> Mike Mascari <mascarm@mascari.com> writes:
> > Please don't. It seems true that Microsoft has enabled a mode for
> > SQL Server, but the main problem was Access. And Access 95/97 has
> > a huge installed base of users that would not be able to use its
> > automated query tools with PostgreSQL.
> 
> That was what I was afraid of :-(.  Question though: if MS has changed
> the default behavior of their server to be (more) 
> SQL-compliant, aren't
> these folks being forced to update their Access installs anyway?
> Presumably those old versions do not know how to select the 
> non-default
> behavior of SQL Server, so they're gonna be incompatible with newer
> servers despite the nominal presence of a workaround.

Can somebody enlighten me as to *when* Access creates a query that has
"=null" in it?

I just tried to reproduce it, and I failed. 

I type		Access 97SR2	Access 2000SR1
------		------------	--------------
=NULL			Is Null		=Null
IS NULL		Is Null		Is Null
<>NULL		Is Not Null		Is Not Null
IS NOT NULL		Is Not Null		Is Not Null


Seems to me that Access 2000 *allows* you to write =Null, but if you write
"Is Null" (correct), it will leave it alone. And <>NULL is always converted
to Is Not Null.

I don't have any Access 95 around - but it's so old that hardly anybody
should be using it anymore, right? :-)


Problem is that it's too easy to change your MS SQL Installation to work in
"the old way". Simply have the clients click in a box when they create the
ODBC datasource. The downside of backwards compatibilty is not forcing
people to fix their stuff :-)


//Magnus

Fri, 4 Aug 2000 10:12:57 +0200 
Magnus Hagander <mha@sollentuna.net>
RE: comparing rows 
Magnus Hagander wrote:
> 
> Can somebody enlighten me as to *when* Access creates a query that has
> "=null" in it?
> 
> I just tried to reproduce it, and I failed.
> 

The problem appears (just from a quick look at the mail archive)
to manifest itself when Access generates queries to handle Forms
processing. Below is a sample issue that people had when using
Access 97 w/PostgreSQL:

------------------------------------------------------
From: mmw@paradise.net.nz 
To: pgsql-interfaces@postgresql.org 
Subject: Access ODBC worries 
Date: Thu, 12 Aug 1999 16:44:41 +1200 (NZST) 

Hi All

I have been battling with a problem now for days. I have a linked
form in Access 97 to linked tables to a PGSQL backend via ODBC.
The code works well, but after the form has been on the screen
for about 20 minutes idling or doing something (makes no
difference) then all hell breaks loose.  The computer tries to
requery the form data from the backend in a very strange way. 
The odbc log file output at the bottom of this message explains
the problem in greater detail.

...

<ODBC log follows>

...

------------------------------------------------------------
hdbc=91652364, stmt=91555964, result=0
manual_result=0, prepare=0, internal=0
bindings=0, bindings_allocated=0
parameters=92605260, parameters_allocated=1
statement_type=0, statement='SELECT "Toplevel time
recordal"."oid" FROM "Toplevel time
recordal" WHERE ("File link" =  ? ) ORDER BY "Startdate"  DESC '
stmt_with_params='SELECT "Toplevel time recordal"."oid" FROM
"Toplevel time recordal"
WHERE ("File link" =  NULL ) ORDER BY "Startdate"  DESC '
data_at_exec=-1, current_exec_param=-1, put_data=0
currTuple=-1, current_col=-1, lobj_fd=-1
maxRows=0, rowset_size=1, keyset_size=0, cursor_type=0,
scroll_concurrency=1
cursor_name='SQL_CUR0575087C'
----------------QResult Info -------------------------------
CONN ERROR: func=SC_execute, desc='', errnum=110, errmsg='ERROR: 
parser: parse error
at or near "null"'

------------------------------------------------------

I'll attempt to provide an easily repeatable operation, but the
problem *does* exist in Access 97.

Mike Mascari

Fri, 04 Aug 2000 05:15:11 -0400
Mike Mascari <mascarm@mascari.com>
Re: comparing rows