At 04:02 PM 05-07-00 +0200, you wrote:

>Dear IB friends,
>
>I see this discussion taking off in the direction of "what's the best way to
>connect to Interbase from Delphi" and I would like to know what opinions are
>out there on the use of the IB Express components shipped with Delphi.
>
>IBObjects often receives good reviews, but are IB Express (apparently based
>upon IBO) any better, equivalent, or worse?

IB Express components are NOT based on IBO and never have been. They are
based on FreeIBComponents, a completely different suite of components
altogether.

IBX and IBO are equivalent **only** in that they both connect to InterBase
via the API.

One SIGNIFICANT difference before you even start is that IBO has been **in
production** for more than three years. IBX, on the other hand, is still
in Beta, there is a lot of unfinished functionality and worst of all, it's
going to take a complete re-make of the memory model to get them working
properly. That's no bad reflection on Jeff Overcash, the Team B guy who
has taken over the development. He is only one person and IBX has a
loooooong way to go yet. It's gonna take some kind of magic to catch up
with even the TDataset-compatible range of IBO components, never mind the
"smarts" that are built into the "native" IBO. (Actually, the
TDataset-compatibles have quite a lot of the native "smarts" too!!)

>Having already started using IB Express components is it worth having a look
>at others?

Yes, definitely look at IBO.

Helen


http://www.interbase2000.org
___________________________________________________
"Ask not what your free, open-source database can do for you,
but what you can do for your free, open-source database."
(J.F.K.)