Martijn Tonies wrote:

>>> 1. Two level name space (aka schemas)
>>>
>>>A multilevel name space is necessary for standard conformance
>>>
>>>
>>FWIW, the standard declares three level namespace
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>(catalogue/schema/object).
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>>But I'm agree that even two level names are much better than what we have
>>now.
>>
>>
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>"catalogue" would be needed for a cross-database query then.
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The API should allow have residual support for catalog name so it can be
handled for cross database queries by the mega-database manager
provider. I don't think the engine needs to do anything.

But this brings up a very good point. Because the current API is built
around a fixed format SQLDA, we can't extend the attributes associated
with columns without invalidating existing programs (OK, the API
can/should recognize generations of SQLDA, but the mechanism is too
constraining). One of the things I really like about the JDBC/IscDbc
interface is that there are extensible formal objects for
ResultSetMetaData and DatabaseMetaData.