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Highlights: IBM releases Informix Dynamic Server 11.70 Welcome to the International Informix Users Group (IIUG) Insider! Designed for IIUG members and Informix user group leaders, this publication contains timely and relevant information for the IBM Informix community. Contents:
My phone rang. Gibi was on the other side of the line. "Where have you been?" he asked. "At the IOD conference. Why didn't you come?" I asked. "Could not afford it," replied Gibi. "I will try to make it to the IIUG conference". "Good," I said. "So what are you up to this time?" "I am starting a newsletter. The Outsider." "Great idea. The more the merrier. And where will you publish it?" "You will do it for me. You will publish the Outsider in the Insider." "Isn't it a little confusing?" I asked. "You confuse your readers anyway. That's why I want to start with an interview so people can know what you really think." So here it goes. The IIUG Outsider (Issue #1) An interview with Gary Ben-Israel, the IIUG Insider Editor.
Gibi Many people asked me if Gibi is a real person. Well of course he is. Many of you know him. Gibi is not his real name but other than that he is a long time loyal Informix user. Gary Ben-Israel
IBM releases Informix Dynamic Server 11.70 IBM Informix 11.70 delivers grid and enhanced embed capabilities for industry-leading flexibility, reliability, speed, and efficiency. At a glance Informix 11.70 offers:
Like the previous releases Informix 11.7 is loaded with features increasing performance, security, embedability, ease of use etc... Once again Informix DBAs and developers are ecstatic about the new release. But there are two features that go beyond the technical level. The Flexible Grid along with the Seamless, transactional continuity during failover offer unique capabilities:
Making Informix 11.7 a CIO's dream come true Learn more about Informix 11.7 at: http://www.iiug.org/url/informix_11.7_announcement.html
2011 IIUG Conference Registration is now open! Registration for the 2011 International Informix User Group Conference is now open. Join us in Overland Park, Kansas, May 15 - 18, 2011 for the largest gathering of Informix professionals. This year's conference promises to be the best conference to date. The conference will contain the most Informix content at the most reasonable cost. Conference registration includes three full days of Informix topics including over 80 technical user sessions and several hands-on labs presented by top IBM and Informix user professionals. The conference kicks-off Sunday evening with the welcome reception and concludes after Wednesday's full day of sessions. You will also have access to all conference networking events and quality Informix product vendors. Consider starting the conference early by signing up for one or more tutorials to be offered on Sunday, May 15th, for a nominal fee. Take advantage of early bird pricing and register by January 31, 2011 to save $125 off the regular conference price. IIUG members who register online prior to May 1, 2011 are eligible for an additional $100 savings. If you are not currently a member and want to take advantage of this savings sign up today at: http://www.iiug.org/iiug/join.html. Visit http://www.iiug.org/conf/2011/iiug/register.php for additional registration prices and details. Speaker Deadline Submission Extended The deadline to submit speaker proposals has been extended from November 1 to November 15, 2010. If you are still contemplating speaking at the conference, we require a brief description of your presentation and biography by November 15th. Conference speakers are provided with a complimentary pass providing access to conference sessions, meals and conference related networking events. For more information and to register your proposal, go to http://www.iiug.org/conf/speakers. IIUG Conference "Friends" Sign up as a friend of the 2011 IIUG Conference and receive timely updates related to the conference and pertinent information concerning Informix and Informix products. Visit our Facebook account at http://www.iiug.org/url/conf_facebook.html and become a friend today. See you at the conference. The IIUG Planning Committee IBM Information On Demand Global Conference 2010 - RecapThe Information On Demand 2010 topped all its predecessors. More attendees (over 10,000), more topics, more sessions, actually more of everything. The "smart site" an online website enabled the conference attendees to be updated in real time, fill evaluation forms and participate in poles. Three new software releases Cognos 10, DB2 10 for Z OS, and Informix 11.7 (11.7 steps ahead of them). Naturally I will focus on the Informix part. I did not attend other sessions so I have no choice. If you missed the 37 Informix Sessions and hands-on labs your only chance to get up to date is to register for the IIUG Informix conference 2011. If you did not, I am sure that, like me, you gathered valuable information on the new features in 11.70 and more. If this is the case you are, like me, an Informix fan and will not miss the IIUG Informix conference 2011. New Features in 11.70: http://www.ibm.com/software/data/informix/
