At 04:26 PM 25/04/2003 +0200, you wrote:

>Ok, I understand, thanks for this precision. so i really need a layer :-)
>
>However, i've got a last question (and sorry for the insistance but i
>would like to understand). When i had a call with a Borland expert ( i was
>talk about the same case), he told me that with IB 7.0 and only 1 licence
>i would have the possibility to connect the same database at the same time
>with my 3 applications.
>For this he told me there was many ways and one in particular : using
>DLLs. Was it a joke or an commercial argument intended for the ignorant
>guys :-((

He probably just wasn't being very clear. Unless you're using Java, a DLL
would be the only way you could connect your own application to an IB 7
database on Windows, since all of your applications would connect via the
API client (gds32.dll). If you were using isql, gfix, gstat, gbak, etc.,
from the local machine, each of these would use up one connection and would
not use gds32.dll. Possibly he was warning you that you need to count all
of the connections, including those made by the system tools...but you are
no doubt already aware of that.

You single *user* licence lets one *user* make up to 4 simultaneous
*connections* to the database. A user is defined in the security database,
which is called isc4.gdb in IB. So, p.e., if the user SYSDBA is connected,
even just using one connection, then no other *user* may log in; but
SYSDBA can make 3 more connections.

>Can you tell me what do you think about that ?

Just a "tech-speak" problem, probably. :->
Phew, I've almost forgotten what it was like having to deal with licences.

heLen