ODBC connection to SQL Server

I use Business Objects XI R2 (BOXI) to report against a SQL Server 2000 database using an ODBC connection.
When I query the database using Enterprise Manager on the server I can make use of all functions available within SQL Server, yet when I access it via the ODBC connection I only get a very small subset of SQL Server functions available.

I can use the inbuilt BOXI functions, which work on the data locally, but would like the functions processed on the server instead.

Is this constraint a property of the ODBC driver, and if so are there other drivers which would expose all of the available SQL Server functions.

Any suggestions appreciated.

Hi Farengi,

When you refer to "functions available within SQL Server", do you mean stored procedures and user-defined functions? Or you mean the GUI-related features like graphic query design?

If we are talking about the stored procs and user-defined functions, there's no limitation per client. In fact, Enterprise Manager uses ODBC under the hood. :-)

However, the stored procs and functions are just database objects - they have permissions granted to them for the appropriate user. Are you using the same login/user in Enterprise Manager as well as in BOXI? In addition, don't forget that the names of the procs and functions is also related to their owner, thus dbo.usp_MyProc is different from JivkoD.usp_MyProc.

If you are referring to the GUI-related features, unfortunately they are specific to the Enterprise Manager and are not exposed to different client applications.

HTH,
Jivko Dobrev - MSFT
--
This posting is provided "AS IS" with no warranties, and confers no rights.

|||Hi Jivko,

Thank you for your extensive answer.

Sorry about the delay in responding to you, but I have been attending some advanced BO courses and my question, which I may not have stated correctly, was answered.

The functions I wanted to refer to (eg. max, min, stdev, stdevp, var, varp etc.) in my question, are displayed in the Business Objects sql builder interface only if they are contained in a .prm (parameter) file. This file is supplied with a frequently used subset of sql server functions, but it can be edited and added to. All that this file does is to present a list of functions to the interface.

The functions, which don't appear in the interface, can still be used in a sql statement as long as they are valid functions.

Thanks