More information about Database Access Pre Release version (Windows)

ArcView's Database Access extension, September 19, 1997

Thank you for your continuing participation in the Database Access beta
testing program. As the development cycle for this software is drawing to
a close, we encourage you to report any bugs you may find in the extension
so we can correct them.

Note: If you have previously edited your arcview.cnt file:  
The Database Access Setup program installs a new arcview.cnt file.
The existing arcview.cnt file will be saved as av_cnt.dba.  
If you previously made any edits to your arcview.cnt file, those edits
will need to be added to the new arcview.cnt file.

*****************************************************************************************
You can use the Database Access extension with the SDE 3.0 Final version for Oracle UNIX 
and with the SDE 3.0.1 Beta versions for Oracle Unix, Oracle NT,SQL Server, DB2, and Sybase.
*****************************************************************************************

Read the information below to help you set up your machine if you're new to using
SDE data in ArcView, or if you want to find out what the changed requests and 
known problems are for this snapshot. A list of the known limits for the Database
Access extension is also included.

***IMPROVEMENTS**** The speed in which 3d themes draw has been improved with this snapshot.

This snapshot includes several sample extensions and scripts. For more information
on these samples refer to the on-line help on the database access extension.
Sample script and extension details can be found by accessing on-line help, 
the extensions book and then the Database Access book.

Although we'll try to prevent any incompatibilities, there is no guarantee
that scripts or projects you create with this version will work in future
versions or in the final release. We'll try to keep you informed about any changes.

The ArcView Database Access Team


Contents

This document contains important late-breaking information on the following topics:

  1.0	General installation notes
  2.0	Setting up your machine
  3.0 	Changed requests
  4.0	After running Setup
  5.0 	To add ArcView Database Access components
  6.0  	To uninstall the ArcView Database Access extension
  7.0 	Known problems
  8.0 	Known limits
  
1.0	General installation notes

1. If ArcView 3.0a is not installed on your computer, you'll see the following message:

"ArcView GIS has not been installed. Please install ArcView GIS before installing ArcView
Database Access Beta Version."  If you see this message, please exit the installation 
program and install ArcView 3.0a.

2. ArcView automatically determines the installed version of ArcView 3.0 on your computer.
If you have multiple ArcView installations on your machine, you may change the default
directory in the installation setup program.

3.The Database Access documentation is a file in Portable Document Format (PDF). 
After the Database Access Extension has been installed, the documentation file, dba.pdf, 
will be located in the av_gis30\avdocs installation directory. To view and print PDF files,
you will need to install the Acrobat Reader from Adobe.

If you are installing the Database Access Extension from an executable that was
downloaded from ESRI's home page, you will need to obtain the Acrobat Reader from
Adobe's home page at www.adobe.com.

If you are installing the Database Access from CD media, please refer to the following notes:

For local installations of the Database Access Extension, setup will prompt you to install
the Acrobat Reader 3.01 if it has not already been installed on your machine.

For node installations, ArcView setup will not provide an Adobe Acrobat Reader
installation option.  To install the Adobe Acrobat Reader 3.01 on Windows NT or 
Windows 95, execute the avsetup\acrobat3\ar32e301.exe file located in your admin directory.


2.0     Setting up your machine

To find out how to set up your machine, search the on-line help for the topic 
"setting up your machine for SDE".

NOTE:  If you are having trouble establishing a connection to your SDE
server, check the order in which the server has been added to your Services file.
In some instances, the services file needs to be in numerical order by port number.


3.0	Changed requests

The following request has been added since Beta 3.

anSDEConnection.GetVersion - Returns the SDE version string

anSDEConnection.SetDatabase (aDBName) - Allows you to change the database that
the connection refers to. This only applies to RDBMS's that require you to specify
a database when connecting (ie SQL Server, Sybase). The request should be used before
any other objects are created using the connection.

4.0	After running Setup

Setup creates two program items for the ArcView Database Access under the
ArcView GIS 3.0a program group.

- Readme Database Access-a Microsoft Write program file that provides important,
 last-minute information about ArcView Database Access.

- Uninstall Database Access-a program used to uninstall the ArcView Database
 Access extension. (Windows NT 3.51 only)

(Note:  To uninstall on Windows 95 or NT 4.0, please see the instructions 
listed under Section 6.0 of this document.)

Note    The logfile, AVSETUP.LOG, created after installing ArcView under the
ARCVIEW installation directory is updated with the appropriate information
pertaining to the ArcView Database Access installation. This file contains 
helpful information about your ArcView installations, including installation
options selected, location of the installation, the type of fonts installed, 
map data installed, and so on.


5.0   To add ArcView Database Access components

Once you have installed the ArcView Database Access, you can run the ArcView
Database Access Setup program again at any time to add components. You can also
restore the previous installation (if the files are accidentally corrupted or deleted).

To add a component

1. Start the ArcView Database Access Setup program just as you did when you first 
installed the ArcView Database Access.

2. Using the Custom installation option, select the desired additional installation 
components and follow the Setup instructions on the screen.


