Mertech provides a lot of tweaking options (especially in DataFlex) to control the workings of the driver. These have previously only been available through Macro commands, which has meant that to test them out, the application would have to be recompiled.
By providing an external INI file it is easier for the customer to control the workings of the driver, while at the same time making them more aware of what different tweaking is available to them.
Exposing a lot of tweaks, though, goes a bit against the idea that a driver is something you just drop in and forget – that it just works – that we promote.
This feature can be used by all customers. This feature is can be especially useful in Linux, where there is no registry or login box. The only option was to compile in a LOGIN command in DataFlex (or to chain from a LOGIN program).
It is also useful in a multi-directory scenario where the INI file can allow the customer to only have one set of INT files.
The feature will implement a mertech.ini file (in DataFlex) and a mds.ini file (in Btrieve)
A typical INI file will look like:
[MSSQL]
INT-Folder=..IntFiles_SQL
Server=thesqlsrv
Database=testdb
Schema=dbo
Table-Prefix=proj1_
Table-Postfix=
UseTrustedConnection=no
User=Thomas
Password=4c8fe10aad3
Trace_On=c:trace.txt
SqlLockTimeOut=100
Tags: Connection