The Windows
Sockets Interface Standard (Winsock)
Open
Database Connectivity Without Compromise !
The OpenLink Request Agent, forms the client side of OpenLink ODBC (MT) Driver's, High Performance, Database Independent Communications Layer. Thus its messages are conveyed over your desktop TCP/IP package's, transport layer. The OpenLink Request Agent is a WINSOCK compliant communications object, enabling it to support numerous desktop TCP/IP products, as long as they are WINSOCK compliant
The Windows Sockets Interface standard (Winsock), is a Microsoft standard that provides a common Application Programming Interface (API), to the numerous commercially available desktop TCP/IP products.
If the Winsock standard didn't exist, the number of desktop TCP/IP products supported by OpenLink's Request Agent, would be substantially reduced, and the development effort substantially increased. As the OpenLink Request Agents communications components would need to be written using the different sockets programming API's for each desktop TCP/IP product, that it needed to support.
All the major desktop TCP/IP vendors are either already providing TCP/IP stacks that are Winsock compliant, or rapidly implementing Winsock compliance within their TCP/IP stacks.
The Winsock standard stipulates that, desktop TCP/IP products provide Winsock compliance via TCP/IP stack drivers, presented to your Windows operating system as a Dynamic Link Library named WINSOCK.DLL. The existence of this TCP/IP stack driver (WINSOCK.DLL) on your system, is a key indicator of your desktop TCP/IP product's Winsock compliance
As with most standards, Winsock isn't without it problems. Like the ODBC standard the initial instinct on the part of end-users and developers, was to look to the relevant database vendors, as the sole source of ODBC drivers. In the same manner, end-users and developers have looked to the desktop TCP/IP product vendors to be the sole source of Winsock drivers. The problem with this approach is that no two Winsock drivers are exactly the same, in terms of the levels of the standard that they conform to, or their runtime performance and flexibility.
As you can imagine combining ODBC and WINSOCK, could provide with just as much frustration, as satisfaction, if you do not completely understand the potential for vendor conflicts, at this very import level within the Client-Server Computing model's hierarchy.
As already exemplified by ODBC, third parties are increasingly being recognized as the source of viable, and more cost effective Winsock drivers. Thus, just as OpenLink has pioneered the concept of a Generic ODBC driver, equipped with a database independent communications layer. JSB Computer Systems Ltd, has pioneered the concept of a Generic Winsock Driver, that works, consistently over numerous desktop TCP/IP, and non TCP/IP network communications products.
JSB Computer System's generic Winsock compliant transport layer driver is available as an add-on product to the OpenLink ODBC (MT) Driver product.
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