E
eGenix Team: M.-A. Lemburg
________________________________________________________________________
ANNOUNCING
eGenix.com mxODBC Connect
Python ODBC Database Interface
Version 2.1.0
mxODBC Connect is our commercially supported client-server product for
connecting Python applications to relational databases
in a truly platform independent way.
This announcement is also available on our web-site for online reading:
http://www.egenix.com/company/news/eGenix-mxODBC-Connect-2.1.0-GA.html
________________________________________________________________________
INTRODUCTION
The mxODBC Connect Database Interface for Python allows users to
easily connect Python applications to all major databases on the
market today in a highly portable, convenient and secure way.
Python Database Connectivity the Easy Way
-----------------------------------------
Unlike our mxODBC Python extension, mxODBC Connect is designed as
client-server application, so you no longer need to find production
quality ODBC drivers for all the platforms you target with your Python
application.
Instead you use an easy to install royalty-free Python client library
which connects directly to the mxODBC Connect database server over the
network.
This makes mxODBC Connect a great basis for writing cross-platform
multi-tier database applications and utilities in Python, especially
if you run applications that need to communicate with databases such
as MS SQL Server and MS Access, Oracle Database, IBM DB2 and Informix,
Sybase ASE and Sybase Anywhere, MySQL, PostgreSQL, SAP MaxDB and many
more, that run on Windows or Linux machines.
Ideal for Database Driven Client Applications
---------------------------------------------
By removing the need to install and configure ODBC drivers on the
client side and dealing with complicated network setups for each set
of drivers, mxODBC Connect greatly simplifies deployment of database
driven client applications, while at the same time making the network
communication between client and database server more efficient and
more secure.
For more information, please have a look at the mxODBC Connect product
page, in particular, the full list of available features.
For more information, please see the product page:
http://www.egenix.com/products/python/mxODBCConnect/
________________________________________________________________________
NEWS
mxODBC Connect 2.1.0 is a new minor release of our successful mxODBC
Connect product. These are the changes compared to mxODBC Connect
2.0.5.
Update to the mxODBC 3.3 API
----------------------------
mxODBC Connect 2.1 upgrades the mxODBC Connect Client to the new
mxODBC 3.3. APIs and enhancements.
Stored Procedures
* mxODBC Connect now has full support for input, output and
input/output parameters in stored procedures and stored functions,
allowing easy integration with existing databases systems.
User Customizable Row Objects
* Added support for user customizable row objects by adding
cursor/connection .rowfactory and .row constructor attributes. When
set, these are used to wrap the normal row tuples returned by the
.fetch*() methods into dynamically created row objects.
* Added new RowFactory classes to support cursor.rowfactory and
cursor.row. These allow dynamically creating row classes that
provide sequence as well as mapping and attribute access to row
fields - similar to what namedtuples implements, but more efficient
and specific to result sets.
Fast Cursor Types
* Switched to forward-only cursor types for all database backends,
since this provides a much better performance for MS SQL Server and
IBM DB2 drivers.
* Added a new .cursortype attribute to allow adjusting and inspecting
the ODBC cursor type to be used for an mxODBC Connect cursor
object. Default is to use forward-only cursors, but mxODBC also
support several other useful cursor types such as static cursors
with full support for result set scrolling.
More new Features
* Enhanced cursor.prepare() to allow querying cursor.description
right after the prepare step and not only after calling a
cursor.execute*() method.
* Added iterator/generator support to .executemany(). The parameters
list can now be an iterator/generator, if needed.
* Added new connection.dbapi property to easily access module level
symbols from the connection object.
* Timestamp seconds fraction resolution is now determined from the
scale of a datetime/timestamp SQL column, using the
connection.timestampresolution as lower bound, when using SQL type
binding. In Python type binding mode, the
connection.timestampresolution determines the scale with which a
variable is bound. This allows for greater flexibility when dealing
with database backends that don't provide full nano-second second
resolution, such as e.g. MS SQL Server.
* mxODBC Connect accepts Unicode string values for
date/time/datetime/timestamp column types in SQL type binding
mode. Previous versions already did in Python type binding mode.
* mxODBC Connect uses unicode(obj, encoding) semantics when binding
Python objects to SQLWCHAR Unicode database parameters to provide
better compatibility with Python objects. Additionally, it ignores
the encoding in case obj is a number, to avoid conversion errors.
