A: dbAnalyst is a software tool designed to assist DBA's and non-DBA's in managing and maintaining database software. dbAnalyst is designed to assist the user in working with products from various database vendors, and does so via a "universal" interface, so that the tool looks and works the same regardless of which product or vendor it is being used on.
Some of the tasks that can be done with dbAnalyst include reverse engineering, graphic display of a database, and export of database content from one database type to another.
dbAnalyst eliminates the need for using a different tool for each vendor and can greatly reduce the cost of database administration because it works quickly, supporting personnel efforts to manage the work.
Check out Providing an Infrastructure for Cross-Database Management Tool to learn about our work.
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A: Two types of components are required from your Operating System: ADO-type components and XML components.
We do require MDAC (ADO) 2.5 at a minimum. You can get a copy of MDAC 2.5, 2.6 or 2.7 at Microsoft, under http://www.microsoft.com/data/. MDAC is usually installed with IE 5.5.
XML components, specifically MSXML 3.0 or 4.0, are also required and can be found bundled with IE 5.0, 5.5 or 6.0. More information about XML services can be found at http://www.microsoft.com/xml/.
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A: Currently, dbAnalyst provides scripts for Oracle8i™, Microsoft SQL Server™, PostgreSQL™, Microsoft Access™, iAnywhwere™ & dBase. As databases evolve, we do release different scripts for different version of the same database. For example, we have a script for PostgreSQL™ 7.1 & 7.2, and a different script for PostgreSQL™ 7.3.
Additional scripts are released as they are written, and the development team is always interested in hearing from you about which ones are most needed.
We gradly welcome help for writing and improvings scripts!
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A: You need to receive a new license key from us. The process is free; the license key is again valid for 45 days, and you can visit us to obtain further license keys. Go to the Product section and click on 'get a free 45-day license'. Log yourself in and you will receive the license key by email.
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A: Access is not a 'true' SQL database, as it does not have the system catalogs other databases have (SQL Server, Postgres, MySQL, Oracle, etc). It is possible though to extract information from the Access database schema using the ADO OpenSchema function.
Note that starting with dbAnalyst 1.3, we now support the OpenSchema tag (along with the SQL tag) to query ADO interfaces, thus allowing us to reverse engineer such databases as Microsoft Access, dBase and other xBase databases, etc. We do provide scripts for Microsoft Access 2000 and dBase.
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A: The import feature integrates some of the translation features. When importing data from another database handler, datatype declarations might not translate correctly (for example Microsoft SQL Server TimeStamp is not equivalent to PostgreSQL TimeStamp datatype) or might have different storage formats.
When an import operation is failling, we advise
1) to make sure dbAnalyst version is 1.3.0.5 or later
2) to Translate the schema from the export database to get all objects created correctly into the destination (i.e. import) database,
3) and then to proceed to import data.
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A: Funny you ask.
Well, if you connect via ADO using the 'Microsoft OLE DB Provider for Oracle' ADO Provider, LONG datatypes are well supported, but accessing a table with a CLOB column will generate a 'Datatype not supported' error.
If you connect via ADO using the 'Oracle provider for OLE DB' ADO Provider, then both CLOB and LONG datatypes are supported, but retrieving data from a LONG only retrieves the first 250 charaters (or somewhere around that.)
Well, would you say, Oracle Corporation does not recommend using the LONG datatype.
That would be fine, except that, the TRIGGER_BODY column from the USER_TRIGGER system view is a LONG.
My point.
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A: If you forgot your password, Seabird Software can email it to you (go to enter your email address for a software download for example, and click on the link below the email field.) Beware: the password is case-sensitive!
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A: Yes! Beginning dbAnalyst v1.5, the user manual is "dbAnalyst User Manual.pdf", and is distributed as part of the dbAnalyst InstallShield, or is available online.
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