At 06:34 AM 25/03/2005 +0000, you wrote:

>Firstly, thanks to all respondents of my previous queery on Firebird
>interfaces.
> >From what I can ascertain, IBO seems to be somewhat
>more 'extensible" (complete) than FIB (in terms of available
>components) so have decided to explore this route more fully.
>
>Cannot seem to post to newsgroups here (Kuwait) although can read.
>So my appologies for asking this question on IBO in this forum
>although it does pertain indirectly to using Firebird.

You are posting to *this* list. The ibobjects list is another Yahoo group,
also mirrored at news://news.atkin.com. As with this list, if you are
subscribed to the Yahoo group, you can post to the corresponding list from
your newsreader, via the mirror.

Questions regarding client interfaces are off-topic here as a rule. All
have their own lists. However, since it's a holiday weekend (usually
relatively quiet around here) I'll sketch a reply.

>Looking through the 'basic' component sets it would appear that:
>
>For Delphi X Desktop I would require:
>IB Core, IBO Native Data Access and IBO Native Data Aware

Yes. The Desktop (a.k.a. Personal) Editions do not provide the libraries
on which components like IBO's TDataset, FIBPlus and IBX are built.

>For Delphi X Pro I would only need IBO TDataset and maybe IBO Native
>Data Aware.

In some versions of Delphi (I think from v.5 on?) you get the db libraries
in the Pro edition. Not sure what you mean by "IBO Native Data Aware" - the
IBO native stuff consists of data access components, a TIB_Datasource and
data-aware controls that work together in their own little empire. Though
the two sets of data access components can use one another's non-visual
bits and bobs, unto each its own controls. The reason most people go for
the TDataset-compatible data access is to be able to use their gee-whiz,
also TDataset-compatible, third-party controls.

>There does not appear to be any 'definitive' statement of these
>requirements on the IBO website.

Not possible, really. The "mix" in a particular Delphi version/edition
seems to vary sometimes; and Borl has a habit of moving stuff around into
different libraries. And, while some Pro editions have some of the web
stuff, I don't think any of them have all of it. It would always be right
to try stuff out with your own particular setup.

>At the moment I use D5 but am thinking of moving to D7 (foolish?) -
>but I think that the desktop version would meet my needs so
>therefore scheme '1' above would be required if I do. However, if I
>stick to D5 pro in the short term would these same components still
>work (i.e. Core and Data Access)?

Yes. You don't have to get anything else if you move on to D7; you get
coverage of all Delphi versions in one bundle, so you just reinstall it all
in the new environment.

>Are the two 'suites' (i.e. IB Native vs. IBO TDataset) identical in
>terms of performance or are there any advantages one has over the
>other? In other words assume that the 'Core' components replace the
>Delphi equivalents that do not come with the Desktop version and
>that IBOTDataset relies on Delphi ancestor classes. So are they
>superior in any respects?

If they weren't superior, it wouldn't have been worth the sweat and tears
that went into developing them. That said, the TIBODataset comps wrap the
native TIB_Dataset so they have a lot (but not all) of the underwiring
that makes TIB_ so robust and client/server friendly. Between v.3 and v.4,
a lot of work was done to pass the buffering performance of the TIB_
scrolled datasets back to TIBOQuery and (if you must) TIBOTable. I don't
work with big sets (intentionally) but, from hearsay, they are much on a
par with TIB_Query for big SELECTS, if that's what you're really intent on
doing.

Further than this - you're going to need to migrate to the appropriate
list. :-/

./hb