Active Query Builder VCL and ActiveX Editions 1.12 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 1.12?
End-user Interface improvements:
Now it is possible to change join type via context popup menu.
Now the user can edit Join expression manually via the Link Properties dialog.
The new menu item is added to the Union Sub-Query context menu to copy the current union sub query to a new one.
The "Move forward" and "Move backward" Union Sub-Query context menu items are renamed to the "Move left" and "Move right" for better understanding.
General improvements:
The component produce an empty query string on empty query builder now.
On saving metadata to XML file in Offline mode, the query builder does not try to load missing object columns from database now. This allows to cache database objects without their fields in XML file. Metadata caching example is added to the Full Featured Demo project.
Loading fields descriptions into metadata container from OLE DB Provider is made.
More optimal grid filling is made when loading criteria and select list items.
All links to database objects and fields point directly to objects of Metadata container, not to their copies.
The internal visual controls destroying method is changed. Now all differences between SQL and SyncSQL properties are eliminated.
MS SQL Server: Ranking functions are supported now.
MS SQL Server: Loading synonyms info for SQL Server 2005 is made.
DB2, PostgreSQL, Firebird and ANSI SQL/92: "NULLS FIRST/LAST" support is added.
Firebird: Empty brackets are suppressed now for stored procedures in the FROM clause.
Oracle: Missing "MONTH", "DAY", "HOUR" and "MINUTE" keywords are added.
Oracle: query builder now loads only metadata objects with granted SELECT right.
Informix syntax: The bug with case sensitivity settings is fixed.
MySQL: Missing "QUARTER" and "WEEK" functions are added.
ActiveX Edition improvements:
The "Safe for scripting" and "Safe for initialization" flags are set now.
The new DenyIntoClause property is added to restrict building of SQL queries containing "SELECT INTO" clause.
The new properties are added to the IMetadataObject and IMetadataField interfaces: ShortDescription and LongDescription.
The new properties are added to get information about objects in the metadata container from the Query Statistics: IStatsFromObject.MetadataObject, IStatsUsedColumn.MetadataObject, IStatsUsedColumn.MetadataField, IStatsOutputColumn.MetadataObject, IStatsOutputColumn.MetadataField.
VCL Edition improvements:
Nexus DB v3.00 connectivity package is added.
Two new events are added to control fields adding from the query building area to expressions grid: TacQueryBuilder.OnDatasourceFieldAdding and TacQueryBuilder.OnDatasourceFieldAdded.
The new TacOutputColumn.MetadataObject property is added to get access to the database object of output field.
The new TacBaseSyntaxProvider.DenyIntoClause property is added to restrict building of SQL queries containing "SELECT INTO" clause.
Two new properties are added to define cardinality of relations between database objects: TacMetadataRelation.KeyCardinality and ChildCardinality.
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!