InterBase Software Corporation
InterCom
The Newly Released InterBase5 Says “Hello, World”
The new InterBase5 delivers business-
critical robustness with SuperServer
Architecture and a Java JDBC driver.
On December 8, 1997, InterBase Software
Corporation announced the availability of
InterBase 5.0, the business-critical
embedded database. It combines the
traditional strengths of InterBase—ease of
installation, use and maintenance—with
new SQL and server features that give
InterBase true scalability, superior
concurrency and improved productivity.
“The release of 5.0 reestablishes InterBase
as a significant player in the embedded
database market” said Jim Weil, president
of InterBase Software Corporation. “It
fulfills our commitment to provide state-of-
the-art technology to our customers inside
and outside the Borland community.”
The folks at InterBase take some time off from developing excellent software to mug for the
camera and have a little holiday party.
The InterBase Newsletter
InterBase 5.0 has already been
implemented as the primary database of
Colorado Mountain Express, an
“The release of 5.0
reestablishes InterBase
as a significant player in
the embedded database
market”
organization successfully running 40 users
with over 100 connections to handle
reservations and operations for its
transportation systems at Vail, Aspen, and
other ski areas.
VOLUME 1, NUMBER 3, FALL 1997
“I have been a long time advocate of
InterBase, having used NT, Novell, and SCO
versions since 3.0 Beta,” said Loren
French, chief technology officer of
Colorado Mountain Express. “Without
question, this version of InterBase provides
the best stability and performance of any
version of InterBase. We have been
operating the Beta 2 version of 5.0
continuously for more than 25 days without
a single problem and I'm very impressed!”
InterBase 5.0 features SuperServer across
all supported platforms. This multiclient,
multithreaded architecture eliminates
bottlenecks and reduces the overhead
required for multiple process tasks.
InterBase 5.0 includes InterClient, a true
all-Java JDBC driver that allows for high-
performance connectivity and easy
deployment. This radically reduces
deployment and life cycle costs to Java
client/server developers.
Table of Contents
4The Newly Released InterBase5 Says
“Hello, World” . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1
4Using InterClient to Connect JBuilder
to InterBase . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2
4Q&A: Joe Alfaro & Siok Bie Tie . . . . . . . 3
Using InterClient to Connect
JBuilder to InterBase
CHRIS LEVESQUE
InterClient is an all-Java thin-client JDBC
driver specifically designed to access
InterBase databases. It is included in the
JBuilder Client/Server product, but can be
used with the JBuilder Professional version
as well. JBuilder rapid application
development design makes integrating
JDBC drivers easy, and InterClient is no
exception. In addition, InterClient is part of
the InterBase 5.0 kit and is available free on
the Web at www.interbase.com.
Easy Installation and Integration
When you install InterClient Version 1.11
or later, the installer detects whether you
have JBuilder on the machine and
automatically makes the appropriate
changes to the JBUILDER.INI file. Those
changes are outlined in the JBuilder
Integration Notes that are provided with
InterClient. Without these changes, you will
not be able to run InterClient-based
applications from within the JBuilder IDE.
Database Application Basics
If you want your JBuilder application/
applet to connect to a database, you would
Connecting with
InterClient
To connect your JBuilder application to an
InterBase database using InterClient, follow
these steps:
1. Highlight a Database component and
edit the Connection property. JBuilder
displays the Connection dialog.
2. Provide a Connection URL (see the
sidebar on page 3), a Username, and a
Password.
3. Enter interbase.interclient.Driver in
the Driver Class field.
The secret to using the InterClient JDBC driver to connect to an InterBase database lies in the
Driver class field: type in interbase.interclient.Driver. Remember: capitalization is
important.
typically use a Database component to
establish the connection, a DataSet
component (such as a TableDataSet or
QueryDataSet component) to provide the
data, and a data-aware control (such as a
GridControl) to display the results. You
would follow these steps for any JDBC
driver. In order to connect using the
InterClient driver, you must supply the
correct values in the Connection dialog.
When you edit the connection properties of
a Database component, JBuilder displays
the Connection dialog. To connect to an
InterBase database with your Java
application or applet, you need to specify
the following connection parameters: the
name of a JDBC driver class, a username, a
password, and a connection URL. The
name of the InterClient JDBC driver class is
always interbase.interclient.Driver
Spelling and capitalization are important. If
you spell the driver class incorrectly, you
may get a ClassNotFoundException, and
consequently, a No suitable driver error
when the connection is attempted. The
username and password parameters are
the same that you would use when
connecting to a database with Windows
ISQL or any other tool. For the sake of
simplicity, these examples use sysdba and
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masterkey for username and password,
respectively.
There are other useful features of this
dialog, as well. Once you fill in your URL,
you can press the Test connection button
to ensure that the connection parameters
are correct. The Prompt user password
check box forces the user to enter a proper
username and password before
establishing a connection. The extended
properties check box and property page is
not used by InterClient.
JDBC URL Primer
The JDBC URL is the parameter that
specifies the database you want to connect
to. A JDBC URL consists of three parts,
separated by colons: the keyword jdbc, the
subprotocol name, and the datasource
name or location. The jdbc keyword is
needed to distinguish JDBC URLs from
other URLs, such as those for HTTP or FTP.
The subprotocol name selects the proper
JDBC driver for the connection. Every JDBC
driver has its own subprotocol name that it
responds to. InterClient URLs always have a
subprotocol of interbase. Other JDBC
drivers have their own unique subprotocol
names. For example, the JDBC-ODBC
Bridge answers JDBC URLs with the
Examples of JDBC URLs
Here are a few possible configuration options and their corresponding JDBC URLs.
To access this Connection syntax
/usr/databases/atlas.gdb on a Unix machine named sunbox jdbc:interbase://sunbox//usr/databases/atlas.gdb
C:/interbas/examples/employee.gdb on an NT machine named mrbill jdbc:interbase://mrbill/c:/interbas/examples/employee.gdb

