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The Borland Database Engine (BDE) offers these features:

•A uniform and consistent API to access multiple database formats including dBASE, Paradox, Text, FoxPro, Access, InterBase, Oracle, Sybase, and Microsoft SQL Server as well as any Microsoft Open Database Connectivity (ODBC) data source. Developers can easily change where and in what format the data resides without having to rewrite their application.

•BDE is ideally suited for client/server applications because it enables application developers to access both local and server data, which allows easy upsizing of the applications.

•BDE gives applications direct and live access to data sources without the need for importing and exporting.

•BDE is the highest performance database engine for Paradox and dBASE file formats.

•BDE serves the needs of developers coming from two different paradigms: set and navigational. BDE allows access to data using ISAM (Indexed Sequential Access Method, which is also used by the Paradox Engine), SQL (Structured Query Language), or QBE (Query by Example).

•BDE is a data-integration engine, providing services that can be shared across different database servers. This includes the ability to easily copy data from one format to another, as well as linking and querying data across formats. For example, you can do a query across a dBASE and an Oracle table, copy records from InterBase to Paradox, or establish one-to-many relationships between an InterBase and an Oracle table.

•BDE's query engines provides a consistent query language for SQL and QBE and set-oriented access. You can define and access data in both SQL-based servers and file-based databases.

•BDE supports full 32-bit functionality, including multi-threading, preemptive multi-tasking, universal naming convention (UNC), and long filenames. You can run multiple queries in the background while using BDE features in the foreground. Multiple applications can run simultaneously and can access the same database files. You can access servers by pathname rather than by drive letters. You can give BDE files long, descriptive names--up to 260 characters--that may contain spaces.