Sage 100

Right now my Sage 100 SQL image is down and I'm trying to answer a question for someone. From what I understand, Sage basically has taken the MAS tables and placed them in a SQL database dedicated to that company. And, the tables are named the same as what they are in the Providex version and the field names are the same. Correct? So any ODBC will just use a SQL ODBC to connect to what essentially looks like the same data. Am I missing anything?

That seems like a good description Chuck. You can use a SQL driver to create an ODBC system dsn, or to connect using OLE DB.

@DougHiggs do you have a preference? I have always used the Native Client but am open to new things.

@ShawnSlavin I would prefer OLE DB as it is a lower level interface and is more efficient than ODBC. However, in most cases I will use ODBC anyway because some third party product including KnowledgeSync / Alerts and Workflows do not work with OLE DB. The only option is ODBC..... So... instead of designing a report using OLE DB, and then later having to change the data source because the user buys KnowledgeSync, I use ODBC.

Great reasoning. Since we have always gone with the native client, we haven't noticed the limitation but I always like more speed.

And yet another reason to use an Access PTQ or a SQL mirror, the Sage Alerts KLF's suck!!!! SA comes with one database license. You can specify Access or SQL or whatever (the KLF's are access driven). Create links to only the tables you need which are dynamic so you don't have to rebuild them every time the database changes (e.g. UDF is added). Plus you can write a truly efficient Alert. I haven't found any value for any of the canned alerts they provide.......