* Added new cursor.encoding attribute. This gets its default values
from the connection the cursor was created on and allows for
per-cursor encoding settings.
* Added cursor.bindmethod which inherits from connection.bindmethod
when creating the cursor. This allows adjusting the variable bind
method on a per-cursor basis, rather than only on a per connection
basis as in previous mxODBC Connect versions.
mxODBC Connect API Enhancements
-------------------------------
* The SQL lookup object is cached on the client side to avoid
frequent roundtrips when using symbols which are needed for stored
procedures with input/output parameters.
* The SQL lookup object received support for new ODBC 3.8 symbols and
values, including driver specific symbols used by the MS SQL Server
Native Client and IBM DB2 ODBC drivers.
* Improved the server side object management to simplify client side
garbage collection considerations. Even though we still encourage
using explicit garbage collection of cursors, connections and
server sessions on the client side, mxODBC Connect Server will now
handle most situations even without these explicit calls.
Asynchronous Processing
-----------------------
* Tested with the latest gevent and greenlet packages. mxODBC Connect
Client will happily work together with the asynchronous libraries
gevent. All it takes is a single configuration entry in the client
side config file.
Security Enhancements
---------------------
* Changed the way passwords are stored in the server's
authorized-users.txt file in order to make password storage more
secure.
* User authentication now uses salted SHA-256 password hashes when
transferring the login data from the client to the server. This
provides better protection when using plain text client server
setups and additional security over SSL network connections.
ODBC Driver/Manager Compatibility Enhancements
----------------------------------------------
unixODBC
* mxODBC Connect Server is now built against unixODBC 2.3.2 on Linux.
DataDirect
* Updated the DataDirect binding to version 7.1.2 of the DataDirect
ODBC manager on Linux.
Oracle
* Added work-around for Oracle Instant Client to be able to use
integer output parameters.
* Added a work-around for Oracle Instant Client to have it return
output parameters based on the input placeholder Python parameter
types. It would otherwise return all parameters as strings.
Disabled a test for Oracle Instant Client which tries to set a
pre-connect connection option for timeouts, since the ODBC driver
segfaults with this option.
MS SQL Server
* mxODBC Connect Server 2.1 defaults to 100ns
connection.timestampresolution for MS SQL Server 2008 and later,
and 1ms resolution for MS SQL server 2005 and earlier. This
simplifies interfacing to SQL Server timestamp columns by
preventing occasional precision errors.
* Tested mxODBC Connect Server successfully with new MS SQL Server
Native Client 11 for Linux. Unicode connection strings still don't
work, but everything else does.
* Added documentation on how to use Kerberos with mxODBC and SQL
Server for authentication on both Windows and Linux to the mxODBC
User Manual.
* Added note about problems of the FreeTDS ODBC driver dealing with
TIME and DATE columns.
Sybase ASE
* Added work-around for the Sybase ASE ODBC driver, which doesn't
always pass back NULL correctly to mxODBC Connect Server on 64-bit
Unix systems.
* Changed the variable type binding mode default for the Sybase ASE
ODBC driver from Python type binding to SQL type binding, which
resolves issues with e.g. the Unicode support for that driver.
* Added note about a segfault problem with the Sybase ASE 15.7 ODBC
driver which is caused by the driver corrupting the heap.
IBM DB2
* Added work-around for the IBM DB2 ODBC driver, which doesn't always
pass back NULL correctly to mxODBC Connect Server on 64-bit Unix
systems.
PostgreSQL
* Added work-around to force Python type binding for the PostgreSQL
ODBC drivers. More recent versions of the driver report supporting
SQL type binding, but they don't implement it.
* Added work-around to have PostgreSQL ODBC drivers properly work
with binary data for BYTEA columns.
MySQL
* mxODBC Connect Server now supports native Unicode with the recent
MySQL ODBC drivers - provided you use the Unicode variants of the
drivers.
* Changed the default binding mode for MySQL ODBC drivers to Python
type binding. This works around a problem with date/time values
when talking to MySQL 5.6 servers.
For the full set of changes, including those of the 2.0 series of
mxODBC Connect, please check the mxODBC Connect change log.
http://www.egenix.com/products/python/mxODBCConnect/changelog.html
________________________________________________________________________
UPGRADING
You are encouraged to upgrade to this latest mxODBC Connect release.
When upgrading, please always upgrade both the server and the client
installations to the same version - even for patch level releases.
