At 06:57 AM 4/08/2005 +0000, Adam wrote:

>I also
>found the embedded guide contained stuff that was quite useful for non
>embedded installs, it is more like a mini langref or something.

EmbedSQL has nothing whatsoever to do with "embedded installs". It's the
name that Borland gave to the former Programmers' Guide during IB 6 beta
development, because they were doing a new Developers' Guide for their IBX
components. It just happens that volume contains details about writing
embedded *applications*, that's C or Cobol apps in which blocks of SQL can
be precompiled using gpre to be compiled by the C (or Cobol) compilier as
"static SQL".

>Also keep in mind the reserved words in FB 2, even though it is alpha,
>chances are you will eventually upgrade, and a 5 minute check of the
>release notes now could save you half a day of writing SQL scripts to
>adjust tables later.

Actually, the "definitive list" of reserved words changes with every
version. Heck, it has even been bouncing around during the course of the
Fb 2 alpha. The objective is to "unreserve" reserved words where
possible. Quite a few of IB's original reserved words have already
undergone that transmogrification, with certain words now reserved in some
contexts and not in others. In Fb 2, the keyword TYPE is not a keyword any
more, for example. You can even do this:

CREATE TABLE TYPE (
TYPE CHAR(3));
COMMIT;
ALTER TABLE TYPE
ALTER TYPE TYPE VARCHAR(5));
COMMIT;

But common-sense should prevail whenever the muse tempts you to use words
that dance on the fence between reserved and non-reserved.

./heLen