Manager) enables replication with Sybase Replication Server. Documentation is incorporated into the Adaptive Server Anywhere User's Guide and Reference Manual.

  SQL Remote documentation

SQL Remote is a message-based replication system for two-way server-to-laptop, server-to-desktop, and server-to-server data replication. The book Data Replication with SQL Remote is included in the SQL Anywhere Studio documentation set. In the Dynatext online books, this is part of the Adaptive Server Anywhere collection.

  SQL Modeler documentation

SQL Modeler is a database design tool. The SQL Modeler User's Guide is provided as an online book.

  Sybase Central

Sybase Central is the database and Web site management utility. Documentation is incorporated into the Adaptive Server Anywhere User's Guide.

  Supporting documentation for Java

To assist you in taking advantage of the Java capabilities in Adaptive Server Anywhere, we are providing the following supporting documentation for Java. This supporting documentation describes the Java language, and is not specific to Adaptive Server Anywhere.

• Thinking in Java     The full text of the book Thinking in Java, by Bruce Eckel, is provided in portable document format (PDF) form.

  To view PDF files you need the Adobe Acrobat Reader. The free Adobe Acrobat Reader allows you to view, navigate, and print PDF files across all major computing platforms. You can obtain a copy of the Adobe Acrobat reader from the Adobe Web site at the following address:

  http://www.adobe.com/

• Java Reference material     A Windows Help file is provided which provides a full reference for the Java programming language.