We will give out 20% discount coupons for upgrade purchases going from
mxODBC Connect Server 1.x to 2.1 and 50% coupons for upgrades from
mxODBC 2.x to 2.1. Please contact the eGenix.com Sales Team
([email protected]) with your existing license serials for details.
Users of our stand-alone mxODBC product will have to purchase new
licenses from our online shop in order to use mxODBC Connect.
You can request free 30-day evaluation licenses by visiting our
web-site or writing to (e-mail address removed), stating your name (or the
name of the company) and the number of eval licenses that you need.
http://www.egenix.com/products/python/mxODBCConnect/#Evaluation
________________________________________________________________________
DOWNLOADS
The download archives as well as instructions for installation and
configuration of the product can be found on the product page:
http://www.egenix.com/products/python/mxODBCConnect/
If you want to try the package, jump straight to the download
instructions:
https://cms.egenix.com/products/python/mxODBCConnect/#Download
Fully functional evaluation licenses for the mxODBC Connect Server are
available free of charge:
http://www.egenix.com/products/python/mxODBCConnect/#Evaluation
mxODBC Connect Client is always free of charge.
_______________________________________________________________________
SUPPORT
Commercial support for this product is available from eGenix.com.
Please see
http://www.egenix.com/services/support/
for details about our support offerings.
_______________________________________________________________________
INFORMATION
About Python (http://www.python.org/):
Python is an object-oriented Open Source programming language
which runs on all modern platforms. By integrating ease-of-use,
clarity in coding, enterprise application connectivity and rapid
application design, Python establishes an ideal programming
platform for today's IT challenges.
About eGenix (http://www.egenix.com/):
eGenix is a software project, consulting and product company
focusing on expert project services and professional quality
products for companies, Python users and developers.
Enjoy,
--
Marc-Andre Lemburg
eGenix.com
Professional Python Services directly from the Source (#1, May 28 2014)________________________________________________________________________
::::: Try our mxODBC.Connect Python Database Interface for free ! ::::::
eGenix.com Software, Skills and Services GmbH Pastor-Loeh-Str.48
D-40764 Langenfeld, Germany. CEO Dipl.-Math. Marc-Andre Lemburg
Registered at Amtsgericht Duesseldorf: HRB 46611
http://www.egenix.com/company/contact/
ANNOUNCING
eGenix.com mxODBC Connect
Python ODBC Database Interface
Version 2.1.0
mxODBC Connect is our commercially supported client-server product for
connecting Python applications to relational databases
in a truly platform independent way.
This announcement is also available on our web-site for online reading:
http://www.egenix.com/company/news/eGenix-mxODBC-Connect-2.1.0-GA.html
________________________________________________________________________
INTRODUCTION
The mxODBC Connect Database Interface for Python allows users to
easily connect Python applications to all major databases on the
market today in a highly portable, convenient and secure way.
Python Database Connectivity the Easy Way
-----------------------------------------
Unlike our mxODBC Python extension, mxODBC Connect is designed as
client-server application, so you no longer need to find production
quality ODBC drivers for all the platforms you target with your Python
application.
Instead you use an easy to install royalty-free Python client library
which connects directly to the mxODBC Connect database server over the
network.
This makes mxODBC Connect a great basis for writing cross-platform
multi-tier database applications and utilities in Python, especially
if you run applications that need to communicate with databases such
as MS SQL Server and MS Access, Oracle Database, IBM DB2 and Informix,
Sybase ASE and Sybase Anywhere, MySQL, PostgreSQL, SAP MaxDB and many
more, that run on Windows or Linux machines.
Ideal for Database Driven Client Applications
---------------------------------------------
By removing the need to install and configure ODBC drivers on the
client side and dealing with complicated network setups for each set
of drivers, mxODBC Connect greatly simplifies deployment of database
driven client applications, while at the same time making the network
communication between client and database server more efficient and
more secure.
For more information, please have a look at the mxODBC Connect product
page, in particular, the full list of available features.
For more information, please see the product page:
http://www.egenix.com/products/python/mxODBCConnect/
________________________________________________________________________
NEWS
mxODBC Connect 2.1.0 is a new minor release of our successful mxODBC
Connect product. These are the changes compared to mxODBC Connect
2.0.5.
Update to the mxODBC 3.3 API
----------------------------
mxODBC Connect 2.1 upgrades the mxODBC Connect Client to the new
mxODBC 3.3. APIs and enhancements.