Advanced Data Tools How to become the FASTEST Informix DBA! November 15-18, 2010 - Advanced Informix Performance Tuning Course This course is for database administrators and application developers who will be responsible for managing, optimizing, and tuning an IDS database server. The focus is on skills, procedures, and scripts to improve the performance of your database server. The course will provide a toolkit of scripts and utilities to start monitoring and optimizing your IDS database server. (Cost $2,000 USD) Class times are 9am to 5pm; dress is casual. See http://www.advancedatatools.com/OurCompany/DirectionsMapsHotels.pdf for directions and hotels near Advanced DataTools' Office. For information and to register visit http://www.advancedatatools.com/Training/InformixTraining.html or call 703-256-0267 x101. Informix Tech Day Tuesday, November 9, 2010 Now that Informix 11.70 (Panther) has been released we can share with you some more details about our Washington Area Informix User Group Tech Day. This will be a deep technical dive into what is in the new release by John Miller III, STSM, Embedability Architect from IBM. Art Kagel and Lester Knutsen will also share with you the results of our hands-on tests with the beta and pre-release of Informix 11.70 and performance improvements. Washington Area Informix User Group - Informix Tech Day - A FREE event for Informix Users Date: Tuesday, November 9, 2010 9:00am to 5:00pm Agenda:
Please join us for this event. This event is FREE. Registration is required. Register at http://www.iiug.org/waiug/. IBMSupport Get Empowered with IBM Software Subscription and Support Software Subscription and Support keeps your mission critical software up to date - making your organization smarter, greener and more cost effective. Active Subscription and Support extends that value of your software with enhancements and new releases available to you without additional upgrade purchases. This increases your ROI, simplifies budgeting and gives you the flexibility to plan the upgrades to your systems. Stay current on your IM Subscription and Support and watch this short video to learn more about how Subscription & Support delivers real value for your business success. Books Go green and purchase eBooks Lately, everyone is talking about eBooks and eReading devices. IBM is at the leading edge of this movement toward green books for our products and technologies.
Visit IBM Redbooks! (http://www.redbooks.ibm.com/) Visit IBM Press (http://www.ibmpressbooks.com) Certification New Information Management Professional Certification
Education Drive your 2011 success, Request a complimentary Information Management Training Plan! One of the most important factors in determining an IT project's success is the team's skill level. As you plan and budget for 2011, make sure your team has the skills to drive your projects' success. IBM Training Plans help you budget accurately To build an accurate budget, consider: Which team members need training? What kind of training? How soon? Once your needs are determined, IBM offers complimentary training plans to match. Get started and request your complimentary training plan. Simply complete the online request form and Information Management Training experts will work with you to develop a custom training plan for your entire team that addresses:
Learn more! Grow your Information Management skills for less with new discounts on the IBM Education Pack Reach your skill-building goals and save money,too! For a limited time, IBM is offering new discounts on the IBM Education Pack-online account. When you invest at least $25,000 in the IBM Education Pack - online account, you will save 15%! Train your entire team for less! This special promotional discount expires January 23, 2011. Learn more! IBM Training Netbook Offer -Time is running out! Get a Lenovo netbook when you enroll in an eligible class by October 29 and complete the class by December 17, 2010, it's that simple! Don't wait, only days left! Custom Private Onsite Data Management Courses Did you know that we can customize private onsite Information Management courses by mixing and matching modules from existing courses as necessary to meet your client's specific training requirements. Learn more by sending an email to: Get peace of mind when you register for an Information Management Guaranteed to Run (GTR) Class Enroll in one of our GTR classes and rest assured that the class will be held. When you make your training plans, you want to know that the time you're taking and the effort you're making won't go to waste. Be confident that your class will run - no matter what. See if the training you want is Guaranteed to Run, there are more than 30 Information Management courses currently available! http://www.iiug.org/url/info_management.html