6.0   To uninstall the ArcView Database Access extension

The ArcView Database Access software components can be easily uninstalled if 
necessary. This will remove the ArcView Database Access extension and all of its components.

Windows NT 3.51 users-Double-click the uninstall ArcView Database Access icon 
in the ArcView GIS 3.0a Program group.

Windows 95 and Windows NT 4.0 users-From the Start button, click Settings and 
then click Control Panel. Double-click the Add/Remove Programs icon. On the 
Install/Uninstall tab, select the ArcView Database Access extension program from 
the programs list, then click the Add/Remove button.

7.0     Known problems 

This section lists the outstanding problems with the Database Access extension.

SDBsn57120 - When adding a new row to the database using the SDERecordSet.AddNew request, 
the row added may not contain the values you intended. For example, if the record set 
has 5 fields and you provide a value for each field, but the value for the 3rd field 
is an invalid data type, then the row added to the database will only contain values for 
fields 1 and 2 even if the values for fields 4 and 5 are the correct data type.

SDBsn54608 - You can't create a new spatial column from inside ArcView that has more 
than one grid size.

SDBsn58765 - It is possible to delete features from the database that have been 
locked using the SDESColumn locking requests (ie SDESColumn.LockAll (canModify ), 
SDESColumn.LockArea (aRectangle, canModify )) even if canModify is set to false. 
Other editing operations, like updating or adding features, will function properly 
in locked areas (ie if canModify is false, edits will be denied by the server).

SDBsn58737 - The Horizontal scroll bars are not working properly in the Add Database 
Theme and the Add Database Table query wizards. If the spatial column name or the 
table name is wider than the display box, there is currently no way to see cut off 
part of the name.
 
SDBsn57394 - If you attempt to load an INFO table into SDE from ArcView make sure 
that the table does not include fields defined as binary in INFO. An alternative 
is to use the INFODBMS command in Arc/Info to load the data.


SDBsn54936 - If a record is added to an RDBMS table with a not null numeric field and a 
value is not specified for that field, a value of zero is placed in the field on the database.

SDBsn55736 - A password will not be stored properly if the request aConnection.SavePassword 
(isSaved) is used and the connection was made without explicitly specifying an instance 
(ie connection made using hostname instead of hostname:instance). The next time you open 
the project, the connection will not be restored.

SDBsn59229 - Annotation stored in SDE is sometimes displayed improperly 
(i.e. some letters may appear flipped) in ArcView. The annotation is stored 
properly on the SDE server but is rendered incorrectly by the Database Access 
extension and ArcView.


8.0	Known limits

This section lists the known limits for the Database Access extension.

SDBsn53199 - If you create a theme from an SDEQueryDef where the SetSelectColumns 
request specifies columns that use numeric functions (e.g., ABS(field)), involve 
calculations (e.g., field*100), or include aliases (e.g., field as anAlias) you 
won't be able to access these columns in the legend editor or with the Identify tool.

SDBsn53199 - There are problems when field objects are created from query definitions 
in ArcView because of the limitations on field names in core ArcView. This problem 
can happen when you create a DBTable or a RecordSet object. Field names must be 10 
characters long or less, and cannot support alpha-numeric characters other than "_". 
In these cases the field object's alias will look correct, but the field name will 
be different, and will not correspond with the field defined in the query definition.

SDBsn52101 - When editing a table using a RecordSet and you change a record's values with 
the SetRow request, the next time you edit a record these values become the defaults. 
For example, I change all the values in a record to {"A", 1, shape1}. 
Another record has the values {"E", 9, aShape} and I change the value 9 to 99 with the 
SetValue request. When I send changes to the database, the record is actually changed 
to {"A", 99, shape1}. The values stored in memory should be removed after changes are 
sent to the database. This is true if I don't use the Next request after the Update 
request. If you use the Next request, the default values will be
null values unless you use the GetRow request before using SetValue, and the record 
will be changed to {"",99,NullShape}.

Workaround: when you create the QueryDef that you will use to open the RecordSet, 
include only the fields that you will be editing, use GetRow if you are editing the 
current row's values, and set values for each field in the record using SetRow.

SDBsn54215 - DBTable problems when trying to retrieve values from a Number(38) field. 
SDE considers this data type an integer. However, SDE's integer fields must have a 
width of 10 or less. SDE attempts to represent the contents of the Number(38) field 
as Number(10) and the operation fails.

Workaround: put the contents of the Number(38) field into a floating point field.

SDBsn52674 - If you have a closed view containing visible, disconnected dbthemes 
and you open that view, ArcView will have problems.

SDBsn52668 - SDE does not provide a ContainsCentroid search enumeration with 
SDE 3.0. Therefore, if you choose the Have Their Center In option in the Select 
By Theme dialog nothing will happen.

SDBsn53905 - When adding new records into a table, if you do not place date values 
in the new record even though a date field exists in the table, the value Jan 1, 
1970 will be stored instead of leaving the values blank. You can workaround this problem 
by setting the date value to a nil object.

SDBsn55378 - Choosing a Graduated Symbol legend for point or line DBThemes 
will crash ArcView. This is a core ArcView problem. The ArcView 3.1 release 
will contain the fix.

