Robert Molyneux wrote:

> Any thoughts appreciated.

If you have tables with data types that don't render in Paradox and you want 
to browse them in Paradox, you have a couple of options:

1.  Don't
2.  Create views for the tables, and browse them.  For each column type that 
doesn't render, you can try an explicit cast (I think MSSQL has a convert() 
function) to a type that Paradox can interpret - this is trial by error.

This goes directly to the advice of not binding remote tables to forms, 
because this is inherently fragile, and an update to any one of the 
components (not all of which you may be able to freeze) can break your 
setup.

The reason is simple: This is actually occurring already, but the BDE and 
SQL Links or ODBC driver are not coming up with suitable translations for 
all data types, precisions, and lengths.  Putting a view in between allows 
you to explicitly control this conversion and tweak as needed.  Below is the 
stack you are using (I am assuming Oracle, but the fundamentals are the same 
regardless of what back end you are using).  Also, forgive the ASCII art. 
:-)

1. Paradox
^
|
v
2. BDE
^
|
v
3. SQL Links/ODBC
^
|
v
4. SQL*Net
^
|
v
5. Oracle Server
^
|
v
6. Oracle table

You have to apply patches to layers 4 and 5 eventually, and possibly 3, and 
possibly 1 (though this should be pretty static).  Anyhow, if one of those 
patches breaks, or if you need to add a column to one of your tables (layer 
6) that isn't supported, you want some layer that you do control.

1. Paradox
^
|
v
2. BDE
^
|
v
3. SQL Links/ODBC
^
|
v
4. SQL*Net
^
|
v
5. Oracle Server
^
|
v
5.5 View
^
|
v
6. Oracle table

This is hardly foolproof, but it gives you some insurance.

I hear some of you saying, "But *I* control the stack, if I find that ODBC 
4.8.2.4 causes problems, or SQL*Net 2.z.foo, or Oracle 11.3, I just won't 
upgrade.  And I won't use columns that break Paradox.  And everything will 
fine."  I can only say, "Good luck with that."  I could also say, "You are 
completely wrong," and you will see by my flawless usage of punctuation that 
I must be right.

--
Larry DiGiovanni