New in DeveloperWorks IBM Informix Developer's Handbook
Compare the Informix Version 11 editions
Informix DBA: Building Fast Data Warehouse Schemas: Part 3
NewsBytes: Issue 4, 2010
For more information go to DeveloperWorks - Informix: http://www.iiug.org/url/devworks.html
Informix on Campus The Informix on Campus team has had a very busy year visiting places all around the world, and still 3 months remain in 2010! Here are our highlights: USA
INTERNATIONAL
For more details on those highlights, visit our blog at http://informixoncampus.blogspot.com. We always would love to have your help! Please contact us at idsoncampus@us.ibm.com if you are interested in conducting an Informix in a Box session or have ideas. Finally, we are excited to announce that the Informix 11.50 Application Developer Exam (556) is out! It is available at http://www.ibm.com/certify/tests/ovr556.shtml. Vital links: Website (coming): http://www.informixoncampus.org/
IBM Helps Organizations Boost Business Performance With New Informix Database Software DHL, Rol Manufacturing, Oncor and M Systems International reduce costs, work more efficiently... http://www.iiug.org/url/oct2010_news1.html IBM Acquires PSS Systems, Updates Informix In related news, IBM unveiled the latest version of its Informix database software. The new version of IBM Informix is designed to help companies power business analytics along with transactional applications. To handle the growing volume of data, the new software also includes time series data management and data compression. IBM is also introducing the new IBM Informix Flexible Grid, which gives clients the ability to scale data management across regional or global clusters while mixing different hardware and operating systems. The Informix Flexible Grid keeps data available to applications at all times, even during planned maintenance and upgrades, without the need for temporary hardware. http://www.iiug.org/url/oct2010_news2.html Informix Database Updated For Performance IBM has released Informix 11.7, an updated database with an emphasis on performance enhancements. It has also added Innovator-C Edition as a free download. "There are quite a few features that contributed to the performance - for warehouse improvement the primary ones were star/snowflake schema optimisations and multi-index scans," noted Bernie Spang, director of database software and systems marketing... http://www.iiug.org/url/oct2010_news3.html A New Appreciation for Database Performance This is one of the reasons we suddenly see IBM promoting its Informix database. For the past 10 years, the Informix database has been the red-headed stepchild of DB2. But there are certain performance attributes of Informix that make it more suitable for processing significant amounts of data in real time... http://www.iiug.org/url/oct2010_news4html IBM talks up data pedigree and time-stamped information - Taking advantage of data to reduce fraud and retain customers Spang claimed that IBM's TimeSeries tool, recently added to the latest release of Informix 7.11 database software, will help more businesses to benefit from this new type of data... http://www.iiug.org/url/oct2010_news5.html
Informix 11.07 Workshops in Germany, Austria and Switzerland Six one day workshops on Informix 11.70 across Germany, Austria and Switzerland in November! Discover the new cat in town: Informix 11.70, code named "Panther" comes to a location close to you in Germany, Austria and Switzerland. During the six free one day workshops you will get to know the new features in 11.70 like the Informix Flexible Grid, new and enhanced application development features like e.g. the integrated time series data type, powerful new embeddability features like automatic storage provisioning and memory management, significant data warehouse and OLTP performance enhancements plus much more. The dates and locations for those workshops are: November 9th, 2010 in Munich, Germany November 10th, 2010 in Vienna, Austria November 11th, 2010 in Duesseldorf, Germany November 16th, 2010 in Zurich, Switzerland November 17th, 2010 in Berlin, Germany November 23rd, 2010 in Stuttgart-Ehningen, Germany All workshops are being delivered in German language. For more details, the final agenda and registration please visit the following web site: http://www.ibm.com/de/events/informix/.
