Active Query Builder VCL and ActiveX Editions 1.16 released
We're glad to announce the new minor version of Active Query Builder. You can download the newest version from the download page.
What's new in the Active Query Builder version 1.16?
Common Table Expressions are fully supported now:
Now it's possible to rename and remove CTE sub-queries from the query using the sub-query tab context menu.
List of existing Common table expression is added to the "Add CTE" submenu.
Parsing of derived tables without aliases is possible now.
Better support of recursive CTE is made.
Derived table alias is shown in the query structure tree instead of entire SQL text.
Caption of the CTE subquery tab is taken from the CTE name now.
Query-unique names are generated now for CTE and derived tables.
Parsing Improvements:
Fixup (determination of the field's ownership to a database object) by object's base name is made (e.g. "select orders.id from db.schema.orders").
The expressions with fields from sub-query are deleted now if these fields are removed from respective sub-query.
Empty union groups are removed automatically now after user's changes at the Union NavBar.
Conditions are converted correctly from HAVING to WHERE clause now on clearing aggregate for a column.
Wrong links relocation in complex FROM clauses with many parentheses on datasource/link deletion is fixed.
Exception on using virtual fields in virtual objects is fixed.
Specific Database Server Improvements:
Server version autodetection for MS SQL, MySQL, Oracle, Sybase ASA/ASE, Informix is made.
The FROM keyword is always generated Now for Oracle and DB2 dialects as it is mandatory there.
Oracle: Global pipelined functions can be added from the database objects tree to the query building area.
Oracle: Loading of materialized views is made.
Oracle: Metadata filtration is now applied to relations fetch queries.
Other Improvements:
Delphi XE is supported now.
Bulgarian translation is added; German and French translations are updated.
Metadata Loading Wizard: Loading metadata is split to 3 separate stages: Load Objects, Load Relations and Load Custom Aggregates. This allows to bypass the unnecessary steps in case of failure.
New toolbar buttons in the Main demo demonstrate some standard query builder operations, such as Add new object, Edit query properties, etc.
New demo projects to illustrate programmatic SQL query analysis and modification are added.
API Improvements:
New internal methods to work with datasets are made. Now most of metadata retrieval requests return results in unidirectional read-only datasets.
Field sorting is reverted to original order now when flsNone value is assigned to the FieldsListOptions.SortType property.
Re-sorting fields in datasource field lists is made on changing sort mode.
TacDatasourceGroup: The new methods GetLinks and GetLinksRecursive are added.
DevExpress controls UI fixes:
Better DevExpress Skins support is made for Datasource windows.
Query properties dialog forms look better now with DevExpress controls.
Drawing of the background using DevExpress skins is made.
SQL Syntax fixes:
Oracle: Extract function for XML queries is supported now.
Oracle: RANGE added to the list of valid identifiers.
Oracle: CURSOR expressions are supported now.
Oracle: Aggregates list is corrected.
Oracle: DB Links syntax is fixed.
MS SQL Server: INDEX join hint is fixed.
MS SQL Server: Parameter names can include special symbols now (@, $, _ and #).
MS SQL Server: Char and Nchar built-in functions parser ambiguity is fixed.
MS SQL Server: Field aliases for table-valued functions are allowed now ("select t.f1, t.f2 from TVF() as t(f1,f2)").
Firebird: DateAdd, DateDiff, Overlay, Position builtin functions are added.
Firebird: UPPER built-in function support is fixed.
Interbase: CURRENT_DATE, CURRENT_TIME, CURRENT_TIMESTAMP constants are supported now.
Firebird/InterBase: Parsing queries with parentheses in FROM clause is fixed.
MS Access: The dollar sign ($) is turned to invalid letter for identifiers, built-in functions are added.
MS Access: Built-in function names are removed from the list of correct identifiers.
MySQL: REGEXP and RLIKE functions are supported now.
MySQL: CONVERT function is fixed.
SQLite: Support of string concatenation operator is made ("qwe" || "asd")
We have been using Active Query Builder for over a year and must say that both the product and support have been outstanding!
We chose Active Query Builder due to its flexibility and features, but have been truly pleased by its power and hidden capabilities. ...
In summary Active Query Builder provides excellent components, great support and a very flexible feature set. It has allowed us to provide features to our end users that I did not think would be possible in the first release of our new tools and in a timeframe that was much shorter than planned. I would recommend that anyone dealing with databases in the .Net world should be aware of this component and its capabilities!