we have an applcation of some size (about 1MLOC) that were started back in the days when BDE was just about to be deprecated. Nowadays we only use it to connect to SQL Server using ODBC. It has worked surprisingly well in spite of its deprecated status, and chances are it will keep on working for another 15 years. However, no one knows if or when it stops working. And if it stops, Embarcadero wouldn't be able to do much about it. So, it's a timebomb, and we need to replace it. But with what?
The ADO-components in Delphi looks promising. There are table and query components that resembles the BDE-components, and they are not third-party components made by a one-man shop that might loose interest. We also look forward to use connection-strings instead of the clunky ODBC-Administrator.
However, about a year ago Microsoft announced that OLE DB is deprecated, and for native development we should use SQL Server Native Client ODBC driver.
So, my qestion is, is the ADO-components in Delphi hardwired to OLD DB? Or would we not be using OLE DB if we select "SQL Server Native Client" in the list of drivers?
I expect/fear that to make use of the SQL Server Native Client ODBC driver, we have to set up a datasource in ODBC-Adminstrator, like we do now. Or is it possible to connect with ODBC using connection-strings?
And what Delphi-components exists that can connect to ODBC without using OLE DB? Yes, I know about dbExpress, but it looks like it would take us years to convert to it from BDE.
Thanks, LandShark
TQuery
replacement, which is much faster than the BDE version, and per-method compatible. But project scope is more code-oriented, not component/RAD. – Arnaud Bouchez