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Appendix B: Additional Suggestions

This section contains a list of some of the suggested additions that we received that have not been added to the JDBC API. They are listed simply as a record of some of the things that have been left out. We welcome input concerning the items listed here.

B.1    Other Suggestions for v0.1

Processing Results - Add a way to determine the value of an auto-incremented key after an insert is done.

Enhanced Meta-Data - Add meta-data for prepared statement parameters and for prepared statement result set. The JDBC API does not provide metadata describing a prepared statements parameters; and, it does not provide metadata describing its results without executing the statement (equivalent to SQL92 DESCRIBE OUTPUT and ODBC SQLDescribeParam.

New Data Types - Add the SQL time interval data type

Security - Allow the application to choose underlying transport properties, e.g., SSL. Provide SSL Socket implementation. A JDBC technology based application must be able to select driver-supported mechanisms for securing the wirelevel protocol (e.g., encryption). Relative to SSL, one option is to allow the application to specify a specific Cyphersuite (key-exchange algorithm, bulk-encryption, MAC [message authentication algorithm])

Security-Authentication - Allow an application to select driver-supported mechanisms for performing authentication. The following mechanisms should be supported: Username, password; Kerberos token; Digital Certificates

Command Complete event - Support a user provided event object that is fired when a Command completes (both current command and regular command, sync or async). - - Various events: Connect Event; Disconnect Event; Before Connect Event

Cursor Implementation Location - Support client-side vs server-side.

Parameter Management - Support: Append, GetCount, GetItem (by name/position), Delete and Refresh.

Hybrid SQL/Java programming language Integration - Provide a mechanism for defining Java classess and provide a hybrid SQL/Java query mechanism over Tables whose columns may be SQL atomics or Java classes.

Specialty Data Types - Provide extensions for OLAP, Spatial, TimeSeries and other Specialty Data Types.

Serializing data, time, timestamps - Allow these types to be serializable.

Async Requests - Allow the caller to request that a Statement execute asynchronously.

Java classes - Introduce the notion of a SQL specialization of Java classes/beans that introduces SQL99 concepts useful for dealing with Java objects in the context of databases and business applications. For example, it is useful for a database system to understand which method(s) definitions in a Class may be used to perform operations on objects such as comparisons, etc. One approach would be to introduce "generic" method names. Those could also be used outside of the database by regular Business Applications.

Add support for SQL PSM.

Add additional SQL language functionality e.g. various forms of join.

Add *levels* of JDBC compatibility, as opposed to individual API calls to see if individual features are supported by a drvier.

Add an API call that describes the format of the URL understood by a driver.

Add a row object that encapsulates database data in its native format.

Add immutability for Date, Time, Timestamp.

B.2    Additional suggestions for v0.7



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