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1.1 Welcome to Acu4GL

Welcome to Acu4GLTM! This User's Guide describes how the ACUCOBOLTM-GT programming language uses Acu4GL products to access information stored in Oracle, Informix, Sybase, Microsoft SQL Server, DBMaker, and ODBC-compliant relational database management systems (RDBMSs). It explains how to describe data in your COBOL programs, and how to handle differences in the field names and data types that are passed between COBOL and the database engine. Acu4GL is part of the extendTM family of Acucorp solutions.

Note: Unless otherwise indicated, the references to "Windows" and "Windows NT" in this manual denote all 32-bit versions of the Windows and Windows NT operating systems. Those versions are: Windows 95 and 98, Windows NT 4.0, and Windows 2000. In those instances where it is necessary to make a distinction among the individual versions of those operating systems, we refer to them by their specific version numbers ("Windows 2000", "Windows NT 4.0", etc.).
Acucorp tested the Acu4GL Version 5.0 products with the following Relational Database Management Systems:

DBMaker
Informix
Microsoft SQL Server
ODBC
Oracle
Sybase

As a result of our testing and according to general information received from the makers of the RDBMS regarding upward compatibility of their product, we believe the following to be accurate:


RDBMS
Acu4GL Version 5.0 Tested with RMDBS Version
Probable Compatibility with Acu4GL 5.0, Based on Vendor Information
(Client/Server may be used for connecting to other versions)
DBMaker
3.0
No others
Informix
5.1, 7.2, 7.3
Versions greater than 7.3
Microsoft SQL Server
6.5
Versions greater than 6.5
ODBC
Specification
3.0
Versions greater than 3.0
Oracle
7.3.3 and 8.0.x
for UNIX and
Windows (32 and 64-bit)
No others
Sybase
11.x
Versions greater than 11.x

Note: If the Windows machine that you are installing Acu4GL on has the version 8.x Oracle client software installed, you will need to install some additional software. Please see Appendix C, section C.2.1 "Windows Installation Steps for the Acu4GL for Oracle Product" for information on installing the additional software.
The essence of an Acu4GL product is that standard COBOL I/O statements are used to access databases. Acu4GL handles the translation between standard COBOL and the language that the RDBMS understands.

There are special instructions and status messages that apply to each individual RDBMS. These are included in the appendices of this User's Guide, with each particular RDBMS having an appendix dedicated to its own specific information.