The two examples above assume that InterServer and InterBase are running on the same machine. The next example lets you get to the NT box through th
Unix box. (Local connections are faster, though.)

InterServer running on sunbox and InterBase running on mrbill jdbc:interbase://sunbox/mrbill:c:/interbas/examples/employee.gdb

Client and the server on the same machine (local connection) jdbc:interbase://localhost/c:/interbas/examples/employee.gdb

subprotocol of odbc, and Borland’s
DataGateway responds to URLs with a
subprotocol of BorlandBroker.
The third part of a InterClient URL holds the
name of the server that is running
InterServer and the location (relative to
InterServer) of the database that you want
to connect to. The syntax for an InterClient
URL is jdbc:interbase://servername/
pathToDatabase.gdb
Other than these connection-specific
issues, InterClient can be used like any
other JDBC driver with JBuilder, and with
the inclusion of Local InterBase in JBuilder
Professional and Client/Server versions, it
is easy to develop and test powerful
database applications in Java.
Q&A: Joe Alfaro
& Siok Bie Tie
Each issue of InterCom features an
interview with a key InterBase
personality. This month, we interview Joe
Alfaro, Director of InterBase
Development, and Siok Bie Tie,
Development Engineer. The topic is
InterBase Software Corporation’s
representation at H2, the ANSI SQL
committee.
SETTING STANDARDS
Q: What is the H2 committee?
The H2 committee (formerly known as
X3H2) is part of the International
Standards Organization (ISO) and is the US
group responsible for formulating the US
position on the SQL database language.
InterBase has been a voting member of this
organization for a number of years,
participating in the formulation of SQL-92,
and now participating in formulating the
SQL3 standard.
The H2 committee is composed of major
database vendors such as IBM, InterBase,
Oracle, and Sybase, and members of the
user community. Roughly 16 to 20 people
meet 4 to 6 times a year to create the US
stance on the current standards. Members
of this committee go to the international
body to argue the US position.
Q: When was the last committee
meeting?
The latest H2 meeting was held November
17 to 19, 1997 in Washington DC. Sixteen
members attended the committee meeting.
Joe Alfaro, InterBase’s Director of
Siok Bie Tie (l) and Joe Alfaro represent
InterBase at the H2 standards meetings.
Research and Development, represented
InterBase for the November meeting. For
many of these members, the SQL standard
creation is their sole job. Others, such as
Joe, have additional commitments.
Q: What is the current topic of
discussion for the committee?
The committee is currently formulating the
US position on the proposed SQL3
standard.
Q: When is the SQL3 standard to be
released?
The proposed release for the standard is
sometime in 1998.
Q: What is the focus of the SQL3
standard?
Both the national and international bodies
have realized that the SQL-92 standard was
too broad. Consequently, no one ever
implemented the full standard beyond the
entry level and even in the entry level of
implementation there were many
inconsistencies because the standard was
too big.
Given this realization, the committee has
reorganized the standard into several
different “packages.” The basis of SQL3 is
the Core Package. In addition to the SQL3
Core there will be a number of packages
aimed at specific industries and interests.
One of these packages will include some
object relational features to help bring SQL
into the growing arena of object-?oriented
technologies.
By creating a small core component with
the ability to add on additional levels of
complexity, the committee is seeking to

