                          WELCOME TO BORLAND SQL LINK
                              CONNECTING TO ORACLE
                          ---------------------------

This file contains important, late-breaking information about Borland
SQL Link, including revisions to the documentation.  Information in this
file supersedes information in the SQL Link documentation.


TABLE OF CONTENTS
-----------------

1. Installation Information
2. Tips for using SQL Link
3. SQL Link documentation notes
4. ObjectPAL tips for SQL Link applications



1. INSTALLATION INFORMATION
---------------------------

During installation, SQL Link overwrites any version of ORA6WIN.DLL with 
the version supplied on the SQL Link Installation Disk.  However, the ver-
sion supplied with SQL Link is NOT the latest version of this .DLL file.

If you are currently using the latest version of this .DLL, make a backup 
copy of ORA6WIN.DLL before you install SQL Link.  Once SQL Link installa-
tion is complete, replace the older version of ORA6WIN.DLL installed by SQL
Link with your later version.

If you need the latest version of ORA6WIN.DLL, please contact Oracle.



2.  TIPS FOR USING SQL LINK
---------------------------

NUMBER CONVERSION WHEN ORA7WIN.DLL IS USED.  Due to a known problem with
ORA7WIN.DLL, you may experience problems with number conversion or cor-
ruption when using ORACLE with SQL Link.  (For example, you may be unable
to delete a record while in a form from an ORACLE table with a numeric
field.)  Using a version of ORA6WIN.DLL fixes this problem.

If you experience problems with number conversion or corruption, contact
your ORACLE sales representative.


USING ALIASES WITHOUT SPECIFYING A LANGUAGE DRIVER.  If no language
driver is specified, the default language driver is ASCII.  Language-
specific processes like character translation and table name validation 
will default to U.S. rules.  For further information, see the section
on Borland language drivers in your Connecting To... manual.



WORKING WITH LARGE TABLES.  If you create data entry forms on large tables 
you may find some performance degradation -- particularly if the user is 
allowed to view unrestricted record sets.  The following suggestions may 
help cut down the load on your server and help optimize server performance:

-  With large data sets, it is good programming practice to write applica-
   tions which access relatively few records at a time.  One way to do this
   within a form-based application is to create forms which order the data
   by index and set RANGE criteria to limit the record set.  This can be 
   done interactively using the ORDER/RANGE dialog, but can also be con-
   trolled by the application developer.  (For example, instead of creating
   a form which displays all orders for all customers, write your applica-
   tion to limit the user's working selection by criteria such as customer
   name, state, and area code.)

-  In ORACLE, forms which are created for the purpose of entering or
   modifying data do not need to be indexed.  However, if you view your 
   data in INDEX order, navigation and update speed will improve.  (Use the
   form's ORDER/RANGE dialog box to set this up.)

-  Where possible, create applications which order on fields which were
   created with the REQUIRED (NOT NULL) option.  Since this field
   property must be specified at the time of table creation; be sure to 
   plan for this as part of your application design.



3. SQL LINK DOCUMENTATION NOTES
-------------------------------

THIS RELEASE SUPPORTS ORACLE SQL*NET SPX FOR WINDOWS 1.1.1.8 OR LATER.


SPECIFYING THE ORACLE "VENDOR INIT" PARAMETER.  The ORACLE Init parameter 
"VENDOR INIT" specifies the name of the vendor .DLL to be used in a mixed-
mode environment.  Unless you specify a particular .DLL this parameter
will be blank, and SQL Link will search for an appropriate .DLL to use. It
will first search for ORA6WIN.DLL, then ORA7WIN.DLL.



SQL LINK USER'S GUIDE, PAGE 13.  Two additional points for the subsection
on "Using Table windows" are: (1) The .TVS file is not automatically dele-
ted when the SQL table is deleted, and (2) If you change your private dir-
ectory the table will no longer be displayed with the properties you set.


SQL LINK USER'S GUIDE, PAGE 14.  Add the following note before the para-
graph that begins with "For detailed information..."

     NOTE:  The above tables are only generated if the query is processed
            within the QBE environment.  For further information, see
            "QBE query processing," in Chapter 3.


SQL LINK USER'S GUIDE CHAPTER 4.  Chapter 4, "SQL-enabled ObjectPAL," does
not document the transactionsActive() database method or the 
update(fname,fvalue [,fname,fvalue]) tcursor method.  For information
about these two methods, see NEWPAL.DB. 


SQL LINK USER'S GUIDE, PAGE 29.  The description of the syntax for 
beginTransaction includes the parameter ([const isoLevel String]).  This
parameter is not supported in this release of SQL Link.


SQL LINK USER'S GUIDE, PAGES 29 - 31.  Tables 4.5 and 4.6 are not sorted
by object type.


SQL LINK USER'S GUIDE, PAGE 30.  Table 4.5, "Standard ObjectPAL methods
that support SQL Link," includes the sort table method.  The sort method
belongs in Table 4.6, "Standard ObjectPAL methods that do not support
SQL Link." 


SQL LINK USER'S GUIDE, PAGE 37.  peOptRecLockFail should be
peOptRecLockFailed. Error constant is incorrect.


SQL LINK USER'S GUIDE, PAGE 40.  The steps for rebinding forms discussed
on this page of the User's Guide should be corrected as follows:

1.  Copy Paradox tables to the SQL server.

2.  Index the server tables to duplicate the linking and ordering indexes
    you had on your original tables.

3.  Before you rebind the form, copy it to a different subdirectory so that
    Paradox for Windows will not be able to find the original tables when
    you open the form.

4.  Change your working directory to the new subdirectory and Open the form
    in Design Mode.

5.  When the original Paradox tables cannot be found, you will be allowed 
    to replace those tables in the data model with the equivalent SQL 
    tables.

6.  In some cases, you may need to fix up the links between tables in the
    Data Model dialog.  To do this, simply unlink all tables and re-link
    on the appropriate indexes.

7.  Recreate all calculated fields.

8.  Update all hard-coded table names in ObjectPAL code.

9.  Save the form.


3. OBJECTPAL TIPS FOR SQL LINK APPLICATIONS
-------------------------------------------

For tips on how to create ObjectPAL applications for use in an SQL 
environment, see the text file OPALTIPS.TXT.
