Microsoft® SQL Server is a powerful Structured Query Language (SQL) database server. With local area network (LAN) software, SQL Server allows clients running the Microsoft® Windows NT®, Windows® 3.x, Windows 95, or MS-DOS® operating systems to access its services. Developers can write applications for SQL Server by programming with the Microsoft Open Database Connectivity (ODBC) call-level application programming interface (API). ODBC enables Windows-based, Windows NT-based, and Windows 95-based applications to access multiple data sources, including a wide range of relational databases such as SQL Server and local indexed sequential access method (ISAM) data. SQL Server also supports the proprietary Microsoft DB-Library for C and Microsoft DB-Library for Visual Basic APIs. In most cases, ODBC and DB-Library are equally useful for developing SQL Server client applications, with the following distinctions. ODBC enables applications to access more data sources. DB-Library provides support for MS-DOS, and some specialized support for SQL Server, such as bulk copy.
Microsoft Open Data Services (ODS) is a server-based API that developers can use to create effective server applications. Applications created with ODS can interact with SQL Server database clients and servers, and with any other elements of a network environment that the developer defines.
Additionally, developers can use Transact-SQL to work with SQL Server data. Transact-SQL provides statements for creating and manipulating database objects, and for inserting, updating, and selecting data.
The following sections present an overview of the Microsoft SQL Server programming tools and highlight development issues that are important to create effective SQL Server applications.