MERTECH DATA SYSTEMS, INC 18503 Pines Boulevard, Suite 312 Pembroke Pines, FL 33029, USA Tel: (954)585-9016 Fax: (866)228-1213 www.mertechdata.com Contents Introduction Migrating from DAW s CK for MS SQL to Mertech s MS SQL Driver The Conversion Summary Contact Information 2012 Mertech Data Systems, Inc. All rights reserved. This document is for informational purposes only. Mertech makes no warranties, expressed or implied, in this document. DataFlex is a trademark of Data Access Worldwide, Inc. Other trademarks and trade names mentioned herein are the property of their respective owners.
Introduction This whitepaper targets DataFlex users who want to switch from DAW s CK for MS SQL to Mertech s MS SQL driver. Mertech s Flex2SQL GUI migration tool contains all the features that a developer needs to migrate an existing DataFlex application to an SQL back-end. The Flex2SQL GUI also allows users of DAW Connectivity Kits (CK) to switch to Mertech drivers by simply regenerating the.int files and replacing the DAW CK dll with Mertech s database driver. Why Switch Why switch to Mertech drivers? Mertech drivers: Overwhelmingly outperform DAW s drivers in real world environments. Have an intelligent data fetching mechanism that determines the optimal number of rows and columns to fetch, boosting performance while reducing network traffic. Can handle recovery from connection issues. Support MS SQL Server database mirroring. Include optimized queries that eliminate driver cache files, which can result in stale structure caching. Keep all opened file information in memory for faster switching between application views. Provide the ability to store large amounts of data in LOB columns and to fetch it in pieces to bypass the 16K field limit in DataFlex. Support SQL Server partitioning, which can speed up SQL Server performance when there is a large number of concurrent users. Copyright 2012 Mertech Data Systems, Inc. All Rights Reserved. 2
The Conversion Backup your.int files Before starting the conversion, make sure the.int files currently in use with the DAW CK are backed up properly, so they are not overwritten by the.int files created by Flex2SQL. If the DAW CK.INT files are over written you will not be able to revert back to your old system. Setup Copy the DAW CK dlls and license files for MS SQL into Mertech s Flex2SQL bin directory. This ensures that Mertech s Flex2SQL tool is able to load these drivers and read the source database correctly. Perform the conversion 1. Start the Flex2SQL GUI migration tool and log into your target database server. 2. Select the workspace or filelist that you migrated using DAW CK (File > Open). The tables have an Mssqldrv: prefix since they were migrated with the DAW CK. 3. Select the Migrate Non-DataFlex Files checkbox at the bottom of the Filelist dialog box. 4. Checking this option enables the.int File Directory text box. Browse to the location where your current.int files reside. NOTE: These.INT files are overwritten during the conversion. 5. Double-click a table in the Filelist dialog box to verify that the setup and license files are correctly installed. Copyright 2012 Mertech Data Systems, Inc. All Rights Reserved. 3
The table should open and you should be able to view the data. If there are any errors in loading the DAW CK or with licensing, the file does not open correctly and an error is generated. 6. Select all the tables you want to migrate. 7. Select Tools > Generate.INT >.INT from.dat. The Create Intermediate File dialog box displays. Copyright 2012 Mertech Data Systems, Inc. All Rights Reserved. 4
This dialog box is similar to the Convert DAT to Table dialog box except it only generates.int files, it does not migrate the tables. Options selected here are added to the.int files. 8. Select Generate All. The new.int files are created. 9. Once again, select all the tables in the Filelist dialog box 10. Select Add Driver Prefix in the main right panel of buttons. The Mssqldrv prefix is replaced by the Mertech driver name, Sql_drv. 11. Double-click a migrated table to browse the data. You can view the migration report (Reports > Migration Report) to verify that the migration was completed successfully. You can also test your application directly from the Flex2SQL GUI by selecting File > Run a DataFlex Program. Summary Switching to the Mertech MS SQL driver is as simple as regenerating the.int files and replacing the DAW CK dll with Mertech s database driver. Mertech s drivers will continue to work with DAW CK specific features such as computed columns and their table structures and you can keep your existing data. Copyright 2012 Mertech Data Systems, Inc. All Rights Reserved. 5
Contact Information If you would like to know more about Mertech s products, please visit our web site at www.mertechdata.com or contact us at Corporate Headquarters Mertech Data Systems, Inc. 18503 Pines Boulevard, Suite 312 Pembroke Pines, FL 33029 USA Tel: +1 (954) 585 9016 Fax: +1 (866) 228 1213 e-mail: sales@mertechdata.com Brazilian Subsidiary Mertech Data Systems Brasil Ltda. Av. Yojiro Takaoka, 4.384 Cj. 2227, Alphaville Santana de Parnaiba, SP 06541-038 Brazil Tel: +55 (11) 4152 8433 Fax: +55 (11) 4152 8433 e-mail: mertechbrasil@mertechdata.com Copyright 2012 Mertech Data Systems, Inc. All Rights Reserved. 6