Stored Procedures
* mxODBC Connect now has full support for input, output and
input/output parameters in stored procedures and stored functions,
allowing easy integration with existing databases systems.
User Customizable Row Objects
* Added support for user customizable row objects by adding
cursor/connection .rowfactory and .row constructor attributes. When
set, these are used to wrap the normal row tuples returned by the
.fetch*() methods into dynamically created row objects.
* Added new RowFactory classes to support cursor.rowfactory and
cursor.row. These allow dynamically creating row classes that
provide sequence as well as mapping and attribute access to row
fields - similar to what namedtuples implements, but more efficient
and specific to result sets.
Fast Cursor Types
* Switched to forward-only cursor types for all database backends,
since this provides a much better performance for MS SQL Server and
IBM DB2 drivers.
* Added a new .cursortype attribute to allow adjusting and inspecting
the ODBC cursor type to be used for an mxODBC Connect cursor
object. Default is to use forward-only cursors, but mxODBC also
support several other useful cursor types such as static cursors
with full support for result set scrolling.
More new Features
* Enhanced cursor.prepare() to allow querying cursor.description
right after the prepare step and not only after calling a
cursor.execute*() method.
* Added iterator/generator support to .executemany(). The parameters
list can now be an iterator/generator, if needed.
* Added new connection.dbapi property to easily access module level
symbols from the connection object.
* Timestamp seconds fraction resolution is now determined from the
scale of a datetime/timestamp SQL column, using the
connection.timestampresolution as lower bound, when using SQL type
binding. In Python type binding mode, the
connection.timestampresolution determines the scale with which a
variable is bound. This allows for greater flexibility when dealing
with database backends that don't provide full nano-second second
resolution, such as e.g. MS SQL Server.
* mxODBC Connect accepts Unicode string values for
date/time/datetime/timestamp column types in SQL type binding
mode. Previous versions already did in Python type binding mode.
* mxODBC Connect uses unicode(obj, encoding) semantics when binding
Python objects to SQLWCHAR Unicode database parameters to provide
better compatibility with Python objects. Additionally, it ignores
the encoding in case obj is a number, to avoid conversion errors.
* Added new cursor.encoding attribute. This gets its default values
from the connection the cursor was created on and allows for
per-cursor encoding settings.
* Added cursor.bindmethod which inherits from connection.bindmethod
when creating the cursor. This allows adjusting the variable bind
method on a per-cursor basis, rather than only on a per connection
basis as in previous mxODBC Connect versions.
mxODBC Connect API Enhancements
-------------------------------
* The SQL lookup object is cached on the client side to avoid
frequent roundtrips when using symbols which are needed for stored
procedures with input/output parameters.
* The SQL lookup object received support for new ODBC 3.8 symbols and
values, including driver specific symbols used by the MS SQL Server
Native Client and IBM DB2 ODBC drivers.
* Improved the server side object management to simplify client side
garbage collection considerations. Even though we still encourage
using explicit garbage collection of cursors, connections and
server sessions on the client side, mxODBC Connect Server will now
handle most situations even without these explicit calls.
Asynchronous Processing
-----------------------
* Tested with the latest gevent and greenlet packages. mxODBC Connect
Client will happily work together with the asynchronous libraries
gevent. All it takes is a single configuration entry in the client
side config file.
Security Enhancements
---------------------
* Changed the way passwords are stored in the server's
authorized-users.txt file in order to make password storage more
secure.
* User authentication now uses salted SHA-256 password hashes when
transferring the login data from the client to the server. This
provides better protection when using plain text client server
setups and additional security over SSL network connections.
ODBC Driver/Manager Compatibility Enhancements
----------------------------------------------
unixODBC
* mxODBC Connect Server is now built against unixODBC 2.3.2 on Linux.
DataDirect
* Updated the DataDirect binding to version 7.1.2 of the DataDirect
ODBC manager on Linux.
Oracle
* Added work-around for Oracle Instant Client to be able to use
integer output parameters.
* Added a work-around for Oracle Instant Client to have it return
output parameters based on the input placeholder Python parameter
types. It would otherwise return all parameters as strings.
Disabled a test for Oracle Instant Client which tries to set a
pre-connect connection option for timeouts, since the ODBC driver
segfaults with this option.
MS SQL Server
* mxODBC Connect Server 2.1 defaults to 100ns
connection.timestampresolution for MS SQL Server 2008 and later,
and 1ms resolution for MS SQL server 2005 and earlier. This
simplifies interfacing to SQL Server timestamp columns by
preventing occasional precision errors.