InterCom 3
propagate a real standard in the SQL3 Core
package. The committee hopes that this will
enable database vendors to conform to the
SQL standard more completely and less
painfully than in the past.
Q: How will InterBase implement
SQL3?
InterBase is carefully tracking development
of SQL3 and will implement the standard in
ways that meet the needs of our customers.
For example, in InterBase 5.0 we
supported SQL Roles, which allow security
privileges to be assigned to roles, which are
in turn assigned to individual users. This
met a growing need for structuring
security.
For more about InterBase and the SQL
standard, see the white paper “What Is
InterBase 5.0?” on the InterBase website
(http://www.interbase.com/products/).
Q: Does everyone have access to the
SQL3 working draft?
No, the proposal is available only to
members of the H2 committee. This is a
major reason why InterBase has joined the
committee: we want to be aware of the
proposed standards and to help influence
the decisions so that our customers’ needs
are met.
Q: Can anyone submit proposals to
the H2 SQL committee?
Only active members can make proposals
to the SQL3 committee. Active membership
requires attendance to the committee
InterBase Software Corporation
1800 Green Hills Road, Suite 150
Scotts Valley, California 95066
meetings; any member missing two
meetings in a row is removed from active
membership.
Q: How are new elements introduced
into the standard?
The committee operates according to strict
parliamentary procedures. In order to
propose any addition or change to the
standard, a member must write a formal
paper on the topic and submit it for review
by the other members well in advance of
the meeting where it will be addressed.
There then follows an extensive period of
discussion and voting.
Q: What is the InterBase position on
the SQL standard?
InterBase wants to protect our customers
and their investment in their software. To
this end, we agree with the US position that
the new standard must have a reasonably
small, manageable core and enough
additional “packages” to meet diverse
needs. In addition, we work to get
customers’ views made known for
development of the SQL3 standard.
We don’t just blindly follow what the
standards say. If the SQL standard meets
our customers’ needs, then we will use the
SQL standard: InterBase will push the
agenda for our customers. We are very
customer-driven and are pushing the needs
of our customers in the forming of the SQL
standard.
Q: When is the next H2 meeting?
The next committee meeting will be held in
January, 1998.
Q: What is InterBase’s role for the
future of SQL3?
We will continue to follow and influence the
standard and implement what our
customers tell us is in their best interests.
Credits
InterCom is a quarterly publication of
InterBase Software Corporation and is sent
free of charge to members of the InterBase
VAR Program.
Bill Karwin, editor
InterBase Software Corporation
1800 Green Hills Road, Suite 150
Scotts Valley, CA 95066
Email: bkarwin@interbase.com
InterBase is a registered trademark of
InterBase Software Corporation. InterClient
and InterServer are trademarks of
InterBase Software Corporation. All other
trademarks are property of their respective
owners.
 1997 InterBase Software Corporation.
All rights reserved.