1.5 About This Manual

1.5.1 Assumptions

This manual is an introduction to the Rogue Wave class library DBTools.h++. It assumes that you are familiar with C++ and the basics of relational databases and SQL. If you are new to C++, please note that there is a bibliography helpful for learning the language in the Tools.h++ User's Guide.

If you are an advanced C++ user, we invite you to check the bibliography in this document.

1.5.2 Special Conventions

The DBTools.h++ documentation uses typographic conventions and pathname conventions similar to other Rogue Wave documentation. These conventions are summarized in the following tables:

Table 3 -- Typographic conventions

Conventions	Purpose	Example
`Courier`	Function names, code, directories, file names, examples, and operating system commands. SQL code is slightly larger than C++code.	`RWDBDatabase::connection()` `cout << "Error Processing:"`
italic	SQL variables Conventional uses, such as new terms and titles.	<table> The core library provides... Class Reference
*bold italic*	Class names, unnumbered subheads, and emphasis.	*RWDBConnection*
bold	Rogue Wave products. Conventional uses such as emphasis. Commands from an interface.	DBTools.h++ You should always read the manual. Click the OK button
... (or vertical ellipses)	Indicates part of the code is missing from an example.	`foo(){. . . //Something` `} //happens`

Table 4 -- Pathname conventions

Convention	Purpose	Example
`<rw_root>`	The name you gave your Rogue Wave root directory.	`c:/rwav`
`<ver>` `<osfam>`	A product or package version number. An operating system family: U for Unix, W for WIndows.	<rw_root>/parts/dbt<ver><osfam>
`/`	A delimiter in a path name. If you use Windows, replace / with \.	For `parts/htmldocs`, a Windows user enters `parts\htmldocs`.

1.5.3 Organization of This Manual

The DBTools.h++ manual consists of this User's Guide and a Class Reference. The online version packages these entities in separate HTML documents. The printed version may combine them in a single volume.

Whether print or online, the User's Guide consists of five parts, proceeding from basic to advanced material, and ending with tutorials. The Class Reference is a single part with an introductory chapter and an entry for each class.

Within the User's Guide, Part I, "Introduction," consists of three chapters. Chapter 1 gives a product overview, which you are reading now. This chapter defines the product, explains its basic features and benefits, its software requirements and dependencies, and the resources available to you for learning about it. Chapter 2 gives an overview of the basic architecture, and describes how DBTools.h++ is able to create a portable, intuitive, object-oriented interface to relational databases. Chapter 3 gives an overview of the types of classes in DBTools.h++, based on the tasks they perform.

Part II, "Using the Basics," consists of three chapters that tell you what you must know to begin using the product. Chapter 4, possibly the most essential chapter of the manual, discusses the basic DBTools.h++ classes. These classes encapsulate common database objects like connections, tables, and cursors, as well as operations like selecting, inserting, updating, and deleting. Chapter 5 deals with the error model, and Chapter 6 tells how DBTools.h++ normalizes datatypes.

Part III, "Using Advanced Features," consists of five chapters that will interest you when you need the functionality they describe. Chapter 7 through Chapter 11 treat bulk reading and writing, caching, multithreading, asynchronous usage, and internalization, respectively.

Part IV, "Using Open SQL," consists of two chapters that describe an alternative interface to DBTools.h++ that allows direct control of SQL statements. Chapter 12 defines Open SQL and its classes, and offers some advice on when to use them. Chapter 13 tells how to use the Open SQL classes.

Tutorials are code examples you can use to learn about DBTools.h++, or to create your own applications. Part V, "The Tutorials," consists of eight chapters. The first of these chapter is an introduction that describes the purpose and location of each DBTools.h++ tutorial, the tutorial model, and related tutorial files. The rest of this part, Chapter 15 through Chapter 21, explains each tutorial in detail.

The Class Reference, which may be printed in a separate volume, completes this manual. Following an introductory chapter, the Class Reference provides an alphabetical listing of all the classes of the DBTools.h++ library. Each listing provides a complete description of a class, including derivation, functions, operators, constructors, enums, and so on.