About native database interfaces

The native database interfaces provide native connections to many databases and DBMSs. This chapter describes how the native database interfaces access these databases.

For a complete list of the supported native database interfaces, see "Database preferences and Supported Database Interfaces".

A native database interface is a direct connection to your data in PowerBuilder.

Each native database interface uses its own interface DLL to communicate with a specified database through a vendor-specific database API. For example, the SQL Native Client interface for Microsoft SQL Server uses a DLL named PBSNC190.dll to access the database, whereas the Oracle 11g database interface accesses the database through PBORA190.dll.

In contrast, a standard database interface uses a standard API to communicate with the database. For example, PowerBuilder can use a single-interface DLL (PBODB190.dll) to communicate with the ODBC Driver Manager and corresponding driver to access any ODBC data source.