* Tested mxODBC Connect Server successfully with new MS SQL Server
Native Client 11 for Linux. Unicode connection strings still don't
work, but everything else does.
* Added documentation on how to use Kerberos with mxODBC and SQL
Server for authentication on both Windows and Linux to the mxODBC
User Manual.
* Added note about problems of the FreeTDS ODBC driver dealing with
TIME and DATE columns.
Sybase ASE
* Added work-around for the Sybase ASE ODBC driver, which doesn't
always pass back NULL correctly to mxODBC Connect Server on 64-bit
Unix systems.
* Changed the variable type binding mode default for the Sybase ASE
ODBC driver from Python type binding to SQL type binding, which
resolves issues with e.g. the Unicode support for that driver.
* Added note about a segfault problem with the Sybase ASE 15.7 ODBC
driver which is caused by the driver corrupting the heap.
IBM DB2
* Added work-around for the IBM DB2 ODBC driver, which doesn't always
pass back NULL correctly to mxODBC Connect Server on 64-bit Unix
systems.
PostgreSQL
* Added work-around to force Python type binding for the PostgreSQL
ODBC drivers. More recent versions of the driver report supporting
SQL type binding, but they don't implement it.
* Added work-around to have PostgreSQL ODBC drivers properly work
with binary data for BYTEA columns.
MySQL
* mxODBC Connect Server now supports native Unicode with the recent
MySQL ODBC drivers - provided you use the Unicode variants of the
drivers.
* Changed the default binding mode for MySQL ODBC drivers to Python
type binding. This works around a problem with date/time values
when talking to MySQL 5.6 servers.
For the full set of changes, including those of the 2.0 series of
mxODBC Connect, please check the mxODBC Connect change log.
http://www.egenix.com/products/python/mxODBCConnect/changelog.html
________________________________________________________________________
UPGRADING
You are encouraged to upgrade to this latest mxODBC Connect release.
When upgrading, please always upgrade both the server and the client
installations to the same version - even for patch level releases.
We will give out 20% discount coupons for upgrade purchases going from
mxODBC Connect Server 1.x to 2.1 and 50% coupons for upgrades from
mxODBC 2.x to 2.1. Please contact the eGenix.com Sales Team
([email protected]) with your existing license serials for details.
Users of our stand-alone mxODBC product will have to purchase new
licenses from our online shop in order to use mxODBC Connect.
You can request free 30-day evaluation licenses by visiting our
web-site or writing to (e-mail address removed), stating your name (or the
name of the company) and the number of eval licenses that you need.
http://www.egenix.com/products/python/mxODBCConnect/#Evaluation
________________________________________________________________________
DOWNLOADS
The download archives as well as instructions for installation and
configuration of the product can be found on the product page:
http://www.egenix.com/products/python/mxODBCConnect/
If you want to try the package, jump straight to the download
instructions:
https://cms.egenix.com/products/python/mxODBCConnect/#Download
Fully functional evaluation licenses for the mxODBC Connect Server are
available free of charge:
http://www.egenix.com/products/python/mxODBCConnect/#Evaluation
mxODBC Connect Client is always free of charge.
_______________________________________________________________________
SUPPORT
Commercial support for this product is available from eGenix.com.
Please see
http://www.egenix.com/services/support/
for details about our support offerings.
_______________________________________________________________________
INFORMATION
About Python (http://www.python.org/):
Python is an object-oriented Open Source programming language
which runs on all modern platforms. By integrating ease-of-use,
clarity in coding, enterprise application connectivity and rapid
application design, Python establishes an ideal programming
platform for today's IT challenges.
About eGenix (http://www.egenix.com/):
eGenix is a software project, consulting and product company
focusing on expert project services and professional quality
products for companies, Python users and developers.
Enjoy,
--
Marc-Andre Lemburg
eGenix.com
Professional Python Services directly from the Source (#1, May 28 2014)________________________________________________________________________
::::: Try our mxODBC.Connect Python Database Interface for free ! ::::::
eGenix.com Software, Skills and Services GmbH Pastor-Loeh-Str.48
D-40764 Langenfeld, Germany. CEO Dipl.-Math. Marc-Andre Lemburg
Registered at Amtsgericht Duesseldorf: HRB 46611
http://www.egenix.com/company/contact/