Hibernate with Informix Hibernate is an open source Java object-relational mapping (ORM) and persistence framework that allows you to map Plain Old Java Objects (POJO) to relational database tables. It provides a data query language independent to JDBC or SQL statements which helps to speed up the development of Java applications using different relational databases such as Informix or DB2. Relational databases stored the information in a tabular way which differs to the normal representations of data in an object-orientated programming language as Java. Hibernate maps the database objects such as tables or rows, into Java objects like objects with attributes and methods. As of version 3.6 Hibernate supports JPA 2. What is JPA? JPA stands for Java Persistence API - a standardized interface for Java Persistence that persistence providers implement. Hibernate is one such JPA provider. JPA 2 includes (influenced by Hibernate) General/Unified configuration parameters. Example: javax.persistence.jdbc.driver (Hibernate specific equivalent is: hibernate.connection.driver_class) javax.persistence.jdbc.user (Hibernate specific equivalent is: hibernate.connection.username) javax.persistence.jdbc.password (Hibernate specific equivalent is: hibernate.connection.password) javax.persistence.jdbc.url (Hibernate specific equivalent is: hibernate.connection.url) Note: Hibernate Core 3.6 requires JDK 1.5 or higher (3.5 requires JDK 1.4 or higher) To be able to use Hibernate with an Informix database, first you need to download the Hibernate API, you can get the latest Hibernate API from: http://sourceforge.net/projects/hibernate/files/hibernate3/ Just download hibernate-distribution-3.6.0.Final-dist.zip and everything is in it. Fun isn't it? ? From the Hibernate package you need the following jars: hibernate3.jar In addition to the Hibernate classes, you'll need the Informix JDBC (included with the Informix database server) and one of the implementation of the SLF4J (Simple Logging Facade for Java) which you can get from http://www.slf4j.org/download.html. (If you are using a build manager like Apache Maven you can define all your dependencies and there is no need to remember the different jars. A good thing done by hibernate was consolidating al the main components into one jar so there is no longer a need for what was known as compatibility matrix.) From the Informix JDBC driver, we need the following class: ifxjdbc.jar and from the SLF4J package: SLF4J-api-1.5.8.jar First step is to include all these jars into your classpath: A basic Hibernate application needs the following files:
The Hibernate configuration files are 'hibernate.properties' or 'hibernate.cfg.xml'. These files contains information that Hibernate needs to connect to the database server. Details such as name of the JDBC driver class, ConnectionString, and authentication details are stored here. A 'hibernate.cfg.xml' using the informix JDBC driver looks like: A configuration parameter worth mentioning is: It is valuable for debugging your application. Parameters like 'connection.driver_class' and 'dialect' are used to specify the JDBC driver to use and the dialect to use. A Hibernate dialect is a Java class that contains specific details regarding the SQL syntax that is needed to communicate with a particular database. Next step is to create a file with the information to map the objects in the database. The mapping file tells Hibernate what table in the database it has to access, and what columns in that table it should use. It also provides support features, such as creating the database schema and relationship between the objects. These details are used by the Hibernate libraries to generate SQL statements automatically, including Data Definition Language (DDL) and Data Manipulation Language (DML). The HibernateUtil class is used to interact with the Hibernate service. It performs the operations related to the Hibernate SessionFactory classes that provide a convenient way for the application to access the Hibernate session. This is how a helper class looks like: Persistence Java objects can be defined using Plain Old Java Objects (POJO) syntax. These objects will represent the database objects inside the Java application. The following code shows the definition for the 'State' object: An example using annotations (With some extra attributes) The object has three properties (id, code, and sname) and the usual methods to set and get those properties, such as 'setCode()' or 'setSname()'. The 'id' attribute is used to uniquely identify the Java persistence object. Entities must follow the JavaBean conventions - i.e. getter and setters, equals/hashcode, must be serializable and must have a public or protected no-arg constructor. The Hibernate API can generate the DDL to create the database table automatically using the Java object properties. The last step is to create a Java application to use our Hibernate persistence Object. The Java object is used in the same way as any other object, the only difference is that we can make it 'persist' (saved it into the database) using the Hibernate session helper class. This example shows how to create an instance of the 'State' object we defined before: The method 'Session.save()' is used to save the Java object 'myState'. After compiling and running the code, you can check what has happend in the database: The 'States' table has been created in the database which contains the Java object 'myState': You can update the information in the table using the Java object methods like setsname() or setcode() This code shows how to update the 'sname' column through the java object: One of the main features of using Hibernate is that it abstracts the JDBC layer from the application. Thus, applications written using the Hibernate API are not tied to a specific JDBC driver or relational database server. You can find more information about how to use Hibernate with Informix, in a recently published IBM redbook 'IBM Informix Developer's Handbook' (SG24-7884-00): http://www.redbooks.ibm.com/abstracts/sg247884.html?Open You may also look at Envers which is now part of Hibernate: Javier Sagrera
Informix Blogs and things
http://www.iiug.org/quicklinks.html
The International Informix Users Group (IIUG) is an organization designed to enhance communications between its worldwide user community and IBM. The IIUG's membership database now exceeds 25,000 entries and enjoys the support and commitment of IBM's Data Management division. Key programs include local user groups and special interest groups, which we promote and assist from launch through growth.
For comments, please send an email to gary@iiug.org. |
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